SABA Kola (Turkmenistan)
Imagine being a beverage maker, ready to launch a new cola. Production is done, distribution is lined up, and only one decision remains: how the bottle should look on the store shelf. The goal is immediate visual recognition as a cola, but the question is which reference to choose, the Big Red American or the Big Blue American. If you are a beverage producer in Turkmenistan, the answer is “yes!”. You choose both. You launch two identical colas, one Coca-Cola colored and one Pepsi colored.
This approach was taken with SABA Kola, which was presented with big fanfare in May 2025 in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat. The colas were introduced by the beverage producer Miweli Oba as part of a new soft drink series launched a month earlier.
Founded in 2014, Miweli Oba is Turkmenistan’s largest producer of non-alcoholic beverages. The company manufactures juices and carbonated soft drinks under several brand names, including SABA. The portfolio includes cola, other flavored carbonated soft drinks, and carbonated mineral water, produced for the domestic market in Turkmenistan.
The red SABA Kola and the blue SABA Kola are identical in formulation. The only difference between the two versions is the color of the label. It might have made sense to differentiate the products in some other way, for example by making one sugar free or introducing a flavor variant. But no.
The concept of introducing identical red and blue colas has been seen before in Turkmenistan. The same approach was used by the beverage company Goşa Çynar, which in March 2024 launched a Coca-Cola colored cola identical to an existing Pepsi colored cola.
Sources: Premium SABA Soft Drinks Line Launched in Ashgabat (Business Turkmenistan, 14 May 2025)
