It's Second Innings For Campa Cola As Reliance Retail Acquires The Brand: Report

In a bid to strengthen its FMCG business, Reliance Retail has acquired the iconic Cola brand, Campa, according to a report by The Economic Times. The company will be launching Campa by October around Diwali this year, in the iconic Cola flavour. With this, Campa—which was a popular brand in the 1990s is all set to make a comeback, thus directly competing with American brands such as Coca-Cola and Pepsico. 

Notably, Reliance Retail has also acquired Delhi-based Pure Drinks Group in a deal estimated at about Rs 22 crore, the report said. 

As per the report, the brand will be launched in Reliance Retail stores, JioMart, and over 15 lakh stores directly associated with Reliance Retail in the B2B segment. 

Created by Pure Drinks Group, Campa pioneered the soft-drink market in the 1970s and 1980s, when Coca-Cola was asked to leave the country. Campa—with its slogan, ‘The Great Indian Taste,’ along with three Parle brand soft drinks— Limca, Thums Up and Gold Spot were the market leaders during that era. However, the re-entry of Coco Cola into the domestic market in 1990, owing to the liberalization policy of then Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao, led to the slow death of Campa Cola. The other three Parle soft drinks brand was also acquired by Coca-Cola.

Since then, Pure Drinks Group has made several attempts to revive Campa. Apart from the Cola flavour, Campa has four additional flavours namely—orange, lemon, coca, and mango.  

Notably, in the Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries this year, Isha Ambani, the Director of Reliance Retail said that Reliance Retail is set to foray into the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) segment.