Homegrown beverage brand Lahori Zeera has launched a high-visibility campaign in The Times of India on August 23, using the phrases “Apna Desi Thanda” and “The Thanda of India” to reposition itself in India's fiercely competitive soft-drinks market.
Rather than promoting taste or refreshment alone, the campaign attempts to reclaim the culturally loaded word “thanda” and associate it with an Indian brand.
Reframing a Familiar Advertising Legacy
The positioning is notable because “thanda” has long been synonymous with Coca-Cola through its iconic “Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola” platform. Lahori Zeera's communication challenges that decades-old association by asking a simple yet strategic question: if "thanda" is India's everyday word for a cold drink, why should it remain identified with multinational cola brands?
The campaign also reflects changing market dynamics. According to an Economic Times report published in November 2025, Reliance Consumer Products' Campa and Lahori Zeera nearly doubled their combined market share to around 15% during January–September 2025, while Coca-Cola and PepsiCo saw their combined share decline from 93% to 85% over the same period.
Beyond Nationalism, Towards Market Share
While the campaign carries an unmistakably Indian identity, Saurabh Munjal, Co-founder and CEO of Lahori Zeera, says this wasn't the original strategic direction. The campaign has instead evolved into a broader statement positioning the brand as a credible domestic alternative to multinational beverage leaders.
The Last Word
As challenger brands gain distribution and consumer confidence, the next battleground may not be shelf space—but ownership of the cultural language that defines an entire category.