Back to the Future: Poppi, Olipop Debut Retro Takes on Next-Gen Soda

As they respectively plot the future of the rapidly growing ‘prebiotic soda’ segment, a pair of function-forward, better-for-you soft drink brands are looking to the past for inspiration.

This week, we caught up with Florida-based Poppi and California-based Olipop to talk about how they are each introducing new innovations that look to challenge traditional CSDs head-on.

Poppi Launches Soda Flavors

Ever since it rebranded from an apple cider vinegar drink to a prebiotic-powered functional ‘pop’ last January, Poppi has been focused on its goal of capturing consumers looking for a better-for-you soda alternative. The company’s strategy to meet that demand, according to co-founder Allison Ellsworth, is not as complex as it may seem.

“If we want to capture the soda audience, we need to create familiar SKUs for that consumer,” said Ellsworth during an interview last week. “Three classic flavors, tried and true, better-for-you ingredients.”

With that goal in mind, Poppi is launching its new ‘Classics’ line of soda-inspired flavors today on Amazon, available in Classic Cola, Root Beer and Doc Pop. Each contains prebiotic fiber (2 grams), 5 grams of sugar and 25 calories per 12 oz. can, with Doc Pop and Classic Cola each featuring caffeine from green tea. The flavors are now available online for around $29 per 12 pack.

Along with expanding its spectrum of flavor offerings, the new sub-line represents Poppi’s intent to grow its consumer audience, according to the founders. While the brand’s nine core flavors share commonalities with the sparkling water set, the new additions play closer to the fruit soda category (Fanta, Sunkist) but with a better-for-you slant, according to co-founder Stephen Ellsworth. The Ellsworths discussed for months whether or not to spin off the soda flavors as a separate line with its own design and packaging, but ultimately decided to keep its award-winning branding.

“We know what we’ve done with our fruit line is working,” said Allison Ellsworth. But, she added, “There’s a lot of consumers out there who maybe wouldn’t drink a strawberry soda but they would drink a cola, and we want to be able to offer Poppi to them.”

The soda flavors arrive after a year in which growth soared 531%, according to the company. After earning a $400,000 investment deal from Rohan Oza on Shark Tank in January 2020, the brand has added distribution in key markets nationwide, including all U.S. locations of Sprouts Farmers Markets and Wegmans, as well as select Whole Foods Market stores. In October, Poppi signed on with DSD houses Big Geyser (New York) and Classic Beverage (Southern California) to continue its strategy of partnering with natural retailers on both coasts, and has since added chain stores like Publix, Safeway and Target (1,200 doors). Underscoring his belief that in-store execution is “crucial” to developing velocities as a shelf-stable product, Stephen Ellsworth said the company has hired Tom Kurtz, a 20-year Pepsi veteran, as its VP of sales and distribution.

“I think for us it’s all about optimizing our current offerings, along with these classics,” he said. “Innovations will always be at the forefront, but I think we have a really strong offering.”

Olipop Introduces Orange Cream Flavor

Continuing its innovation strategy of transforming nostalgic flavor profiles into better-for-you functional sodas, Olipop has introduced Orange Cream as its latest seasonal product, set to launch online this month.

In addition to selling direct-to-consumer through the brand’s website, Orange Cream will debut exclusively at Whole Foods stores nationwide on May 19.

Although Olipop launched the Orange Squeeze flavor last year — its riff on a traditional orange soda — CEO Ben Goodwin said he was torn over whether to develop Orange Cream as well. Noting that it did seem “redundant” at first glance to have two orange-based offerings, consumer feedback showed there was still heavy demand for more complex variations on the fruit.

“Between organic customer requests and customer feedback that we put out the feelers for, we have this multi-thousand flavor request database that is sourced from our customers, and Orange Cream, Orange Vanilla, different iterations of that, are actually pretty intensely requested items,” Goodwin said.

Goodwin noted that the seasonal launch is also well timed for the summer and said the flavor invokes indulgent “ice cream truck” style childhood treats. To capture that spirit, Olipop will promote the launch with a return to live activations this month in Austin, Texas. According to president David Lester, the company will hand out full can samples of Orange Cream from its own ice cream truck.

Although the pandemic is not over just yet, Lester noted the truck marks the brand’s first return to in-person sampling in over a year. But with that came challenges with securing licenses from the city of Austin as well as increased safety precautions. He noted the campaign is significantly smaller in scale than pre-COVID events, so the brand is relying more heavily on amplification through social and digital platforms.

As the space for better-for-you soda alternatives has grown, both functional pop makers and sparkling water brands have increasingly embraced traditional flavor profiles, with Olipop also offering SKUs such as Root Beer, Cherry Vanilla and Traditional Cola. For Olipop in particular, Goodwin said the approach to flavor is anchored in a “deeper philosophy” of wanting to deliver on the taste experience with better nutrition. According to Lester, as the brand grows it has begun to take more of its cues — in both branding and go-to-market strategy — from the CSD category.

Over the past several months, Olipop has seen its revenue increase sharply. Lester noted that topline revenue for this past month is “roughly 2x” the revenue of December, largely driven by velocities. The company is now making moves towards the mainstream with tests in Target and 7-Eleven.

“It’s been an interesting evolution of our marketing and you’ll see that in the way we are activating this as well,” Lester said. “We’re behaving more and more like a traditional soda brand as we expand the footprint and go more mainstream. And you’ll see that in the distribution as well.”