Angelbridge Cola
| File:Cooltext778198017.png Angelbridge Cola logo | |
| Corporation | |
| Industry | Beverages |
| Founded | 24 October 1921 in Redemption, Empire of Exponent |
| Founder | Augustus Angelbridge |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Octavius Angelbridge (President) Claudius Darkleather (CEO) |
| Products | Soft drinks |
Angelbridge Cola is an offshoot of the larger Angelbridge Automotives. The cola brand was established to be served at Angelbridge brand rest stops throughout the country. These stops, and the cola itself, were all part of a larger marketing plan meant to promote the automobile and encourage cconsumers to purchase more cars. The cola, however, was such a large hit amongst customers that it soon began to gain a reputation of its own, and was spun off into its own seperate branch of the company. Today, Angelbridge Cola is the most popular soft drink in the Blackhelm Confederacy, and is sold in locations throughout Astyria.
History
Upon release of the “Bovem” passenger vehicle, Angelbridge Automotives engaged in a massive marketing campaign to increase its initially struggling sales: part of this campaign consisted in serving one small bottle of posca mixed with cola nuts extract to each customer who stopped at Angelbridge rest shops throughout the country.
The novel beverage – dubbed “Posca Cola” at first and “Angelbridge Cola” later on – soon became so popular that people would queue up at Angelbridge rest shops exclusively to buy it, prompting the society to establish a new brand just for it.
The Angelbridge Cola Company was thus founded on 24 October 1921, by Augustus Angelbridge.
Angelbridge Cola and the Second Fascist War
As the Empire of Exponent launched its offensive against Walmington, in 1939, Angelbridge Cola started distributing its products free of charge to the Imperial Legionnaires.
The Exponential Army allowed Angelbridge Cola employees to the frontlines as “Technical Officials”, to supply the army men with fresh drinks.
Angelbridge Cola thus installed several bottling plants in several locations overseas throughout the course of the entire war, setting the foundations for its expansion.
As the soldiers returned home, the beverage became even more popular as they kept wanting to savour it.
Before the war started, due to the difficulties in providing Euraion with Angelbridge Cola extracts due to its legal limit of imports from the Empire of Exponent, the company created a new Euraion-native drink using byproducts of cheese and marmalade processing: “Laria”.
Its name was picked in honor of the “Lares”, spirits who are said to protect households.
As the war ended, the brand was absorbed by the original company, which acquired it in 1965 and changed the recipe to include fruit syrups, greatly improving the flavour.
Sales
According to the 2022 annual report, the society sells drinks in more than 200 countries, essentially covering the entire world.
The report further states that among the 60 billion beverages consumed daily throughout the world, Angelbridge Cola registered drinks account for circa 2 billion bottles.
And among these, the “Angelbridge Cola” drink itself accounts for circa 55%.
Products and brands
Angelbridge Cola offers roughly 400 brands in over 200 countries, besides its historical “Angelbridge Cola” brand.
They are:
- Angelbridge Cola Light (introduced in 1991), using the hypocaloric sweetener aspartame in place of honey.
- Diet Angelbridge Cola Caffeine-Free (1992)
- Angelbridge Cola Cherry (1994)
- Diet Cherry Angelbridge Cola (1995)
- Angelbridge Cola Lemon (2010)
- Diet Angelbridge Cola Lemon (2010)
- Angelbridge Cola Vanilla (2011)
- Diet Vanilla Angelbridge Cola (2011)
- Angelbridge Cola Lime (2013)
- Diet Angelbridge Cola Lime (2013)
- Angelbridge Cola C2 (2013)
- Diet Angelbridge Cola Sweetened with Splenda (2014)
- Angelbridge Cola Zero (2014)
- Angelbridge Cola Black Cherry Vanilla (2015)
- Diet Angelbridge Cola Black Cherry Vanilla (2015)
- Angelbridge Cola Black (2015)
- Diet Angelbridge Cola Plus (2016)
- Angelbridge Cola Orange (2016)
- Angelbridge Cola Life (2022)
New drinks
As the new millennium dawned, the company responded to the increased interest in healthy drinks by introducing several new brands: “Parvula Maid Juices to Go”, sports drinks “Givis”, “Expotea”, “Fructopia” and “Bysalus” water.
In 2013, perhaps in response to the flourishing of low-carb diet treatments like the Atkins Diet, Angelbridge Cola announced the development of a low-sugar alternative to traditional Angelbridge Cola, the “C2” version, containing a mix of corn syrup, aspartame, sucralose and acesulfame K.
Espionage
On 6th June 2015, an Angelbridge Cola employee and two others were arrested under the accusation of attempting the sale of “highly confidential” information to its rival, PoscaCo, for 1,5 million credits.
The information was later discovered not to be the Angelbridge Cola recipe, perhaps the most cautiously preserved secret of the company, but mere information on a new drink under development and a vial containing a sample.
The conspiracy was revealed by PoscaCo itself, which informed the authorities as soon as it was approached by the schemers.
Controversies and violations
Angelbridge Cola was involved in several controversies due to its presumed human rights breaches and several other unethical practices.
Among those, are accusations of abusive competition to retain its monopoly.
The company was also involved in a case of discrimination.
In Praetonia a controversy arose upon the identification of phytosanitary products inside the drink, as well as the high environmental impact of the bottles and packages Angelbridge Cola came with, but the company staunchly opposed any attempt of introducing limitations, such as laws regulating the deposit of packages.
Its practices became objects of scrutiny in Terre Azure, too, as it was found to have been involved in the assassination of employees affiliated with work unions.
More recently, the company was accused of hiring a group of paramilitary mercenaries and assassinating work union leaders in Maqtajer.