Once done, brand owners should not decide the turn their brand should take; consumers are clever enough to conclude. They can think otherwise.

Many, many years ago Coca Cola Company bought the Indian brand ThumsUp. ThumsUp was going great guns. It was a market leader. But folks at Coca Cola had different plans. They wanted to kill the ThumsUp brand so that Coke could rule the marketplace. They tried. And tried. And failed.

People wanted their thunder. They wanted their ThumsUp. Reluctantly, ThumsUp was out there again. Off the 3 main cola brands in India, ThumsUp still leads. So much so, that the company has now made plans to make ThumsUp a global brand. I love that.

Earlier I highlighted the ‘Red Cans’ from the Coca Cola Company. Here’s more to their ‘can plan’.

In the energy drink market, Red Bull leads. And is followed by Monster. And then by many others. How can Coca Cola Company not be in this segment? So instead of introducing a new brand for their energy drink, they tweaked ThumsUp and called it ThumsUp Charged. Of course, ThumsUp is also there. I think Coca Cola Company loves to confuse their customers. I doubt if they can make a dent in the Red Bull market share; instead the ThumsUp brand has unnecessarily exposed itself. Fiddling with what’s already doing well is not a good marketing idea.

That they have introduced Charged variant in a black can is a saving grace though. At least some differentiation is created. But who knows, moving forward, even these can will change… to blue or red or something new altogether.

Coca Cola Company is stuffed with resources. They can afford to lose millions on experiments. And because rich and successful companies don’t like my advice, my humble submission to businesspeople with access to limited funds is to keep away from such fallacies.

More of my thoughts in the book available at www.prakashbang.com. The eBook is almost free. Costs Rs 95.