Market disruption is something Reliance is renowned for. With Jio, the business initially upended the telecom industry.
With Campa, it has the ideal product to compete in the PepsiCo and Coca-Cola-dominated aerated beverage industry.
The business has (re)launched Campa, a legendary soft drink brand from India that rose to fame in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In order to compete with Adani, ITC, and Unilever, billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance re-launched the classic beverage brand Campa Cola, which has been around for 50 years, in a more modern form.
Reliance Consumer Products Ltd, the fast-moving consumer products division of Reliance Retail, purchased a 50% share in Gujarat-based Sosyo Hajoori Beverages Pvt Ltd in January of this year. Prior to this, it paid the Pure Drinks group reportedly Rs 22 crore for the Campa brand.
And now the Campa line of beverages has been re-launched.
“The Campa portfolio will initially include Campa Cola, Campa Lemon and Campa Orange in the sparkling beverage category,” the company said in a statement that the cold beverage portfolio will be gradually introduced across the nation, starting in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Campa-Cola was a well-liked soft drink brand, but as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo entered the market, it fizzled out.
From 1949 until the 1970s, Pure Drinks Group was the exclusive distributor of Coca-Cola in India. In the 1970s, it introduced its own brand, Campa Cola, and quickly rose to the top of the soft drink industry. Subsequently, it debuted Campa Orange, an aerated beverage with an orange flavour.
The company, which operated two bottling facilities in Mumbai and Delhi, advertised its beverages as having “The Great Indian Taste,” but as the economy opened up in the 1990s, sales declined.
According to the release, Reliance Consumer Products Ltd. (RCPL) is bringing “The Wonderful Indian Flavour” back with Campa.
The re-launch of Campa is a part of Ambani’s attempt to increase Reliance’s own versions of items, which range from cookies and cola to soap and shampoo, penetration into the fast expanding consumer goods industry in the country.
With almost 17,225 locations, Reliance Retail operates the largest network of physical stores in the nation, selling everything from electronics to groceries.
It already owns approximately two dozen consumer goods brands, such as the rice and other staple food lines from Good Life and Best Farms, Snac Tac snacks, Glimmer cosmetics, Yeah! fizzy drinks, and the fruit juice brand Sosyo.
“With this launch, RCPL further strengthens its versatile FMCG portfolio, which comprises heritage brands from Sosyo Hajoori, confectionary range from Lotus Chocolates, Sri Lanka’s leading biscuit brand Maliban, as well as daily essentials under its own brands, including Independence and Good Life, among others,” as per the statement.
Campa is being promoted by Reliance through its own retail outlets. The business undercuts PepsiCo and Coca-Cola by about Rs. 20 by selling Campa 2-liter drinks for about Rs. 60.
The same approach that works for Jio might also be effective for Campa. When it comes to quality, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola must consider their brand, but Reliance captures markets by cutting prices.
Soon enough, we will learn how Reliance approaches this market. Let’s look at what the company is offering in the meanwhile.
The first three flavours in the Campa lineup are Campa Cola, Campa Lemon, and Campa Orange. The product comes in bottles with capacities of 200ml, 500ml, 600ml, 1,000ml, and 2,000ml.
Campa will bring “The Great Indian Taste” back, according to Reliance Consumer Products Ltd.