Thums Up

History

In 1977, American cola giant Coca-Cola abandoned operations in India rather than accept a forced sale of 60% of their equity to an Indian company. Following this, the Parle brothers, Ramesh Chauhan and Prakash Chauhan, along with then CEO Bhanu Vakil, launched Thums Up as their flagship drink, adding to their portfolio of older brands Limca (lime flavour) and Gold Spot (orange flavour).

Thums Up enjoyed a near monopoly with a much stronger market share, often overshadowing domestic rivals like Campa Cola, Double Seven, Dukes and United Breweries Group's McDowell's Crush, although many small players sold well in their own markets.

It was one of the major advertisers throughout the 1980s. In the mid '80s it faced short-lived competition from Double Cola.

In 1991, when the Indian government opened the market to multinationals, Pepsi was the first to come in. Thums Up and Pepsi subsequently engaged in heavy competition for endorsements. Pepsi spokespersons included major Indian movie stars like Juhi Chawla, while Thums Up increased its spending on cricket sponsorship. Thums Up also introduced a larger 300 ml (10 US fl oz) bottle, branded "MahaCola" (meaning "great [in size] cola"; the original size was 250 ml (8.5 US fl oz)). This nickname gained popularity in smaller towns where people would ask for "Maha Cola" instead of Thums Up. Consumers were divided, with some saying that Pepsi’s mild taste was rather bland.

In 1993 Coca-Cola re-entered India after a prolonged absence, spurring a three-way Cola War with Thums Up and Pepsi. That same year, Parle sold out to Coke for US$60,000,000. Some assumed Parle had lost the appetite for a fight against the two largest cola brands; others surmised that the international brands' seemingly endless cash reserves overwhelmed Parle. Thums Up had an 85% market share when sold.

Relaunch

Despite its strong overall equity, the brand was losing its popularity among the core cola drinking age group of 12- to 25-year-olds, partly due to a lack of advertising.

At first, Coca-Cola cut advertising and production for Thums Up to drive customers to their flagship brand, but soon realised that Thums Up customers would turn to Pepsi instead of Coke, were Thums Up withdrawn from the market. Instead, Coke decided to use Thums Up as a rival brand to Pepsi. The Coca-Cola Company by this time had about 60.5% share of the Indian soft-drink market but much to its dismay found out that if it took out Thums Up, it would remain with only 28.72% of the market (according to a report by NGO Finance & Trade in India), hence it once again dusted off the Thums Up brand and re-launched it, targeting 30- to 40-year-olds.

The brand was re-positioned as a “manly” drink, drawing on its strong taste qualities. Known to be a strong drink with more power packed into it than other colas, it was a favorite in rum-based cocktails, as in “rum and Thums Up.” Thums Up kick-started an aggressive campaign directly attacking Pepsi’s television commercials, focusing on the strength of the drink hoping that the depiction of an “adult” drink would appeal to young consumers. “Grow up to Thums Up” was a successful campaign. The brand’s market share and equity soared. The brand was unshakeable and Coca-Cola’s declaration that Thums Up was India’s premier cola brand in terms of market share did not surprise many.

Other campaigns from Thums Up build on its “strength” and its perception as a macho drink. Ads showing the Thums Up man, riding through the desert in search of a cantina that sells Thums Up rather than drink another cola, stuck in the minds of many Indians and caught the imagination of youngsters who wanted to be seen as men.

In February 2012, popular South Indian actor Mahesh Babu became a spokesperson for Thums Up. In October 2012, Coca-Cola India signed Salman Khan once again as the brand ambassador of Thums Up. The company has also tied with Salman Khan's movie Dabangg 2 and his charitable organisation as part of the deal.

Ingredients

According to Coca-Cola's Indian website, Thums Up contains: carbonated water, sugar, acidity regulator (E338), natural colour (150d) and added flavours ("natural, nature-identical and artificial flavouring substances"). Coca-Cola also states that Thums Up contains caffeine, but does not list it with the other ingredients.

Logo and marketing

The Thums Up logo was a red "Thumbs Up" hand gesture with a slanted white sans-serif typeface. This would later be modified by Coca-Cola with blue strokes and a more modern-looking typeface.

The famous slogan until the early 1980s was "Happy days are here again", coined by then famous copywriter, Vasant Kumar. The slogan later became "I want My Thunder", and subsequently "Taste the thunder!"

Product placement in films was used in the 1980s with Thums Up appearing in the background of many Hindi movies.

Cricket

Thums Up was a major sponsor of cricket matches and also had a notable presence at the Sharjah cricket matches. In the early 1980s, it came out with several postcards featuring Sunil Gavaskar and Imran Khan.

Indian motorsports

Besides cricket, Parle’s southern bottler was a major sponsor of Indian motorsport in the 80s. In addition to sponsoring several Indian track drivers in Sholavaram races, they sponsored several regional car and bike rallies. They were also associated for several seasons with the Lakshmi Mills Super Speeds team who were one time rivals of MRF racing.

Celebrity endorsements

Post 1990s, Thums Up's celebrity endorsers were Chinranjeevi, Superstar Mahesh Babu from South India and Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar from Bollywood.

Awards and recognition

According to the Brand Trust Report 2012 published by Trust Research Advisory, a brand analytics company, Thums Up was positioned 140th among India's most trusted brands. Subsequently, in Brand Trust Report 2013, Thums Up was ranked 170th among the most trusted brands in India while according to the Brand Trust Report 2014, Thums Up was elevated to the 66th position among India's most trusted brands.

In popular culture

A peak in the Manmad Hills has become popularly known as the "Thums Up Mountain" or the "Thums Up Pahaar" (in Hindi), because it has a natural top like the "Thums Up" logo and is a popular sight from trains.

Thums Up appears in the book Eat, Pray, Love and its film adaptation.