Sainsbury's Cola

This article is about the Sainsbury's product. For Olvi's product, see Olvi Cola.

Sainsbury’s Cola

Type	Soft drink
Manufacturer	Cott Corporation
Distributor	Sainsbury's
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Introduced	c. 1966
Flavour	Cola
Variants	Cola, Diet Cola, Cola Zero
Related products	Coca-Cola Pepsi Virgin Cola

Sainsbury’s Cola, formerly Classic Cola, is a carbonated cola soft drink, launched in circa 1966. It is made for the UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's.

History

Sainsbury’s Cola was first introduced In circa 1966. Unlike other store brand colas, which are seen as cheap versions of the real thing, Sainsbury’s Cola was designed to be a worthy competitor to main rivals Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

In 1994, it was relaunched as “Classic Cola” to coincide with the launch of the new contender in the cola business at that time, Virgin Cola. This was during a period of time which the UK media dubbed "the cola wars". Virgin Cola disappeared from the UK market in 2012.

Classic Cola was so successful that in 1994 it represented 15% of the total UK cola market, up from 2.5%. It also increased Sainsbury’s own brand cola share in its stores from 12% to over 60%. Coca-Cola’s share in Sainsbury’s stores reduced from 63% to 33% as a result. Classic Cola became Sainsbury’s most successful own brand product during that year.

Following the re-branding of the core Sainsbury’s own label range to “by Sainsbury’s” in 2013, the Classic Cola range has since been re-branded as “Cola by Sainsbury’s”, but is referred to once again as “Sainsbury’s Cola” on its in store shelf edge labels and on its website.

Current operations

Sainsbury's continues to sell own brand Cola, but it no longer has the same brand recognition as the two major brands Coca-Cola and Pepsi..

Marketing

When Sainsbury’s Cola was re-launched as Classic Cola in 1994, Sainsbury’s, who was then the UK’s largest supermarket chain, felt it had the clout for Classic Cola to have its own separate television adverts, which were broadcast after the endorsement of ITV GMTV.

In popular culture

In 1994 Classic Cola featured in a taste test against Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Virgin Cola on the ITV GMTV television programme Sunday Night Clive. Carrie Fisher shunned Coca-Cola for Classic Cola. Following this, Sainsbury’s saw a substantial increase in sales of Classic Cola as a result. The value of Classic Cola’s media exposure during the first two months of its re-launch was estimated at £1 million.

Legal action

When Sainsbury’s Cola was re-branded as Classic Cola in 1994, the emphasis was placed on the Classic Cola name as a separate brand in its own right, with the then Sainsbury’s logo reduced to a much smaller font. The design of the Classic Cola font also closely resembled that of Coca-Cola. Cola-Cola subsequently threatened legal action, so Sainsbury’s had to change the Classic Cola font, to place greater emphasis on “Cola”, with a reduction in the size and prominence of the word “Classic”.

References

J Sainsbury plc Annual Review 1995 and Summary Financial Statement p11 https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive/j/LSE_GB0767628_1995.pdf

JS Journal June 1994 p5 https://d1nvj7b44vmgv4.cloudfront.net/_file/journal/SA_SC_JSJ_48_5.pdf#page=5

Supermarket News - SAINSBURY AGREES TO ALTER COLA LABEL https://www.supermarketnews.com/grocery-operations/sainsbury-agrees-to-alter-cola-label