It has not been smooth sailing for South Korean 815 Cola which was initially released in 1998 and has been through two re-launches since. The current version from 2016 seems to have caught on, however.

Food manufacturer Bumyang used to bottle Coca-Cola in South Korea. This came to and end in 1995 when Coca-Cola tried to acquire Bumyang but Bumyang decided instead to drop Coca-Cola and make its own cola drink.

In 1998 they launched 815 Cola. The name is a reference to August 15th, the South Korean independence day. The marketing played heavily on a form of patriotism and the drink was branded as an opposition to the “invading” American colas.

It doesn’t seem to have been a big seller, however. Eventually the company went bankrupt and 815 Cola disappeared.

The license was later purchased by ProM who relaunched 815 Cola in 2014 but only managed to produce a few batches, and quickly gave up.

Through merges the license ended up with the company Woongjin who made another attempt with 815 Cola in 2016. In 2024 it is still around. It is still branded as a Korean alternative to the big Americans who combined holds more than 90 % of cola-market in South Korea.