Campa Cola

Soft drink brand in India

Campa-Cola

Manufacturer	Reliance Industries
Country of origin	India^[1]
Introduced	1977; 47 years ago (1977)
Flavour	Cola, orange, lime, lime and lemon, lemon
Variants	Campa Cola, Campa Lime, Campa Lemon, Campa Lime & Lemon and Campa Orange
Related products	Thums Up, Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola, Sosyo
Website	campa-cola.in

Campa Cola is a soft drink brand in India. It was a market leader in the Indian soft drink market in the 1970s and 1980s in most regions of India until the advent of the foreign players Pepsi and Coca-Cola after the liberalisation policy of the P. V. Narasimha Rao government in 1991.^[2]

History

Campa Cola was a drink created by the Pure Drinks Group, owned by Mohan Singh in the 1970s.

Pure Drinks Group were the pioneer in the Indian soft drink industry when they introduced Coca-Cola into India in 1949 and were the sole manufacturer and distributor of Coca-Cola till the 1970s when the drink industry was nationalized for Indian interests. The Pure Drinks Group and Campa Beverages Pvt. Ltd. virtually dominated the entire Indian soft drink industry for about 15 years. Then they started Campa Cola during the absence of foreign competition. The brand's slogan was "The Great Indian Taste", an appeal to nationalism. It subsequently marketed an orange flavoured drink called 'Campa Orange', with the logo "Campa" on its bottles.^[3]

During the 1980s, Campa Orange and Rush were the two main orange soft drinks in India, with large bottling plants in Mumbai (Worli) and Delhi. Following the return of foreign corporations to the soft drink market in the 1990s, the popularity of Campa Cola declined. In 2000–2001, its bottling plant and offices in Delhi were closed. In 2009 a small amount of product was still being bottled in the state of Haryana, but the drink was still not commonly found.

In 2022, Campa Cola was acquired by Reliance Industries for ₹22 crores.^[4] Reliance Retail Ventures, the retail arm of the Reliance group launched three variants of the drinks (cola, orange and lemon) at some select stores.^[5]^[6]

Current operations

Reliance Consumer Products (RCPL), the fast-moving consumer goods arm and subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL), on 9th March 2023 announced the relaunch of the iconic brand, Campa.^[7]

The Campa portfolio will initially include Campa Cola, Campa Lemon and Campa Orange in the sparkling beverage category.^[7]

Reliance Industries (RIL) has also acquired soft drink brand Sosyo from Surat-based Hajoori. Reliance Consumer Products Ltd (RCPL) announced it would acquire a 50 percent equity stake in Gujarat-headquartered Sosyo Hajoori Beverages Pvt Ltd (SHBPL). The company owns and operates a beverage business under the flagship brand ‘Sosyo’. Existing promoters, the Hajoori family, will continue to own the remaining stake in SHBPL.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Gallery

An advertisement for a Campa Cola product, Campa Orange. Source is a May 1979 Indian Indrajal Comics edition of Phantom: The Swamp Dragon.
Campa Cola in 2023, Reliance Mart, ISCON Mega Mall, Ahmedabad
Campa Cola - Orange Flavor in 2023, Reliance Mart, Mega ISCON Mall, Ahmedabad
Campa Cola Aisle in 2023, Reliance Mart, ISCON Mega Mall, Ahmedabad

References

^ Percy Rowe (2005), Delhi, Gareth Stevens, ISBN 978-0-8368-5197-7
^ "Old India Ads and Brand Ambassadors". www.blog.pkp.in. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
^ "Campa® – About Company". campacolaindia.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
^ Bhushan, Ratna (2023-03-12). "Reliance's Campa Cola may start off a price war this summer". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
^ Dolnick, Sam (23 February 2009). "Waning days of an Indian soda pop". The New York Times.
^ Saha, Somdatta (1 September 2022). "Remember Campa Cola? The Soft Drink Is Set To Return This Diwali". NDTV Food.
^ ^a ^b "Campa Cola is back: Mukesh Ambani's Reliance rolls out iconic beverage brand". Hindustan Times. 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
^ "Reliance's latest acquisition: All you need to know about this 100-year old beverage maker Ambani is buying". Financialexpress. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
^ "Reliance buys brands from Campa maker Pure Drinks Group". cnbctv18.com. 2022-08-31. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
^ Malviya, Sagar (2023-01-03). "Reliance to acquire 50% stake in Gujarat-based beverages firm Sosyo". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 2023-03-22.