The Poppi Paradox: The curse of being too good at marketing

The talking heads of the internet are mad at Poppi. It almost seems they were too good at garnering attention with their Super Bowl campaign.

If you are reading this article then you have most likely heard of the drama going on with Poppi. But no matter how much I hear online, I am still more confused and left with more questions than answers every time I read a new article.

As a marketing professional, it is my job to garner attention for brands, creators and public figures online. However, this Poppi case is a great example of why I often tell clients that, “going viral is aiming low”. In fact, going “viral” can sometimes have more negative effects than a slow burn. That seems to be what is happening with Poppi after their Super Bowl, vending machine activations.

Let’s discuss ⬇️ In today’s Trend Report, we will be talking about:

• What was Poppi’s campaign

• Hypothesizing what their “best case scenario” was

• What is the “Poppi Paradox”

And in the paid portion of the article, we will discuss:

• Why their competitor, Olipop, got involved

• Other examples of “the poppi paradox” happening to other brands

• If and how they can “make it right”

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So what was Poppi’s SuperBowl 2025 campaign?

Part of the confusion, at least for me, was that they had two separate Super Bowl commercials that seemed to exist somewhat outside of their influencer campaign.

The Super Bowl commercial included Alix Earle, Jake Shane and Rob Rausch. The premise wasn’t anything to write home about. Just a couple Gen-Z, unsure what drink they want so their friends tell them to “Get A Poppi”. You can watch it here:

Their second commercial seemed to air exclusively on the Tubi stream. This one featured Alix Earle, Jake Shane and Noah Beck. It was confusing to say the least. They titled it, “Greasers From Space | An Unofficial Tubi Movie Trailer”. Poppi teased that if the commercial got enough love on socials, they would bring turn it into a Tubi movies. Safe to say, it’s not coming to a small screen anytime soon.

You can watch their Tubi commercial here:

But on top of these two commercials, they also had a vending machine activation.

What is an activation vs a commercial? An “activation” is more of a guerrilla-marketing tactic. I think of “guerrilla marketing” as doing a stunt so that other people do the posting for you. Banksy is a great example of a righteous version of this. He posts art in public spaces and because he is anonymous, you only know it happened if an unrelated, third party posts about it.

Poppi’s activation involved sending out a vending machine to influencers ahead of the game. This is where the facts and details get fuzzy.

@rachsullivan__This is my Super Bowl @Drink Poppi

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Thank you to those of you in the Substack Chat who directed me to a post by “Link in Bio” about the Poppi saga. You can read it here:

Poppi's Marketing Goes Tarte

The TLDR; they sent vending machines of free Poppi sodas to relatively large influencers and WAGS (wives and girlfriends of players). People online are upset because they could’ve gifted this to public schools, community centers and other places that could use it.

But hear me out…I don’t agree. I can tell I have become so contrarian with where I land with some issues online but after going through a natural disaster, having homes that I stood in burn down in a fire, grinding to raise $100k+ for three families and volunteering as much free time as I could to give back to my hometown - it now seems crazy to me to care about things that genuinely just…don’t matter? Like who cares?

I think half the people who do think pieces online about these topics are not actually affected in any way but instead are seeing the views that come from a “gotcha” moment.

The only critique I agree with here is that the influencer representation was very white. Which I am sure is not representative of their consumer base and with white influencers already being propped up systematically more than POC-influencers, I believe brands should always work to be more inclusive. Especially, if they want a national audience. It should reflect the…you know, nation?

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So what was their “best case scenario” for the vending machine campaign?

This is one of Poppi’s first “controversies”. I don’t think they anticipated the back lash, in any way. They are a newer brand who has been highlighted in many think pieces on LinkedIn, TikTok and Substack. Linked here is an article from a marketing professional on LinkedIn about Poppi’s brilliant marketing from 2024.

In the article, she included something called a “SWOT" Analysis”. It was interesting to see what she, and most likely the brand, considered as weaknesses and threats. What comes up multiple times as a threat is the changing of algorithms and the fear that this is simply a “trend”.

What no one could predict, including myself, is that the biggest threat to Poppi was that they could become too trendy. Going so viral that it puts a target on their back.

I believe their best case scenario including going viral. That is all brands and creators “best case scenario” when being a social media-facing brand. But this is a tricky tight rope to walk.

If there was a controlled controversy, I believe Poppi thought it would be the commercial slots. People love to hate when influencers skid past the gatekeepers of traditional media. With one of the biggest stages being a Super Bowl commercial. They most likely prepped themselves mentally for the pushback of Alix Earle and Jake Shane making it to the screens of Americans during the biggest sporting game in the world.

But coincidentally, there hasn’t really been a peep about the actual TV commercials. The Tubi commercial on YouTube sits at 5,000 views on YouTube at the time of writing this. But one TikTok going after Poppi for their vending machines has 1.9 million views and counting.

YouTube views Vs. a TikTok critique view

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So what is the “Poppi Paradox”?

The Poppi Paradox is a reminder that sometimes you don’t actually want to go viral. Unless you can take the heat. Which Poppi seems to be doing quite well.

You know that a post of yours is going viral when it starts to ruffle some feathers. It means it has reached outside of your typical user base. And the only way to grow a following is to reach the pages of people that don’t actually know you yet.

When a client tells me their biggest goal is to “go viral” I always caution them. Do they actually know the gravity of what that means?

Instead, your goal should be to create a memorable moment that aligns with your values. “Going viral” can subject you to chasing surface level trends and the curse of getting massive amounts of hate from people who don’t understand you. And as I always say, “the opposite of trendy is timeless”.

I believe Poppi’s biggest problem now and since it began will be solidifying itself as a timeless brand vs a quick fad. Only time will be able to tell.

In the paid portion of this article, I will talk about:

• Why Olipop inserted themselves into the drama

• Other brands who have suffered from the “Poppi Paradox”

• If and how Poppi can “make it right”

If you made it this far, thank you for being a coconut! Paying coconuts, I will see you below. Cheers 🥤⬇️