Business Today Web Exclusive

Growing Pains

Thums Up won't be Coke's sidekick guerilla any longer.

By Shailesh Dobhal

Thums Up: Overshadowed

Now, now, now... whose property might 'thunda' have been before Coke appropriated it so graciously?

Right, you guess it, Thums Up, the once-upon-a-time 'toofani thunder' (yes, the pun was always intended). The once-upon-a-time marketing wonder of India, a 'Happy Days' cola that stormed into consumer mindspace within no time of its debut, creating many a wizkid reputation along the way.

Such days, alas, are long gone - and it's the global brands that market-watchers must rely on for all the fizzy fun and games in the battle for our minds. Thums Up, sold by Parle Drinks in 1994 to The Coca-Cola Company, is now just a part of the Coke defence arsenal, the guerilla warrior that must stand to attention whenever the master brand calls.

Well, well, well, whadyaknow. Even guerilla brands get to think for themselves. According to news reports trickling in, Thums Up is to stop playing second-fiddle to Coke, and will have its independent strategy as a brand in its own right. At last!

Could it be true? Though Coca Cola India does not want to make any explicit comment on this (that Thums Up was just a sidekick was never wholly admitted by the company),

BT Online learns that the company has decided to draw consumer attention to the brand's intrinsic attributes. Starting January 2003, the communication will centre round the cola's 'strong taste', instead of taking potshots at Coke's archrival Pepsi.

Market analysts say that while Thums Up's 'Grow up' campaign did enough to reposition Pepsi as a kiddo's candy-drink, it also played the vampire on Thums Up, sucking out some of its own masculinity. Pepsi, on its part, has used its Lehar Soda brand to get back at Thums Up, spoofing the 'Toofani Anda' with mock-ups of Salman Khan and Sushmita Sen, the brand's two endorsers.

That brings us to the other question that CCI can't duck: does it need celebrity endorsement, at this stage, at all? Maybe it's time for the brand to speak for itself. And if it can't do without celebs (they're good clutter-busters), then maybe it should use them not for who they are, but for their actual talent as actors to convey the idea... as Coke has done.

Issue Contents Write to us Subscription Syndication