235. Cosmos Orange Rebranded: SUNTA, “We Wunta Sunta”, 1972

SUNTA, 'KATAS-CALIFORNIA' RELAUNCH AD,1972

The new Cosmos Bottling Corp. came to be in 1945, rebuilt by Henry Gao Hong- Wong, that was originally founded as Maila Aerated water Co. back in 1918 by his father Wong Ning.  Unfortunately, the Guangdong migrant would pass away in prison during World War II.

Cosmos sarsaparilla was the company’s flagship product, which took the market by storm. To complement the root beer flavor, it also came up with Cream Soda, Lime, Lemon, Mulberry, Grape, Pineapple and Orange variants. By the 60s, only Sarsaparilla and Orange were the most viable of the Cosmos bottle beverage products.

Cosmos Orange was just a mere tag on mainstream “Sarsi” (short for sarsaparilla) advertising, casually mentioned as “Also available in Orange Flavor”, in the late 60s.  

In 1972, Cosmos reformulated its orange beverage, and improved on its orange flavor, dimensionalized as “Katas-California” (juice from California oranges). The company decided to rebrand it as it was also awkward to call it Sarsi Orange. Thus Orange Cosmos became SUNTA.

It was relaunched on the strength of its “Katas-California” taste, and sold at 15 centavos (up by 5 centavos in 1969), but the execution looked more like a fruit juice ad than a soft drink lifestyle commercial.

LISTEN TO THE SUNTA 

"I WUNTA SUNTA" JINGLE HERE:

The next year, a new SUNTA advertising campaign burst on TV screens featuring a catchy slogan, “We wunta SUNTA”, that certainly helped in creating brand awareness for the new reformulated product. It also gave the brand a new, distinct identity—pushed by a light, lilty jingle sung by Fides Cuyugan-Asencio and composed by the prodigious Jose Mari Chan.

SUNTA made use of the precocious child star Niño Muhlach, who lent his cuteness to the brand by way of TV commercial appearances. 

SUNTA enjoyed a short-lived boom as a price range soda brand, but by the early 70, the Philippine economy was floundering and the peso lost its buying power. From 10 centavos in 1969, its price increased to 25 centavos by 1975. But SUNTA stayed on, until the business floundered after Henry Wong’s death. RFM acquired the company in 1989.

SOURCE:
'Strictly Commercial", Jose Mari Chan "The Jingles Collection"CD.