Thums Up

Thums Up is an Indian multinational brand of cola in India. It was introduced in 1977 to offset the withdrawal of The Coca-Cola Company from India. The brand was later bought by Coca-Cola who re-launched it in order to fight against Pepsi to capture the market.

, Thums Up is the leader in the cola segment in India, commanding approximately 42% market share and an overall 15% market share in the Indian aerated waters market. In 2021, the company became a billion-dollar brand in India.

History

Thums Up was created in 1977, after the American company Coca-Cola withdrew from India, due to regulations requiring it to disclose its formula and sell 60% of its equity to an Indian company under a government plan for foreign-owned companies to share stakes with domestic partners. The Chauhan brothers owned part of the Parle company and already had two other brands of soda, Limca and Gold Spot, which were popular in India at the time. Thums Up quickly became the most popular cola brand in India and achieved a near monopoly among cola products in India during the 1980s, above other cola products such as Campa Cola, Double Seven, Dukes and United Breweries Group's McDowell's Crush.

Ramesh Chauhan had developed the formula from scratch, experimenting with ingredients such as cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg. The company also wanted the drink to be fizzy, even when it was not ice-cold, so it could be sold by vendors. After much testing and experimentation, the Chauhan brothers and their research team created a cola that was fizzier and spicier than Coca-Cola. They originally planned to name th
drink
“Thumbs Up,” but removed the “b” to make the name unique.

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 advertisements included major Indian movie stars like Juhi Chawla, while Thums Up increased its spending on cricket sponsorship. Thums Up also introduced a larger bottle, branded "MahaCola" (meaning 'great n sizecola'; the original size was ). This nickname gained popularity in smaller towns where people would ask for "Maha Cola" instead of Thums Up.

In 1993, Coca-Cola re-entered the market, and the three companies competed intensely. Later in the year, Coca-Cola bought the Parle-owned drinks Gold Spot, Limca and Thums Up for $60 million. When these were sold to Coca-Cola, Thums Up had a market share of 85 percent in India.

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 Coca-Cola, were Thums Up withdrawn from the market. Instead, Coca-Cola 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 found out that if it took out Thums Up, it would remain with only 28.7% of the market, hence Thums Up was re-launched, targeting 30- to 40-year-olds.

The brand was re-positioned as a "manly" drink, drawing on its strong taste qualities.
Thums Up started an advertising 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 increased.

Ingredients

carbonated water, sugar, acidity regulator (E338), and caffeine. The beverage also contains natural colour (150d) and added flavours ("natural, nature identical and artificial flavouring substances").

Logo and marketing

The original 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 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 films.

Advertising campaigns from Thums Up build on its "strength" and its perception as a macho drink.

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.

In 2022, the company launched its ads campaign "Toofan" with Indian cricketer Jasprit Bumrah aiming to inspiring the audiences to reach their ‘PalatDe’ moments by teaming their strong, unshakeable belief systems and undying spirits with the taste of the product. A similar video ad was created showcasing Mohammed Siraj as the Indian fast bowler. Popular Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan became brand ambassador. A new ad campaign was launched as #ThumsUpStrong spirit. The strong unique taste of the brand is naturally weaved into strength as an emotion, that urges the drinkers to stay strong and believe in their dreams. Teaming with South Indian actor Vijay Deverakonda, the company released its action-packed campaign to build on the strong taste and experience.

Sponsorship

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 1980s. 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.

2020 Olympics

Thums Up announced a worldwide partnership with the 2020 Summer Olympics in July 2021 to commemorate the 100th year of India's participation in the Olympic Games. The brand rolled out a special athlete packaging, featuring Indian Olympians Bajrang Punia, Manu Bhaker, Vikas Krishan Yadav, Deepika Kumari, and Atanu Das.

Tokyo 2020 Paralympics

The company announced a worldwide partnership with the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics in August 2021. The brand rolled out a special athlete packaging, featuring six athletes including Mariyappan Thangavelu (high jump), Sakina Khatun (powerlifting), Suyash Yadav (swimming), Navdeep Singh (javelin throw), Sumit Antil (javelin throw), and Avani Lekhara (shooting).

Celebrity endorsements

Post 1990s, Thums Up's celebrity endorsers were:
* Akshay Kumar
* Salman Khan (until 2016)
* Ranveer Singh
* Chiranjeevi
* Mahesh Babu (until 2021)
* Vishal Reddy
* Vijay Deverakonda (since 2022)
* Jasprit Bumrah (since 2022)
* Shah Rukh Khan

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.
*''The Economic Times'' ranked Thums Up at 21st place in its Most Trusted Brands report.
* In Brand Trust Report 2013, Thums Up was ranked 170th among the most trusted brands in India.
* According to the Brand Trust Report 2014, Thums Up was at 66th position among India's most trusted brands.

In popular culture

A peak in the Manmad Hills has become known as the "Thums Up Mountain" or the ''"Thums Up Dongar"'' (in Marathi), because it is shaped, by coincidence, like the "Thums Up" logo. It is visible from trains passing by and has become a popular sight.

Thums Up appears in the book ''Eat, Pray, Love'' and its 2010 film adaptation.

The drink appears throughout Salman Rushdie's controversial novel ''The Satanic Verses'' (1988).

References

External links

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{{Coca-Cola brands

Soft drinks
Cola brands
Indian drink brands
Products introduced in 1977
1977 establishments in India
Coca-Cola brands
Coca-Cola acquisitions