HOW DOES THUMS UP KEEP STEALING THE THUNDER!...

If Wal-Mart became iconic for ‘Always Low Prices’, there’s no doubt where Thums Up saves its hyperbole in ‘Taste The Thunder’, exemplified contemporarily by an ad campaign of Thums Up where Akshay Kumar (its brand ambassador since 2003) performs the extreme sport of ‘parkour’ to grab his bottle of Thums Up from a suggestively attractive lady. “Taste the Thunder has been the most breakthrough communication campaign for the brand. It stands for masculinity that has constantly been redefined over the years, yet keeping the execution relevant to today’s times,” says K. V. Sridhar, National Creative Director, Leo Burnett (the agency which handles Thums Up’s account) to 4Ps B&M. But then, the acutely bewitching punch-line of Taste the Thunder did not come about so easily. Some would know this, that when Thums Up was launched in 1977, Ramesh Chauhan unabashedly played to the galleries by tagging Thums Up with the caption Happy days are here again that indicated that the market was free from the ‘capitalist international companies’ (PepsiCo and Coca Cola) and an Indian cola was available in the market. That’s when postcards featuring Gavaskar and Imran Khan were released. However, 1980s saw Campa Cola, which was owned by Pure Drinks Ltd (bottling partner of Coca Cola in India) giving tough competition to Thums Up by cornering a staggering 30% market share. That was when Ramesh Chauhan approached Ashok Kurien and Elsie Nanji (partners at Ambience Advertising) to not only devise a new communications campaign for the brand, but also strategise a complete business plan to market the product. And so were born the legendary taglines: Toofani Thanda and Taste the Thunder in 1987. Campa Cola was also launched in the 1970s and had a taste similar to that of Thums Up – strong, fizzy and high on carbon dioxide levels. However, contrary to the taste of Campa Cola, its positioning was that of a drink for good times. Explains Neeta Wali, Director, Brand Talk, “1980s was an era when the Indian youth was more rebellious & flaunting in nature. It believed in showing off its machoism and Thums Up fitted nicely with the then youth ideology as opposed to the ‘fun-time’ positioning of Campa Cola. Campa Orange made the same mistake and failed.”

While Taste the Thunder ran on English channels, Toofani Thanda was shown across Doordarshan targetting the Hindi speaking belt (the ‘thanda’ proposition was later incorporated by Coca Cola in its ‘Thanda Matlab Coca Cola’ campaign). Soon, Thums Up walloped Campa Cola across regions on its way to become the undisputed leader. Things reached such a stage that Campa Cola died an eventual (unknown) death in 2000.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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