Campa Cola: 12 Facts About The Old School Soft Drink That's Making A Comeback

Many countries pride themselves on iconic drinks that define national culture and identity. In England, a well-made pot of tea still evokes the country's colonial history and reverence for ritual. In the U.S., a cold bottle of Coke represents our spirit of entrepreneurship (let's turn a medicinal elixir into a global sensation!) and shameless love of sweets. For those who grew up in India in the late 1970s, few drinks evoke a sense of home and youthful socializing like Campa Cola, a once nearly ubiquitous soft drink known for its colorful, youthful ads as much as its flavor. 

But compared to India's long history, Campa Cola's day in the sun was relatively short. First launched in 1977, the brand lost its luster in the 1990s and finally closed its operations in Delhi by the 2000s. Still, Campa Cola continued to limp along and kept bottling small quantities of its iconic cola in another facility. 

While many assumed the drink's time had come and gone, it's now getting a second life. The brand has been purchased from its original manufacturers by the Reliance Group, a major Indian business conglomerate, and has been relaunched with refreshed branding.  Here's what you need to know about the past, present, and future of this Indian favorite.

As India's designated manufacturer and distributor of Coca-Cola, Pure Drinks became quite adept at making the beverage. So, when Coca-Cola made the sudden decision to pull out of the Indian market in 1977, Pure Drinks decided to launch Campa Cola to replace it. The company did what it already knew how to do: Make Coca-Cola, only with a homegrown flavorings in place of Coca-Cola's proprietary formula. 

Pure Drinks didn't make any attempt to hide the similarities between Campa Cola and Coca-Cola, and indeed seemed to blatantly capitalize on them. The original Campa Cola logo featured the same brush script used on the Coca-Cola label, while the bottles were the same curvy, slender glass forms then used by Coca-Cola. There was even originally a hyphen between "Campa" and "Cola." 

The taste was close enough to the original to satisfy the cravings of its captive audience. "Campa tasted good — because we didn't have any other options," Santosh Desai, a Times of India writer, told The New York Times.

When Campa Cola first launched in 1977, it was an immediate hit. With the sudden departure of Coca-Cola from the Indian market, many consumers were excited and grateful to have a close substitute. Indeed, much of Campa's initial appeal wasn't unique flavor or branding, but its similarity to the much-missed Coca-Cola. Branding experts have even called it an "imitation" brand and attributed much of the drink's success to this quality. 

For a while, this worked out well for Campa Cola, which developed its own brand image and an aggressive marketing strategy.  It also had little to no direct competition, as Indian-made Thums Up, another popular soft drink that emerged during this time, had a distinct flavor profile and wasn't directly comparable. 

All this changed when India opened its markets to foreign goods again in the 1990s. With the Indian government's encouragement, Coca-Cola returned and Pepsi entered the market soon after. Both launched well-funded advertising campaigns, and Indian consumers quickly decided they'd rather have "the real thing" than a homegrown imitation. To add insult to injury, Coca-Cola then sued Campa Cola for adopting its bottle design.  By 2000, Campa Cola had closed most of its factories and slowed its manufacturing to a trickle.

In its early days, Campa Cola's youth-focused advertising campaign worked as expected and the drink quickly became a favorite among children and teenagers. For young Indians in the late 1970s and 1980s, it was soon associated with birthday parties, carefree vacations, and special occasions such as the completion of school exams. Today, Campa Cola's now grown-up fans remember it as a special and comforting part of their childhood. "Campa was the drink that we associated with innocence, good times and fun with friends. When I think of my childhood, it was always there, like a friend itself," marketer Rohini Mathur told Condè Nast Traveller.

Its kid-friendly flavor also contributed to its popularity. Some fans recalled that it was sweeter, more mildly flavored, and less aggressively carbonated than other soft drinks available at the time, which made it the drink of choice for young palates. "At that time, Thums Up was this very adult kind of drink. I remember having it once and reacting to it almost the way teenagers react to their first beer,"  John Thangaraj told Condè Nast Traveller. "Campa just felt more reassuring and friendly."

After Coca-Cola re-entered the Indian market, Campa Cola quickly fell from favor.  But even after it was forced to close most of its factories, manufacturer Pure Drinks refused to give up on the brand. But though it made several attempts to reboot the brand over the years, all these attempts failed due to a lack of funding. 

Campa Cola then got a new lease on life when the Reliance Group, a large Indian business conglomerate, bought the Campa Cola brand from Pure Drinks. The difference: the Reliance Group is owned by Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man as of 2023. 

Ambani, who took over part of the Reliance Group from his father (his brother was given charge of the other part), boosted the group's gas, oil, and petrochemicals holdings by building the world's biggest startup petroleum refinery along with numerous manufacturing centers. Reliance's holdings also now include a network of retail outlets along with interests in consumer goods. "What Reliance will now do for them is probably provide more physical real estate for the product in their own stores. They have also said they want to push their products in general trade," Varund Singh, assistant vice president of IBDI Capital, told Outlook.

While Campa Cola was Pure Drinks' signature offering when it began manufacturing its own soda brand, it also offered several other flavors under the Campa label. Campa Orange and Campa Lemon were introduced at the same time as Campa Cola, and while neither attained the popularity of the cola (which made up 80% of the company's sales), both had their loyal fans, as well as dedicated advertising campaigns.

Other flavors later added to the mix included clear lemon, apple, and jeera (cumin), a spice used in other Indian soda brands. Campa Jeera appears to be a very late addition launched in 2016, well after Campa Cola had been reduced to a niche brand. Under its new ownership, the relaunched Campa lineup will offer the three original flavors — Campa Cola, Campa Lemon, and Campa Orange — with the company hinting at the possibility of additional flavors to come.

When the Reliance Group relaunched Campa Cola in 2022, it had a few key strategies in mind: promote the brand to nostalgic fans and ensure it can compete against major American competitors. As part of its effort to control prices, it initially sold the drinks exclusively through its own retail outlets.  However, Reliance is said to be planning to expand the brand to more general sales venues. 

However, the rollout of Campa Cola seems to be taking place at an intentionally slow rate. So far, it's not even available everywhere in India. So for now, it appears that Reliance is focusing on making sure that Campa Cola conquers the domestic market rather than achieving immediate world domination. This means that curious soda mavens from outside India and expatriates wanting to recapture a bit of their childhood will have to wait to get a taste — or travel to India to find some.