Evoca Cola
| Type | Cola |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Evoca Enterprises Limited |
| Country of origin | London, England UK |
| Introduced | May 2003 |
| Related products | Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola |
Evoca Cola is a cola-flavoured carbonated soft drink. It is produced by Evoca Drinks, a London based soft drinks company, and is sold in the United Kingdom, France, and Algeria.
History
Evoca Drinks was established in May 2003 in the United Kingdom and launched its flagship brand Evoca Cola in January 2004.
Evoca Cola was the first and still is the only cola in the world to contain black seed (Nigella sativa) extract. After initial piloting in London, it was advertised on cable channels with its 'Power of Black Seed' and 'The Original Black Seed Cola' slogans. It relaunched its brand in June 2005 to challenge global soft drink manufacturers such as Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola with its own 'Evoca Taste Challenge'. Although Evoca Cola is very similar in taste to Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola, it differs in its composition by being made with natural mineral water and with the addition of a special tasteless black seed extract.
Evoca Cola launched its new television advertising campaign airing on cable/sky channels. The adverts drew comparisons with Red Bull animated adverts.
Islamic Cola
In the UK Evoca Cola faced challenges from other brand competitors such as Qibla Cola and Mecca Cola but retained a presence in the market with a consistent client base (an example being the fact that it is sold nationally in UK Asda stores).
Vendors of the cola have highlighted the presence of black seed (حبه البركة Arabic), as black seed is well known in Islamic culture (amongst others), and there are recorded hadiths from the prophet Muhammad which mention its qualities as being healing and beneficial (Sahih al-Bukhari).
The issue of 'Islamic colas' has been a controversial one, creating a great deal of media attention and publicity, and Evoca's competitors used this attention to create brand awareness. Evoca drinks thought that to label their company or products may create problems later on and possibly have adverse effects on the brands future.
Despite the addition of black seed being a possible advantageous marketing angle, the product was not positioned or sold as an 'Islamic cola' due to its largely growing mainstream appeal as a result of its unique composition amongst rival brands, Evoca choosing to highlight USP's such as the use of 100% mineral water and natural ingredients only.
Other cola companies historically have never discussed or focused on the actual ingredients used in their colas, and what was inside the drink was always a 'trade secret', whilst focus was put almost exclusively on the image of the brands themselves. Evoca were trying to draw consumer attention to the quality aspects of the ingredients used to make the drink itself as they realised that this was the only way to attract customers who were used to drinking the market leading brands, by the proposition that they offered a higher quality alternative to the market leaders.