Solo (Australian soft drink)


Solo is an Australian lemon-flavoured soft drink currently manufactured under license by Asahi Breweries. Launched in 1968 - first in a bottle, then in a 375ml can by Tarax drinks. It is a ready to drink version of traditional 'pub squash'. There are various versions of Solo available, including Solo Zero, which uses artificial sweetener instead of sugar and also a Lemon&Lime flavored variant of the original recipe.

Marketing

The original Solo can was designed for DDB Needham Melbourne formally Hughes Satchwell by Les Mason Design.
Positioned as a highly masculine drink, Solo presents an overtly male image in its aggressive television commercials. The "Solo man" character and slogans "The thirst crusher" and "Light on the fizz, so you can slam it down fast" were used in advertising until the early 1990s. The commercials often featured scenes of men taking part in activities such as athletics or extreme sports. Since becoming a sponsor of the Football Federation of Australia, the slogan "Game On" has been used.
In 2012, the Solo man was revived by the advertising agency BMF as part of a new Solo advertising campaign.

Overseas markets

sold a similar citrus drink named Rondo in the United States market during the late 1970s and 80s. Like Solo, Rondo's marketing was positioned as a similarly masculine drink. Its aggressive commercials were parodied in the 2006 film Idiocracy as "Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator".
Using the Australian Solo as an inspiration, Cadbury Schweppes has also sold an energy drink in the U.S. called Coolah Energy. It used the tagline "Energy from Down Under". It listed boronia as an ingredient, a citrus plant in Australia known more worldwide for use in floral arrangements than its fruit. Coolah Energy has since been discontinued.