Poppi

Three years ago, we gave the 2021 Best Marketing award to Poppi in recognition of the next gen soda’s mastery over the young medium of TikTok, after it turned an inadvertent viral post into a social media machine that’s still chugging along at full power. At the time, Poppi was a fresh brand, full of promise, establishing its name on a new marketing frontier. But in 2024, it found time to shine on one of advertising's oldest and boldest stages.

Poppi’s 60-second Super Bowl LVIII ad in February became, according to at least one analytics firm, the most watched commercial out of this year’s game – no small feat for a multi-million dollar introduction declaring loudly and proudly that “soda is not a dirty word.” Titled “The Future of Soda is Now,” versions of the commercial have continued to play on TV throughout 2024, including during the World Series for another big eyeball-grabbing sports event. Fittingly, like Poppi’s TikTok phenomenon before it, the success was also somewhat unexpected; the commercial wasn’t originally intended to premiere during the Super Bowl, but a last minute opening thrust the brand into prime time and it’s a testament to the company that it was prepared to meet the moment. 

That the spot would turn into one of the most successful campaigns from the entire event is all the more evidence that our Co-Brand of the Year has its thumb on the pulse of the market, and that is easily worth our recognition.