The Indian soft drink market has always been a clash of titans—Coca-Cola and Pepsi at the forefront for decades. But recently, a forgotten brand rewrote the rules of competition. At the center of this disruption was a simple number: ₹10.
That brand is Campa Cola. Once a household favorite in the 70s and 80s, it disappeared when global players took over. Now, revived under Reliance Consumer Products, it has made a spectacular comeback with a pricing-led strategy that has everyone talking.
At Treehack, we specialize in analyzing bold marketing moves like these and translating them into digital-first strategies for our clients. Because whether you’re selling beverages, software, or services—the principle remains the same: the right mix of positioning, pricing, and storytelling can shift markets.
Nostalgia Meets Reliance’s Scale
When Reliance acquired Campa Cola in 2022, it didn’t just bring back a product—it brought back an emotion. Instead of splurging on high-profile celebrity endorsements, the brand tapped into nostalgia and authenticity while making affordability its strongest selling point.
For us at Treehack, this is a reminder that not every marketing win requires heavy ad spend. Sometimes, the power lies in creating an emotional connection and pairing it with a practical advantage.
We’ve applied similar thinking for B2B clients where brand recall and trust-building matter as much as features or pricing. By reviving old narratives or highlighting unique “homegrown” value, we’ve helped businesses position themselves against much larger competito
The ₹10 Disruption Strategy
Reliance’s masterstroke was simple yet effective: a 200ml Campa Cola bottle priced at just ₹10.
This wasn’t just about affordability—it was about positioning price as the campaign itself. Consumers instantly noticed the difference, while distributors and retailers embraced the margins, turning into natural advocates. Reliance leveraged distribution as its strongest marketing channel, making the drink available from kirana shops to JioMart.
At Treehack, we often recommend distribution-led marketing strategies for clients. For instance, when working with a SaaS brand targeting global enterprises, instead of heavy ad campaigns, we focused on channel partnerships and LinkedIn distribution. The result? Instead of chasing visibility through paid ads, the brand was endorsed by its ecosystem—similar to how Campa Cola was pushed by retailers.
The principle is universal: when your partners or distributors become your promoters, your marketing works harder and cheaper.
Market Impact: More Than Just Fizz
In just 18 months, Campa Cola crossed ₹1,000 crore in revenue and secured a double-digit share of the Indian soft drink market. Competing directly with Coke and Pepsi, it proved that even in a crowded category, disruptive strategies can create space for challengers.
For Treehack’s clients, we’ve seen this play out in different forms:
- A B2B tech company regained market visibility by repositioning its pricing model and content narrative, resulting in a 40% spike in inbound leads within three months.
- An emerging consumer brand built trust not with big ad spends, but by leveraging organic storytelling, influencer seeding, and community building—mirroring how Campa Cola used nostalgia and conversations to grow.
The lesson: you don’t need to outspend your competitors—you need to outthink them.
What Marketers Can Learn from Campa Cola
Campa Cola’s revival is more than just a beverage story. It’s a blueprint for brands across industries:
- Price as Positioning – Your pricing can become your campaign.
- Leverage Nostalgia or Legacy – Old stories can be repackaged for new audiences.
- Empower Partners – Give distributors, affiliates, or channel partners better margins and reasons to advocate for you.
- Focus on Visibility – From kirana stores to Instagram feeds, be where your audience is.
- Storytelling Over Spending – A strong comeback story beats expensive celebrity campaigns
The Treehack Approach: Turning Insights Into Action
At Treehack, we don’t just decode these stories—we build strategies inspired by them for our clients. Our approach combines:
- Market Analysis – Understanding where a brand can disrupt, just like Reliance spotted pricing as the gap.
- Storytelling – Crafting narratives that make a brand more relatable, authentic, and shareable.
- Distribution & Digital Leverage – Making sure the right message reaches the right audience through the right channels.
👉 Example: One of our clients in the enterprise tech space faced stiff competition from global players. Instead of fighting on budget, we repositioned their offering as a “cost-effective alternative” (a similar play to Campa Cola’s ₹10 strategy). By aligning content, SEO, and LinkedIn distribution around this positioning, they saw a surge in qualified leads and started competing effectively in a crowded market.
Conclusion: The Marketing Masterstroke
Campa Cola’s ₹10 strategy is a reminder that the most powerful campaigns don’t always come from big budgets—they come from sharp positioning, simple storytelling, and execution that aligns with consumer behavior.
At Treehack, we believe every brand has a potential “₹10 moment”—a way to stand out, disrupt, and capture attention in its own market. Our role is to help brands uncover it and turn it into measurable growth.
Because in marketing, the fizz isn’t just in the product. It’s in the strategy.
