Reliance to bring back Campa Cola of the 70s! Ambani buys the old brand from Pure Group

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has acquired the famous Campa brand from New Delhi-based Pure Drinks Group for an estimated amount of Rs 22 crore, a report in The Economic Times said. The acquisition is in line with the group’s plan to venture into the soft drinks business under its retail arm. Along with the Campa brand, the group has also taken over the soft drink brand Sosyo.

The Campa brand and Campa Cola were the two popular soft drink brands in the 1970s and 1980s. The brand's popularity ultimately fizzled out after the entry of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo in the 1990s. Reliance Retail will now relaunch the soft drink in cola, lemon, and orange flavours in October this year. Market experts said that the revamped Campa brand can now take on the leaders, Pepsi and Coca-Cola, in the beverages market. The new product will be available at Reliance Retail stores, JioMart, and kirana stores all over the country.

The yesteryear’s icon 

Mumbai-based beverages manufacturer Pure Drinks Group was the sole distributor of Coca-Cola in India from 1949 to the 1970s. It launched its own brand Campa Cola in the 1970s, and soon became the market leader in the soft drinks segment. Later on, it introduced Campa Orange, the orange-flavoured aerated drink. Its famous slogan was “The Great Indian Taste”. The group had two bottling plants in Mumbai and Delhi.

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Its business started shrinking in the 1990s after the Indian government brought in liberalisation rules, which led to the entry of international giants like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola.

Reliance’s Retail arm 

On August 29 during the 45th annual general meeting of Reliance Industries, Isha Ambani, director of Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, said that the retail arm of the company is ready to enter the FMCG segment. Her company, Reliance Retail Ventures, will launch the FMCG business with an aim to develop and deliver high-quality, affordable products, which would cater to the daily needs of Indians.

It is to be noted that Reliance Retail is not new in the business and already has a strong base in the sector. It has various private labels which are sold at its grocery chain stores, such as Reliance Smart, Reliance Mart, and its online grocery platform JioMart. Brands like Yeah!Colas and Snac Tac noodles are a few brands owned by the company. The private labels, including in the fashion and lifestyle segment, contribute 65 per cent to the company’s revenue. Reliance Retail has launched over 2,500 stores in 2022. The total store count now stands at over 15,000 with an operational area of 42 million square feet.

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During the AGM, Mukesh Ambani declared that Isha would lead the retail business, Akash Ambani will look into the telecom unit, Reliance Jio Infocomm, and his youngest son Anant will take over the energy business of the group.

Both Reliance Retail and Reliance Jio are subsidiaries of the primary oil-to-telecom conglomerate.

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