When Coca-Cola bought RimZim from Parle Agro in the eighties and then yanked it off the shelves a decade later, it was following the Thums Up script. But just as attempts to kill it only pushed consumers towards Pepsi, forcing Coca-Cola to re-launch the brand, the ongoing slugfest in the ethnic drinks market seems to have laid the ground for RimZim to return to the shelves riding on Bollywood nostalgia.
Coca-Cola’s new campaign for RimZim Jeera reworks RD Burman’s 1972 blockbuster track Duniya Mein Logo Ko, and leads with ‘Jeere mein heera, RimZim Jeera’. But this time around Coca-Cola will need more than nostalgia to move the needle in its favour.The task is not easy. That Rs 4,000-5,000-crore segment has become cluttered in the last few years. Lahori has a firm hold in the northern markets and is available in more than 500,000 retail outlets with a distribution network of close to 2,500. That appears small compared to Coca-Cola’s massive bottling and distribution network, and its reach of over 6 million retail outlets, but to give it to the nine-year-old brand, it has created a niche for itself from scratch.
Lahori posted turnover of more than Rs 500 crore in the financial year 2024-25 (FY25) and is expecting to grow to Rs 800 crore in FY26.
Non-alcoholic beverage space
As per reports, Campa and Lahori have 15% of India’s non-alcoholic beverage space, reducing the Coca-Cola and Pepsi’s combined share in the Rs 67,000-crore market to about 85% from 93% last year. Bindu Jeera, a popular jeera soda from the south, plans to expand into the north and become a Rs 1,000 crore brand sooner than later.The problem also is, the other jeera brands aren’t trying to make a different pitch either. Whether it’s Lahori Jeera or Bindu Jeera, they are all playing on the “nostalgic” flavour of their drinks and are even selling at the same price point of Rs 10. Latest entrant Campa Jeera is positioned as a “spice, fizzy, cumin chaos” that brings back memories of simpler times.
Ashish Bhasin, founder, The Bhasin Consulting Group & former Asia Pacific CEO of Dentsu, believes that brands like RimZim and Campa were quite popular in the northern region and carries great memories of their taste. “A brand like RimZim is like an accrued asset part of the Coca-Cola portfolio,” says Bhasin. “The nostalgia factor will be a great differentiator for a brand like RimZim,” he adds.Making the drink relevant for the new generation will be primary task. “While millennials have related to RimZim since childhood, Gen Z and Gen Alpha don’t yet have that emotional connection,” says Prerna Manik Mahindroo, assistant professor, business analytics, K J Somaiya Institute of Management. “The brand that fills that gap by bringing back memories for adults and making new, modern ones for younger people who only know jeera from the kitchen will win over many hearts”, says Mahindroo.
Win over Millennials and Gen X
If RimZim wishes to win over millennials and Gen X, it will have to maintain the taste consistency the brand was known for. “Nostalgia works only if the product delivers the exact flavour memory consumers expect. If RimZim can recreate a distinctive, recognisable taste profile, it gains a psychological edge that advertising alone cannot create,” says Yasin Hamidani, director, Media Care Brand Solutions.
The agency says nostalgia is the entry point, but not the destination. The task is to honour the cult equity while making it culturally relevant for a generation rediscovering pride in local flavours.“Coca-Cola will succeed because of its market and distribution muscle,” says Prabhakar Mundkur, advisory director, Miami Ad School.