In the year 1977, the American company Coca-Cola withdrew from India, because of the regulations requiring it to disclose its formula and sell 60% of its equity to an Indian company. It was under the government’s plan for foreign-owned companies to share stakes with domestic partners. It was then, Thums Up was created. It is a brand of cola introduced in the year 1977. The Chauhan brothers owned the part of the Parle company already had two other brands of soda that time Limca and Gold Spot. Both were popular soft drink brands in India at that time.
Ramesh Chauhan had developed the formula from scratch. He experimented with ingredients like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. The company wanted the drink to be fizzy, even when it was not too cold. After lots of experiments, the Chauhan brothers and their research team have created a cola that was fizzier and spicier than Coca-Cola. It was how Thums Up was introduced. Thums Up quickly became the most popular brand in the 1980s and achieved a monopoly among cola products in India like Campa Cola, Dukes, Double Seven, and United Breweries Group’s McDowell’s Crush.
The Indian government opened the market for multinationals in the year 1991. Pepsi was the first to come in. Both Thums Up and Pepsi involved in heavy competitions. In 1993, Coca Cola reentered the Indian market and bought the Parle owned drinks Limca, Gold Spot, and Thums Up for $60 million. When Coca Cola bought Thums Up, it had a market share of 85% in India. Thums Up is the leader in the cola segment in India as of February 2012. It has approximately 42% market share and an overall 15% market share in the Indian aerated waters market.
Once the formula was ready, the only thing left was to give it a name. After several suggestions, the name Thumbs Up was chosen. But, back in the 1970s, the brand Thumbs Up faced a lot of criticism because of the symbol, that was not considered good and descent in India. The symbol was considered to tease someone.
When we see the logo of it, the logo indicated Thumbs Up, but the spelling is Thums Up. A domestic partner of the brand Ramesh Chauhan finalized the name Thumbs Up because of his instincts. Many people add or remove a letter from the name or the brand due to their belief in numerology. Let us see what makes Thums Up drop the letter B. Just before registering the brand name, his team of lawyers advised to drop the letter ‘B’ from the brand name to make it look more unique and different. Then it was shortened to Thums Up from Thumbs Up and one of the most popular cola brands was born in India with a bright red logo.
A Mountain Thums Up
There is a peak in the Manmad Hills popularly known as the Thums Up Mountain or the Thums Up Dongar. It looks exactly like its logo.
The tagline of Thums Up ‘Taste The Thunder’ is also quite popular. Many celebrities like Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, Ranveer Singh, Chiranjeevi, and Mahesh Babu have endorsed this brand.
Were you aware of this fact about the most popular soft drink brand? Let us know in the comments below.
Entertales is on YouTube, Click here to subscribe for latest videos and updates.
