Poppi World Tour: A Campaign Analysis
Michael Lamberty - 2024
The Poppi World Tour Campaign was a multi-faceted marketing initiative aimed at building brand awareness and loyalty among young, health-conscious professionals, particularly Gen Z and college students. Poppi leveraged experiential marketing, meet-and-greets with co-founder Allison Ellsworth, Y2K-inspired photo ops, and social media buzz to captivate its audience. The campaign’s strategy was amplified by an influencer roster that included TikTok stars like Emily Mariko, Emily Kiser, and Mada Graviet. Key events, such as the campaign’s stop at New York Fashion Week, featured high-profile appearances from influencers like Monet McMichael and Emily Ratajkowski, creating a viral sensation. This activation alone brought in 65 million impressions across platforms.
Poppi’s social media strategy leaned heavily into TikTok and Instagram, two platforms that dominate Gen Z engagement. TikTok posts tagged with #PoppiWorld and related content garnered 18 million views within the campaign’s first quarter, while Instagram stories and posts accumulated an additional 20 million impressions. Poppi’s use of the Y2K aesthetic, combined with early 2000s-inspired graphics and vibrant colors, resonated with the audience’s nostalgia and pop culture preferences. User-generated content, sparked by influencers and event attendees, accounted for a significant share of this engagement, further bolstering brand visibility.
The campaign also incorporated the hashtag #SodaIsBack to challenge the negative perceptions traditionally associated with soda. By reimagining soda as a functional, health-conscious beverage, Poppi repositioned itself as a “better-for-you” alternative to sugary sodas. This powerful hashtag became a rallying cry for a new era of soda, encouraging fans and influencers to join the conversation. Through posts tagged with #SodaIsBack, Poppi not only promoted its own brand but also sparked a cultural shift, aligning soda with wellness and gut health. The hashtag was instrumental in capturing the attention of the brand’s target demographic, connecting Poppi to the larger wellness movement and redefining the soda category.
By leveraging location-specific analytics, the campaign strategically selected its next stops based on data-driven insights, ensuring that each activation maximized regional interest and attendance. However, the tour also faced challenges, such as the cost and scalability of its experiential components and a heavy reliance on influencer-driven attention, which may have limited accessibility for a broader audience.
Overall, the Poppi World Tour demonstrated the brand’s ability to engage deeply with its audience through authentic and trendy marketing approaches. Was Poppi's campaign a perfect blend of digital and experiential marketing, or do you see room for refinement in their strategy?
