The Story of Goldspot Drink
Goldspot was one of the three brands of carbonated soft drink started in India by Parle Bisleri under the initiative of its founder Ramesh Chauhan, in 1977 after the exit of Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co from the Indian market. GoldSpot was introduced along with Thums Up and Limca. It was artificially flavoured and coloured orange. Parle sold GoldSpot along with Thums Up, Limca, Citra and Maaza to Coca-Cola in 1993, reportedly for $40 million.
In spite of its wide popularity, GoldSpot was removed by Coke from the market in order to make space for Coca-Cola & Fanta brand. GoldSpot was launched in 1952, It became an instant hit among the people of India because of its good taste even when the drink was slightly chilled. A lot of sellers would carry bottles of GoldSpot in large utensils filled with ice to keep the bottles chill and would sell them at crowded locations, children loved the tangy orange taste and some clever marketing by Parle made this drink one of the most popular drinks of the time. For the next few years Parle expanded its beverage business by setting up more bottling units & franchise network for GoldSpot. By 1970, Parle had a pan-India presence through its wide bottling plant network for GoldSpot and the time was right to introduce another beverage to capitalize on this investment. With an orange drink already in its portfolio, the next obvious choice was a lemon drink, and this is how Limca was born.
Goldspot and Limca were some of the most popular drinks in India by the mid-1970s, In the meantime, Coca Cola was also gaining wide attention in India because of the aggressive marketing campaigns and advertisements. The battle between Coca Cola and Parle was neck to neck, both the companies were pushing hard to promote their brands. Coca Cola had the edge as it was a foreign company and the young people in India
were obsessed with foreign brands at the time, But Parle had some clever ideas to counter this problem. As Coca Cola was more popular among the youth, and GoldSpot was more liked by children, Parle decided to change its marketing strategy by changing the image of GoldSpot from Children’s drink tosomething premium & uber-cool. Parle spent huge load of money on print ads to reach out to people from every class including upper middle class and politicians.
To capture the attention of the people, Parle casted a young upcoming South Indian Model for ads, she would later go on to become one of the greatest actors of the industry, she was none other then Rekha. Colorful print ads featuring young Rekha sipping GoldSpot through a straw had become a national sensation. Never before had Indians seen such “sexy” ads of a beautiful model sipping a drink or caressing her cheeks with a bottle. The tag line “Livva little hot, Sippa GoldSpot” added more oomph factor, showcasing that GoldSpot was for those who wanted to live “hot “. Soon GoldSpot also experimented with sub-conscious marketing techniques by incorporating flashing messages. In strategic locations across cities, billboards with the ad with flashing lights for the tag-line were installed.
For the next few years, tensions were at an all time high due to the political conflicts in the country, this took its toll in Parle as outings, joyrides, trips and vacations had taken a backseat. MNCs like coca cola had the financial backing to withstand this slowdown, but Indian companies like Parle found it difficult to sustain. In 1993 Coco Cola bought out the three mega brands from Parle for a consideration of $10 mn. Coke slowly began killing the Parle brands to make way for its own brands. Thums Up was sidelined in favor of Coca Cola. Limca was sidelined and Goldspot was killed to make way for Fanta. Coke expected that the users of GoldSpot will migrate to Fanta but it did not happen. And that is how the most loved brand of 80s was killed.
Read More : 7 Drinks Everyone Must Drink This Summer To Beat The Heat
