A 3pm Pick-Me-Up : OLIPOP Marketing Case Study

First up, a pop quiz:

What do Indira Nooyi, Priyanka Chopra, Mindy Kaling, Gwenyth Paltrow, and 2/3 of the Jonas Brothers have in common?  

Answer: OLIPOP!

OLIPOP is a soda brand that has become all the rage in the last few years. It started in 2017, and brought in a cool 200 million dollars last year.

Apparently the likes of PepsiCo and Coca Cola have shown interest in acquiring it. 

What is OLIPOP doing so goddamn right?
Branding? Ads? Distribution?

You’ll get all the answers in 5 mins, lessgo!

Now, the content: OLIPOP!  

Sugary drinks are seeing a decline in demand. And healthy drinks are seeing a surge.

OLIPOP, like many, many other brands, saw both these trends and created a product to cater to this new demand: soda that is ‘good for you’.

Aka a prebiotic drink that has wayyy less sugar and wayyy more fiber.

But what set it apart from the crowd is this: From the product to the positioning to the marketing to the distribution, OLIPOP defined everything based on real customer insight. 

Let’s look at some examples.

Insight #1: Many people don’t think a “healthy” drink is meant for them

Positioning your brand as a health brand is not always the smartest move. It can alienate a large majority of people who might think – nope this ain’t for me.

Most other prebiotic drinks were going the route of “we are the best for your health”. But not OLIPOP.

OLIPOP was super smart about it.

• It started out by emphasizing the health benefits
• Once it gained credibility, it stopped overdoing the health angle
• It started to sell everywhere: Walmarts, Targets, Whole Foods
• It found a new hook that spoke to everyone: The 3pm slump

Insight #2: People get bored and low around 3pm

You know that 3pm energy.
It’s too late for another cup of coffee.

And it’s too early for a fancy drink.

But you could really use a pick-me-up?  

OLIPOP was like 

They decided to be a fun drink you could have mid-day that is also good for you, so no guilt!

Insight #3 (my fav one): Boomers, millennials and GenZ have different relationships with soda.

A soda that’s good for your gut is relevant to everyone. So OLIPOP wanted to sell to everyone, across age groups.

Then came the insight.

Everyone thinks of soda differently:

Boomers think of soda as ‘joy’
Millennials think ‘comfort’
GenZ thinks ‘hmm might allow myself that’

They created a brand aesthetic to appeal to everyone.

 It’s not a boring looking health drink.

 It’s not a usual bold sugary soda can.

It is colourful, happy, nostalgic almost.
It is fun & healthy enough for GenZ to indulge in.

It has new flavours, but is familiar enough for boomer to try it out

Insight #4: Social media likes real talk

OLIPOP’s social media game is a moooood.

One, they are not afraid to take on the billion dollar brands.They call out brands with hard facts and savage creativity. They even get cheeky about bigger brands to get eyeballs and chatter going. Like they straight up started a trend on TikTok calling their own Lime flavoured drink a “Spr!te dupe”!

Two, they use influencers right.
No scripts. No key points.
Just leave it to the creator.
Beauty influencers will make GRWM videos with OLIPOP sips.
Home influencers will restock their fridge with OLIPOP cans.

You get the drift.

This famous creator made a ‘sleepy girl mocktail’ using OLIPOP. The brand then launched a series of mocktails recipes for Dry January.

It’s clever stuff like this that truly lands as content, and doesn’t feel like an ad.

Result? Billions of organic views on TikTok! 

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