Jolly Cola is an original Danish soft drink dating back to 1959. Jolly is owned by the limited company 'Dansk Coladrik A/S' (Danish Coladrink Ltd). Jolly Cola is now produced by Brewery Vestfyen, which also produces Jolly Light, Jolly Time (a sports drink), and Jolly Orange.
Dansk Coladrik was founded in 1959 to compete with the American brands before they hit the Danish markets, especially Coca-Cola. Many products from the United States were copied in this way shortly before they were introduced in Denmark, so people already had a connection with the Danish brand. Dansk Coladrink is an independent company owned by the stock holders; however, Brewery Vestfyen owns a majority of stock in the company. Up until the 1980s, Jolly Cola had a market share of about 40% of the Danish cola market. This was extraordinary, as Denmark is one of a few countries in the world, where another cola than the original Coca-Cola has had a larger market share.
Jolly Cola's longtime slogan "Say Jolly to your cola!" was changed to "Free your taste" on its 50th birthday in 2009. The bottles and cans today has the slogan “EN ÆGTE DANSK ORIGINAL – SIDEN 1959” meaning "A REAL DANISH ORIGINAL – SINCE 1959"
History
Following World War II, many countries in the world viewed Coca-Cola as synonymous with the US and an American life-style, and as the US developed and increased its influence on society, so did Coca-Cola. In the meantime, the Danish population still had to wait until 1959, before they could buy a bottle of Coca-Cola.