ARC hosts Tajik RC Cola bottlers

MANILA, Philippines - For most Filipinos, Tajikistan is an unfamiliar country, or even a completely unheard of place.  Approximately 3,500 miles away from Manila, Tajikistan is a destination seemingly worlds apart from the Philippines—until one common brand and a passion for good tasting refreshments brought the citizens of these two nations together.

Obi Zulol, the RC Cola bottler in the Republic of Tajikistan, recently visited the Philippines to interact with their counterpart Asiawide Refreshments Corporation (ARC). The licensed bottler of RC Cola in the country played host to the visiting Tajik executives, led by Saadikhon Umarov, deputy general director of Obi Zulol.

The trip was part of Obi Zulol’s incentive for reaching their sales target in 2012. Apart from rest and recreation, one of the most important objectives of the trip was exposure to the Philippine operations of ARC, the company recognized by RC International as one of its most important bottlers.

 â€œARC is constantly engaged in marketing and promotional activities and is always open to share ideas with RCCI bottlers,” expressed Umarov. “For us, it is a great opportunity to see how it is done.”

ARC on its part was more than happy to impart its knowledge, best practices, and above all insights and observations into their sustained growth in the local softdrink market. “We are proud to contribute to building the RC Cola brand not just in the Philippines, but in the whole world,” says Gerry T. Garcia, executive Vp and COO of ARC.

The Tajik bottlers learned about ARC’s operations, sales structure and marketing efforts during their Philippine visit. Although ARC started operations later than their Tajikistan counterpart (Obi Zulol began operations in 2000, while ARC began in 2003), ARC has had a challenging run, emerging as one of the rapidly growing players in the Philippines’ highly competitive beverage industry.

In a span of 10 years, ARC had effectively reintroduced RC Cola to Filipinos, creating a one-two punch with its great taste and friendly price points.  RC Cola has indeed become “RC ng Bayan,” as one of its most recent advertising campaigns proclaimed.