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Virgin Cola

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Virgin Cola
TypeCola
Country of origin American-Canadian
Introduced1994; 30 years ago (1994)
Discontinued2014; 10 years ago (2014)
VariantsDiet Cola, Vanilla, Lime, Orange, Cloudy Lemon, Blue Lemon
Related productsCoca-Cola
Pepsi
Cott
RC Cola
Websitewww.virgindrinks.com Edit this on Wikidata

Virgin Cola was a carbonated cola soft drink, launched in 1994. In 2009, it was discontinued in the United Kingdom, and in 2014 it was stopped being made by its final licensee, in Bangladesh.

History

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Virgin Cola was set up during the early 1990s in conjunction with Cott, an American-Canadian company that specialises in bottling own-label drinks. Cott was looking for a major international brand that could have worldwide appeal. Virgin Group founder, Richard Branson was looking to widen the Virgin name and to rival the Coca-Cola and Pepsi brands.

Virgin Cola began to hit international shores within its first year. The UK first served the drink on Virgin Atlantic flights, on-board shops on Virgin Trains and also at Virgin Cinemas. The Gulliver's Kingdom chain of theme parks in the UK also sold post-mix Virgin Cola. This led Virgin Cola to agree a distribution deal with British supermarket retailer Tesco in 1994.[1]

A promotional blimp can be seen saving a woman’s life on the show Baywatch, in the episode “The Runaways”, first aired in the U.S. on May 20, 1995. The episode features Richard Branson heavily.

From 1996, the 500ml bottles were marketed as "The Pammy", as their curves were designed to resemble Pamela Anderson who was at the height of her popularity in the UK at the time.[2][3] It went on to be launched in France, Belgium and South Africa.[4]

In 1998, Branson attended the USA launch of Virgin Cola driving a T-54/55 tank into New York City's Times Square.[5][6] It subsequently agreed distribution channels with US retailers such as Target.[6] Virgin Drinks USA, the company dealing in Virgin Cola's US market, closed in April 2001, having managed to establish just a 0.5% share of the market by volume.[7]

A bottle of Virgin Cola can be seen on the coffee table in Monica and Rachel's apartment in the Friends episode "The One with Joey's Bag" that first aired in the U.S. on 4 February 1999. Branson had previously appeared in an episode and was said to be a fan of the show. A can of Virgin Cola appears in Ally McBeal in the title character's refrigerator in the episode "Love Unlimited", first aired on 18 January 1999. In season 4 episode 10 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer ("The Hush"), Willow is seen drinking a can of Virgin Cola in a scene with Buffy.

In 2002, a vanilla cola called Virgin Vanilla was launched in the UK, ahead of the launch of a similar product from rival Coca-Cola.[8] In 2004, it was announced that Virgin Vanilla would be discontinued in order to focus on the teenage market.[9]

Decline

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“We had a great brand. But Coke had a great brand. The taste of the Cola was maybe marginally better, but it was neither here nor there. So since then what I learned from that was only to go into businesses where we were palpably better than all the competition.”

—Branson's retrospective on Virgin Cola.[10]

According to Branson, a campaign was run by The Coca-Cola Company against Virgin Cola.[11] Originally Coca-Cola did not treat Virgin as a serious competitor, but when Virgin started outselling Coke in the United Kingdom and entered the American market, Coke realised it needed to do something. At the suggestion of a British female Coca-Cola executive, Coke assembled teams for an influencing campaign.[12] Its intent was to make deals with retailers that sold Coke and Virgin Cola to get Virgin Cola removed from the shelves.[13] Branson admitted Virgin did not know this was going on and it eventually led to a drop in sales.[14] Branson did become aware that the drink had become discontinued in Tesco, the UK's biggest supermarket.[15] Later the Coke executive would work for Lloyds TSB and would become the manager of Virgin Group's bank accounts to which Branson, when he found out from her at a dinner, said "I wasn't sure whether to strangle her or not" but forgave her for it.[14][16]

In 2007, Silver Spring acquired the UK licence from Princes Group, who had been operating Virgin Cola in a limited capacity.[17] However, the company stopped producing Virgin Cola by early 2009, though would hold on to the license until it fell into administration in 2012.[18]

In 2014, Global Beverage Company Limited, the final international licensee for Virgin Cola, based in Bangladesh, stopped producing the beverage, leading to its total demise.[19] Branson claimed he decided to pull the plug after seeing that Bangladesh was the only remaining success.[20]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Hosking, Patrick (16 October 1994). "Virgin deputy shuns new cola". The Independent. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  2. ^ Fox, Genevieve (16 February 1996). "Mine's a Coke - no, make that a Pammy". The Independent. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2012. (subscription required)
  3. ^ "h2g2 - Cola Drinks". BBC. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
  4. ^ Mayer, Caroline E. (26 March 1998). "Branson Throws The Cola Biz a Curve; Virgin's CEO Plans U.S. Launch for 'Pammy'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  5. ^ "VIRGIN COLA TAKES AIM AT COCA-COLA'S SOFT DRINK STRANGLEHOLD". Post-Tribune. 13 May 1998. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  6. ^ a b Fisher, Eric (29 August 1998). "Virgin Cola faces uphill fight: Britain's new No. 3 gears for area push". The Washington Times.[dead link‍]
  7. ^ "Will global markets embrace Virgin?". Marketing Week. 27 July 2001. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  8. ^ "Virgin Cola trumps Coca-Cola with first UK launch of vanilla variant. (News).(Virgin Cola to introduce Virgin Vanilla soft drink in United Kingdom)(Brief Article)". Marketing Week. 12 December 2002. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  9. ^ "Virgin Cola relaunch to target teen market.(News)(Brief Article)". Marketing Week. 18 March 2004. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  10. ^ Smith, Edward. What Richard Branson learned when Coke put Virgin Cola out of business, cnbc.com 07 February 2017. Retrieved on 13 May 2022.
  11. ^ ""They set out to squash us and they did it effectively."". Inc.com. 4 March 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  12. ^ "The Secret of Billionaire Richard Branson's Success". Yahoo Sports. 1 November 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  13. ^ Branson, Richard (2007). Losing my Virginity. Random House. p. 402. ISBN 978-0753513002.
  14. ^ a b Catherine Clifford (7 February 2017). "What Richard Branson learned when Coke put Virgin Cola out of business". CNBC. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  15. ^ Branson, Richard (January 2017). "How I Made This Podcast with Guy Raz". NPR.
  16. ^ Besinger, Graham. "Sir Richard Branson". In Depth. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  17. ^ "Virgin Cola signs TV show tie-up ahead of relaunch.(Virgin Drinks Group Ltd.)(Brief article)". Marketing Week. 10 July 2008. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  18. ^ "Our Drinks Range". 1 March 2009. Archived from the original on 1 March 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  19. ^ "Global Beverage Company Limited::". 13 January 2013. Archived from the original on 13 January 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  20. ^ Clifford, Catherine (7 February 2017). "What Richard Branson learned when Coke put Virgin Cola out of business". CNBC. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
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