NEW DELHI: A recent tweet from a customer urging Parle to bring back its Rola Cola candy has prompted the company to revive the heritage brand. Parle Products had stopped production of the iconic candy in 2006 after it failed to acquire enough volume. However, on February 13, a Twitter user from Kerala, Siddharth Sai G, tweeted, “Dear PARLE. Bring this back”.
The tweet received an encouraging response from Twitterati. Parle was also quick to respond with a challenge for Siddharth, saying, “If all you need is Rola Cola, then all we need are 10K retweets #BringBackRolaCola.” Since then, Siddharth has created a buzz on the social media platform and Parle has received over 10,000 tweets in a month so far, prompting the 88-year-old homegrown company to bring the brand back on retail shelves.
“We had discontinued Rola Cola in 2006 for the domestic market, while continuing to sell it in international markets such as Africa, as the product sort of stagnated after a decade from its launch in the 1990s. We are happy to reconsider our decision and bring back Rola Cola solely based on consumer demand,” said Krishna Rao, category head, Parle Products.
Parle is ready to begin production of the candy at the end of July and plans to make it available across the country by August. The confectionery will return in the same roll candy format priced at `5 per unit. It initially used to retail for Rs 2. For the modern trade channel, Parle is looking to launch a bigger multiple-pack offering priced at Rs 20 a unit.
“We are consciously shifting our focus to the higher price point or Rs 5 products because we are bleeding in certain SKUs (stock keeping unit),” Rao said. He expects Rola-Cola “to become a rage” getting Rs 100 crore, in terms of value, by the end of 2020 as the company is working on rekindling its overall confectionery business.
Consumer demand
Following a request on Twitter, followed up by over 10,000 tweets, Parle decided to revive its Rola Cola candy, production of which was stopped in 2006.