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It\u2019s a soda brand pop<\/em>ularity contest, and we\u2019re all here to bear witness.<\/p>\n This year, prebiotic soda brand Poppi ran its second consecutive Super Bowl ad featuring influencers like Jake Shane and Alix Earle. But it wasn\u2019t the creator campaign on the big screen that got people talking as much as the one online.<\/p>\n Ahead of the game, Poppi sent enormous pink vending machines to 32 creators and \u201cfans of the brand\u201d in NFL team cities, as well as The Boot bar in New Orleans. Recipients began posting videos of the machines, and mayhem ensued: some consumers expressed anger at Poppi for sending free products to \u201crich people,\u201d while others bemoaned the message it sent to fans of the brand and smaller creators. \u201cWhen it gets too extravagant\u2026it just feels very out of touch,\u201d creator Isabella Lanter said in a TikTok video response to the campaign.<\/p>\n All the while, fellow prebiotic soda brand Olipop, which did not run a Super Bowl ad, jumped on the opportunity to respond to comments, speculate on the cost of the vending machines, and even mail out Super Bowl-themed gifts. One comment from Olipop read, \u201cFor the record, those machines cost $25K each lol,\u201d while a post on X said, \u201cWe don\u2019t have vending machines, but who wants a jersey!!\u201d<\/p>\n Allison Ellsworth, founder of Poppi, told Marketing Brew that the soda brand is now aiming to correct some of the information about how much it spent on its Super Bowl campaign, all while aiming to remain \u201cabove the fray\u201d and figure out the best way to market Poppi moving forward.<\/p>\n \u201cHindsight is 20\/20,\u201d Ellsworth said. \u201cThe internet\u2019s an interesting place where nobody ever knows what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Farial Moss, Poppi\u2019s director of PR and communications, said the goal of sending the vending machines was to stand out as a Super Bowl advertiser. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to launch something, you have to make a splash or nobody knows about it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n And make a splash it did. Many of the original creator videos generated millions of views and thousands of comments, and Ellsworth said that for the first few days of the campaign, \u201cthe sentiment was incredible.\u201d As conversation grew, Olipop and other brands like Wendy\u2019s began to chime in amid the criticism. In negative posts about Poppi across social media, Olipop\u2019s official account could be found stoking the fire.<\/p>\n On one TikTok video, Olipop speculated on how much Poppi spent on its Super Bowl ad (\u201cit\u2019s $8M per 30 seconds, and it was a 60-second ad sooo\u2026.\u201d), and in another, it made the claim about the cost of the vending machines.<\/p>\n Ellsworth said Poppi did not spend $16 million on its Super Bowl ad and spent the same amount as brands like Dorito\u2019s and T-Mobile (although she declined to share the exact dollar figure.) She also said the supposed $25,000 price tag was \u201cinflated by 60%.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe probably spent the least of any of those [Super Bowl advertisers] as far as marketing, is what people don\u2019t get,\u201d Ellsworth said. \u201cThe competitor [sharing] misinformation and bullying us online definitely played into it.\u201d<\/p>\n Olipop declined to comment, telling Marketing Brew in an email that the brand will \u201clet the consumers lead the conversation from here.”<\/p>\n Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Earlier this week, Ellsworth took to TikTok in an effort to set the record straight. The response was also met with more pushback. One criticism of the campaign that came up repeatedly was that Poppi\u2019s vending machines should have been placed in locations like hospital break rooms or Title I schools, not sent to influencers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe actually do a lot of that type of stuff,\u201d Ellsworth said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not marketing.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Ellsworth, Poppi donated more than 3.4 million cans last year to \u201cvarious organizations, nonprofits, schools, and events,\u201d and she noted that creator Avery Woods received her vending machine at a party of first responders. \u201cWe don\u2019t talk about it because I\u2019ve always been one of those people who [says], \u2019If you\u2019re gonna do it, do it and don\u2019t get the accolades because then you\u2019re not doing it through the right lens,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The plan was always for Poppi to take the vending machines back and redeploy them in future campaigns and giveaways over the next few years, Ellsworth said, not let influencers hold onto them forever.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody wants a big vending machine in their house,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Ellsworth said she is unsure how to send machines to some pre-planned post-Super Bowl locations without it garnering additional scrutiny. \u201cI don\u2019t think now I\u2019ll want to overcorrect and scream it from the rooftops,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n In a comment on Ellsworth\u2019s response video, Poppi said it would drop off a machine at a hospital the Wednesday following the Super Bowl. Moss confirmed that so far, the machines have been sent to a fire station in Los Angeles, an elementary school in Phoenix, a community baseball and softball training center in Nashville, and a community center in Dallas.<\/p>\n From the outside, not everyone is convinced that the flack around the vending machines was warranted. \u201cHigh investment has always been a theme in the Super Bowl, regardless of whether it\u2019s going to influencers or something else,\u201d Kelsey Chickering, principal analyst at Forrester, told us.<\/p>\n Creator Hank Green posted his own TikTok in response to the saga, suggesting that soda brands \u201cdon\u2019t need to be messy in people\u2019s comments,\u201d while creator and branding expert Ashwinn Krishnaswamy called it a win for both Poppi and Olipop considering the outsize attention both brands received.<\/p>\n Social strategist Rachel Karten disagreed, comparing the vending machine stunt to influencer trips from the makeup brand Tarte because consumers were able to estimate (and therefore judge) the brand\u2019s overall campaign spend. \u201cGood marketing doesn\u2019t exist in the context of bad sentiment,\u201d she wrote in her newsletter \u201cLink in Bio.\u201d<\/p>\n Morgan Zanotti, the co-founder of the condiments brand Primal Kitchen, said in a TikTok video that it can be difficult for a brand to market itself to younger consumers. Many of them, she said, \u201cwant to have the money, but [they] don\u2019t want to see people have the money.\u201d<\/p>\n Ellsworth said Poppi is taking the whole situation as a learning opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s okay if people don\u2019t understand the marketing side of it, because it is<\/em> a lot of money,\u201d she said. \u201cI hear it and if we were tone deaf, we\u2019ll own it and get better.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nPop off in the comments<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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