For a prebiotic soda brand that has existed for less than a decade, Poppi seems to be everywhere. It showed up multiple times at New York Fashion Week in September, popped up in Miami with luggage brand Béis, and recently partnered with the Dallas Cowboys. Head of Culture Sophia Sesto told Marketing Dive how the team picks partnerships that look wildly different on paper.
Sesto says Poppi knows its audience because the team is its audience. Much of the culture team is made up of recent college graduates, some sourced through a sorority rush program. The partnership test is blunt: if it's not a "F yes," it's a "F no." Ideas come from the team up, and data and KPIs, which tend to be backward-looking, are not part of the brief. The culture group has four verticals: influencer and community, social, collegiate, and events and partnerships.
Last year a meme about "Love Island" USA contestant Amaya Espinal became Poppi's best-performing post ever, reaching 90% non-followers with more than 250,000 likes. Poppi treated that as a signal and brought a custom limited-time flavor to market in 12 weeks. This year it formalized a relationship with producer ITV for a licensed can and in-show integration, tied to its UK launch. Sesto says R&D, e-commerce, sales and creative moved at once after she took the idea to the CEO. Since PepsiCo bought Poppi for nearly $2 billion last year, the mantra has been "Let Poppi be Poppi," and the team keeps its decision rights. Still, Beverage Digest data shows retail volume down 3.6% in the first half of 2026.
Sesto looks for real participation: comments popping off, sorority chapters posting Poppi organically after rush week, Spider-Man fans sneaking cans into theaters. Her view of what marketers get wrong about culture is that you cannot force a moment; if nothing is happening, it is fine to wait or move on.
Poppi's lesson is not to ditch data but to let team instinct and the audience's daily life lead the idea stage, then confirm results through organic spread. Smaller brands can copy the approach by staffing teams that resemble their customers and asking one question before any partnership: is our community already there? For another take on episodic brand content, see Bonobos Bets on Episodic Content With Jack Quaid’s ‘The Weekday Warrior Show’, and for how creators and brands are being matched, see Advertising Week New York 2026 Bids for $100M in Creator Deals — A Show Built Around Budget Holders. To plan a brand collaboration, explore our services.
By the rule 'if it's not F yes, it's F no': is the team excited, is the community already there, and would it be welcome news for them.
It looks at true participation such as comments and organic posting rather than visibility alone, and says data and KPIs are not part of the brief.
A meme about a contestant became its best-performing post, so Poppi launched a custom limited-time flavor in 12 weeks and this year expanded to a licensed can and in-show integration with producer ITV.
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