Poppi's TikTok Case Study

One Friday night in January, around 10 p.m., Poppi co-founder Allison Ellsworth was sitting in her Texas home when the inspiration struck her to record a quick impromptu video for her brand’s TikTok profile. She quickly discussed the prebiotic soda company’s founding story and its game changing appearance on Shark Tank (which netted an investment from Rohan Oza and his firm CAVU Venture Partners). As Ellsworth tells it, she spoke briefly but honestly, tying the brand’s journey to her own. The next morning, the video was already a viral hit and by Sunday the company had sold over $75,000 worth of product on Amazon. As of December 2021, the video had over 17.5 million views and 475,000 comments from consumers. Poppi was able to use its initial success to populate its email contact list, going from next to no subscribers in December 2020 to over 200,000 in months, but the company has not slowed down its social media marketing. The brand has posted to TikTok over 100 times since (on occasion striking the right nerve and getting over 1 million views) and Ellsworth remains the main star and face of the company. “Nowadays, that’s what the consumer wants, right? They want to connect with a real human, they don’t want the high gloss, they don’t want the ad in your face,” she told BevNET earlier this year.

With so many companies striving for a viral hit on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, Poppi has shown that the secret isn’t always to think, but to feel. Ellsworth’s on the fly video may not, and probably can’t be replicated (at least not exactly the way she did it), but brands can learn from the moment how the power of authenticity, passion and a founder’s connection to their company can resonate with consumers and put a startup into the spotlight.