THE CONTEXT
Poppi is a modern soda brand that reinvents classic flavors with real fruit, bold bubbles, and a lighter, feel-good twist—bringing a fresh, fun energy to everyday soda moments. With vibrant packaging and a wellness-forward edge, Poppi positions itself as a soda you can enjoy with confidence, without sacrificing taste or personality.
What is Poppi ?
The rise of dirty soda: What Is it & why is it taking the beverage industry by storm?
Dirty soda is a made-to-order soda style where a classic soft drink is “dirtied up” with simple add-ins like cream, citrus, or flavored syrups, creating a richer, more customized drink. The trend traces its roots back to old-school soda fountains, where sodas were mixed fresh and tailored to taste—long before bottled, mass-produced sodas became the norm.
Poppi owns the functional beverage space.
In a sea of soda competitors, Poppi stands out.
Brands that have noticed the craze:
THE CONSUMER
Consumers are interested!
Gen Z and Millennials see prebiotics as a must. Older male consumers don’t think it matters.
Approximately 50% of U.S. adults consume at least one sugar-sweetened beverage on a given day.
Men consume more calories from sugar-sweetened beverages compared to women in all age groups.
Many consumers aged 55+ grew up in an era when soda was not a mass-produced product pulled from a cooler, but an experience. Soda parlors were common gathering places, and soft drinks were often made fresh: mixed by hand, customized, and enjoyed socially. This sense of craftsmanship and ritual created an emotional connection to soda that still shapes how older consumers perceive the category today.
cURRENT BRAND CHALLENGES
Poppi has built a strong foothold among younger consumers through vibrant branding, influencer marketing, and wellness-forward messaging. While this strategy has driven growth with Gen Z, Millennials, and health-conscious families, it has been far less effective with older adults—particularly men aged 50 and up. This audience remains deeply loyal to traditional sodas and often views Poppi’s health claims with skepticism, perceiving the brand as overly modern, niche, or driven by influencer culture rather than taste and tradition.
Poppi Can Be The Cleanest Dirty Soda on the shelf.
The recent “dirty soda” trend—while popularized by younger audiences—draws directly from this earlier soda culture. By combining classic sodas with simple additions like cream, citrus, or flavored syrups, dirty sodas echo the made-to-order experience of traditional soda fountains. Rather than representing something new, the trend is a modern reinterpretation of how soda was originally enjoyed.
Poppi can reframe its brand and product offering to tap into that nostalgia-driven mindset while still being ‘clean.’ By shifting the narrative away from influencer-led wellness and toward taste, customization, and soda’s roots as a handcrafted indulgence, the goal is to position Poppi as a familiar evolution of classic soda, one that respects tradition while offering a contemporary alternative. The ultimate objective is to develop a new business pitch that helps Poppi earn trust, relevance, and market share among consumers aged 55 and up.
