R.C. Cola

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R.C. Cola

Type	Cola
Manufacturer	Cott Beverages/ Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages
Country of Origin	Columbus, Georgia USA
Introduced	1905
Related products	Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola

R.C. Cola (or Royal Crown Cola) is a cola soft drink developed in 1905 by Columbus, Georgia pharmacist Claude A. Hatcher.

1 Ingredients
2 History
3 Brand portfolio
4 Advertising campaigns
5 See also
6 External links
7 References

[edit] Ingredients

RC Cola contains (in order from most to least) carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar, caramel coloring, phosphoric acid, caffeine, natural flavors, gum acacia (gum arabic), and citric acid.

[edit] History

The first product in the Royal Crown line was "Chero-Cola" in 1905, followed by Royal Crown Ginger Ale, Royal Crown Strawberry and Royal Crown Root Beer. The company was renamed Chero-Cola, and in 1925 called Nehi Corporation after its colored and flavored drinks. In 1934, Chero-Cola was reformulated and re-released as Royal Crown Cola.

In the 1950s, the combination of R.C. Cola and Moonpies became popular in the American South.^[1]

In 1958, the company introduced the first diet cola, Diet Rite, and later the first caffeine free cola, "RC 100". In the mid-1990s, the company released Royal Crown Draft Cola, billed as a "premium" cola and using pure sugarcane. Offered only in 12-ounce bottles, the cola's sales were disappointing and it was quickly discontinued with the exceptions of Australia and New Zealand. Philippe Bailly successfully introduced "Royal Crown Draft Cola" to the French marketplace in 1999. The company has also released Cherry R.C. a cherry flavored version of the R.C. soft drink to compete with Coca-Cola Cherry and Wild Cherry Pepsi.

In October 2000, Royal Crown was acquired by Cadbury Schweppes plc through its acquisition of Snapple. Royal Crown operations were folded into Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc., a former subsidiary of Cadbury Schweppes. In 2001, all international RC-branded business was sold to Cott Beverages of Mississauga, Ontario and is operated as Royal Crown Cola International. Operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and other U.S. territories are now handled by Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages.

[edit] Brand portfolio

Royal Crown Cola (RC Cola)
Diet RC
Diet Rite
Royal Crown Draft Cola (Very Limited In U.S)
Cherry R.C. (available in limited markets)
RC Edge (discontinued)
RC 100 (discontinued)
Caffeine Free RC (available in limited markets)

[edit] Advertising campaigns

In the 1960s, Royal Crown Cola did an ad campaign featuring two birds, made by Jim Henson; these birds later became the inspiration for Big Bird from Sesame Street.
Nancy Sinatra was featured in two Royal Crown Cola commercials in her one hour special called "Movin' with Nancy" featuring various singers in November,1967. She sang "it's a mad, mad, mad Cola..RC the one with the mad, mad taste!...RC! "
Royal Crown was the official sponsor of New York Mets during the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
In the mid 1970s, Royal Crown ran an advertising campaign called "Me & My RC", the most famous of which featured actress Sharon Stone delivering pizza on a skateboard. Others featured independent people in a variety of scenic outdoor locations. The jingle, sung by Louise Mandrell, went "Me and my RC. Me and my RC...What's good enough for other folks, ain't good enough for me."