Picking Sides: Poppi vs. Olipop
When a Brand War Becomes the Main Event
This week, we’re breaking down:
✅ Poppi vs. Olipop: When Brand Rivalries Get Personal
✅ Influencer Gifting Gone Wrong: The Risk of Looking Out of Touch
✅ Real-Time Marketing: When Jumping on a Trend Becomes Playing With Fire
Poppi and Olipop have been circling each other for years, but last week, the gloves officially came off.
It started with Poppi’s big Super Bowl moment: a high-energy ad and an influencer gifting campaign that included custom vending machines sent to top-tier creators and athlete WAGs (Wives & Girlfriends).
The response? Less admiration, more “Wait, what about your actual customers?”
TikTok lit up almost instantly with criticism, calling the campaign out-of-touch and performative.
Then, Olipop jumped in.
Not with a campaign of their own, but by hijacking Poppi’s backlash. They leaned into the criticism, fanning the flames and throwing shade in the comments. They also launched a giveaway campaign that positioned them as the “people’s brand,” and started a claim that Poppi’s vending machines cost $25K each—a number that has been hotly disputed since.
The Good, The Bad, and the Tactical Takeaways
Poppi: A Big Bet on Influencer Buzz
✅ They Went Big – A Super Bowl ad is a power move, and influencer gifting is a proven strategy.
✅ They Reinforced Their Brand Positioning – Poppi is the “cool girl” soda, and they played into that.
❌ They Misread the Room – Gifting elite influencers while ignoring everyday fans made them look disconnected.
❌ They Had No Contingency Plan – They let the backlash spiral instead of controlling the narrative.
💡 What They Could Have Done: Hindsight is 20/20, but Poppi could have shifted the conversation by putting vending machines in schools, gyms, or community centers and letting fans participate in the delivery.
Olipop: The Challenger Brand That Made It Personal
✅ They Mastered Real-Time Marketing – Their responses were fast, sharp, and everywhere.
✅ They Played the Underdog Card Well – Positioning themselves as the anti-Poppi made them feel accessible.
❌ They Risked Turning Petty – When do you stop riding a controversy and start looking like the bully?
❌ They Stretched the Truth – The $25K vending machine claim is shaky, and misinformation can bite back.
💡 What They Could Have Done: Kept the same scrappy energy but leaned into their own message instead of centering everything around Poppi’s misstep.
What We Learned From the Sidelines
🔥 Speed wins—but so does strategy. Social moves fast, but make sure your hot takes don’t burn you later.
🎯 Perception matters more than intent. Poppi didn’t mean to alienate consumers, but that’s how it landed.
⚖️ Challenger brands need to play smart. Olipop might have won this round—but pushing so hard in the comment section could come back to haunt them if someone else takes a page out of their playbook.
Inside The Parallel Path Group Chat:
🤖 AI Reading List– AI isn’t just a tool—it’s a force. And like any force, it can be wielded for good or misused to spread noise, disinformation, and fear. Reid Hoffman's new book Superagency cuts through the hype and the hand-wringing to show how AI, when used right, amplifies human potential instead of replacing it.
🤢 Dove takes on the ultimate ick: "moist" – In a genius (or cursed?) move, Dove dropped a satirical ad embracing the most universally cringey word in the English language during SNL’s 50th Anniversary Special. The campaign flips disgust into discussion, and was smart, strategic, and just uncomfortable enough to work.
👓 Glasses That Help You Hear: EssilorLuxottica (Ray-Ban’s parent company) just launched FDA-approved smart glasses designed to enhance hearing in noisy environments.
About Side Effects May Vary:
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