Guwahati News Desk: The Coca-Cola Company’s home-grown brand Thums Up, has announced its worldwide partnership with the Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo, next month as India enters its 100th year of participation at the Olympic Games.
Thums Up aims to celebrate and salute the real heroes of the Olympic Games athletes who overcame tremendous odds to reach where they are today. Thums Up an Indian brand from the Coca-Cola beverage portfolio has come to the forefront and partnered with a major global event like the Olympic Games.
The Coca-Cola Company has a long history of sponsoring major sporting events, organisations and projects around the world.
Through its eight decade long association, it is the longest continuous corporate partner of the Olympic Games. Other sporting partnerships include four decades with FIFA and nearly 25 years with World Cup Rugby. These long associations with sporting events underscore the Company’s philosophy of endeavoring to be a part of their consumers’ lives and their passions.
Announcing the partnership, Arnab Roy, Vice President and Head-Marketing, Coca-Cola India and SouthWest Asia said, “The Olympic Games is a global event shared by more than a billion people across genders, generations and cultures. In line with our long history of partnering with major sporting events globally, our strategic partnership with the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, not only reinforces our long-standing commitment to refresh sports fans and enhance our consumers’ experiences but is also our way of standing in solidarity and saluting the exemplary courage that the real people the athletes, have displayed. We wish athletes from India and worldwide all the best!”
As an ode to the athletes and their arduous journey towards this pinnacle of sporting excellence, Thums Up will be unveiling a creative and innovative marketing campaign. This will entail a series of video content along with marketing stories for digital and social media which will keep the audiences connected with the Olympic Games in real time.
As part of the campaign, special athlete packaging will be rolled out that will give consumers a chance to own a piece of history. The content will share a glimpse of the stories of struggle of our Olympians Bajrang Punia (wrestler), Manu Bhaker (shooter), Vikas Krishna Yadav (boxer), Deepika Kumari (archery), Atanu Das (archery), and the Indian Shooting Team who battled everyday odds but still retained the faith and strength to persevere and become heroes in the real world.
In the face of these challenges, the protagonists show the pessimistic world a ‘thumbs down’ by turning an empty Thums Up bottle upside down against the backdrop of the inspirational tagline ‘Toofan wahi jo sab Palat De’ (the real storm is one that turns everything upside down).
The uplifting tone of the campaign perfectly complement Thums Up’s repositioned brand message of resilience and real heroism of everyday people.
Arnab Roy, further added, “Consumers are at the heart of Coca-Cola’s beverage portfolio. The company is acutely attuned to their preferences and continuously looks at innovative ways to connect people with our brands. Our partnership is a statement of empowerment, and our intent is to instill the ‘thunder’ of hope and strength amongst our consumers.”
“The new upside down Thums Up bottle is a visual symbol of resilience that people showcase in their daily lives, against all odds.”
Speaking about the campaign Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy India Sukesh Nayak said, “Toofan Wahi Jo Sab Palat De – the upside down Thums Up logo is an idea that celebrates the thunder inside, the resilience and the fierce challenger spirit. This campaign truly reflects the mood of not just the athletes representing India at the Olympic Games but the entire nation. Every bottle in the hand of every consumer is now also their voice to ‘Palat’ all the naysayers who say what they can’t or shouldn’t do.”
Coca-Cola in India is one of the country’s leading beverage companies, offering a range of healthy, safe, high quality, refreshing beverage options to consumers. Since its re-entry in 1993, the company has been refreshing consumers with its beverage products Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola No Sugar, Diet Coke, Thums Up, Thums Up Charged, Thums Up Charged No Sugar, Fanta, Limca, Sprite, Sprite Zero, Maaza, VIO flavoured milk, Minute Maid range of juices, Minute Maid Smoothie and Minute Maid Vitingo, Georgia range of hot and cold tea and coffee options, Aquarius and Aquarius Glucocharge, Schweppes, smartwater, Kinley and Bonaqua packaged drinking water and Kinley Club Soda.
The Company along with its owned bottling operation and other bottling partners, through a strong network of over 2.6 million retail outlets, touches the lives of millions of consumers, at a rate of more than 500 servings per second. Its brands are some of the most preferred and most sold beverages in the country, Thums Up and Sprite being the top two selling sparkling beverage.
The Coca-Cola India system provides direct employment to 25,000 people and indirect employment to more than 150,000 people. The Coca-Cola system in India is contributing in its own small way to building sustainable communities through community initiatives under World Without Waste, Fruit Circular Economy, water stewardship, women empowerment and also committed to reducing its environmental footprint.