Mar 10, 2023
By: Srishti Magan
If you are wondering why Reliance is bringing back Campa, there is a story behind this iconic soft drink brand. It was the ‘cool’ drink of the late 70s and early 80s, and its ads gave Bollywood one of its famous trio of Khans.
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In an era or ‘days of the yore’ as the youngsters call it, screens were so few and video entertainment was so rare that an ad jingle was hummed and danced to. So if there was a pretty new face in an ad, he or she becomes a household name. Salman Khan got his first break in a Campa ad, not nepotism (probably!).
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We are not kidding. Ads were career makers. A stunning teenager named Aishwarya Rai was long known as the Pepsi girl, before she was crowned Miss World.
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Now that we proved our point, let us tell you how Campa came and went. Coca Cola which had been in India since the 50s was forced out of India by the government. Campa Cola was launched by Pure Drinks in 1977, to fill the gap.
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Campa Cola had a good run for a decade or so along with Parle’s popular drinks like Gold Spot, Limca and ThumsUp. Parle sold off its brands to Coke, when the latter came back in the 90s after the government changed tracks and went in for liberalization.
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The entry of foreign brands like Pepsi and Coke was not easy on desi drink brands. Not only did they go with high decibel campaigns, they also brought in the moolah for acquisitions – taking the fizz out of Campa’s business.
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After a decade-long battle, in 2000-2001, Campa Cola’s bottling plant and offices in Delhi were shut.
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Two decades after it vanished, Campa made the headlines in August 2022, after Reliance bought the brand.
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Life has come full circle for the brand as now it has the backing of India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani and a parent company that runs India’s largest retail chains – and also has an e-commerce presence.
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Campa is now back in three new flavours – lemon, orange and cola that not only covers the range of soft drink flavours but is also attractively priced at ₹59 (for a two-litre bottle) at JioMart. The 200-ml bottle is available for ₹10 and 500-ml is available for ₹20.
Credit: Economic Times