Qibla Cola

Introduction

Qibla Cola is a cola-flavoured carbonated beverage. Available in regular and diet varieties, it is the flagship product of the Qibla Cola Company, based in Derby, England.

Founders

The two founders of the company are Derby based Zahida Parveen and Zafer Iqbal. The operating directors of the company also included Mohammed Haider, Mohammed Kalim and Zafar Iqbal.

Launch

Qibla Cola was launched onto the UK market in February 2003, with a television advertising campaign beginning in October. Since then, agreements have been reached with distributors in other countries in Europe, North America, and Asia.

Philosophy

Qibla Cola's marketing strategy and corporate vision reflected an attempt to tap into a desire for responsible consumption. They claimed to offer a genuine alternative for those cola-drinkers who are wary about the practices and ethics of the major multinational soft-drink companies. Qibla's ethical stance manifested itself in the company's pledge to donate 10% of its net profits to humanitarian causes around the world.

Although the product's name appeared to contain a clear reference to Islamic theology — where the word Qibla is used to indicate the direction of the Masjid al Haram in the holy city of Makkah (Mecca), towards which all Muslims turn when praying — the company said that in its name, qibla was used in its simple, non-religious sense, meaning "direction". Qibla Cola was thus aimed at consumers of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds, although the company noted that they had focused more on Muslim markets and that all their products are halal.

In addition to its two cola varieties, the company produced and sold the following products:

• Qibla Mango
• Qibla Guava
• Qibla Fantasy (orange flavour)
• Qibla 5 (lemon-lime)
• Qibla Water (premium spring water)

Qibla's chief competitors included France's Mecca-Cola and Iran's Zam Zam Cola, in addition to the US-originating products of the Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola families.

Progress

The UK based distribution ceased on September, 2005.

However, operations in Malaysia, Pakistan and Bangladesh are on-going with other countries to launch soon.

External links

• The Qibla Cola Company