The archive · Marketing & Growth · Strategic decision · 2026
poppi sells its better-for-you soda like a beauty launch — PepsiCo pays almost $2bn
poppi gives its vinegar soda beauty codes — chunky serif logo, candy-coloured cans, drop-style flavour launches — before PepsiCo buys it for almost $2bn.
poppi
What it had to solve
Ten years ago a soft drink could not be mistaken for a beauty brand; by 2026 the lines had blurred, and poppi — a 'better for you' soda born as a homemade apple-cider-vinegar drink sold at farmers' markets — needed a brand that could grow beyond the niche.
How it works
Ten years ago, it would have been difficult to mistake a soft drink for a beauty brand. Today the differences are much less clear, and poppi has become one of the clearest examples of how branding in the 'better for you' beverage space has evolved: its chunky serif logo, candy-coloured cans and glossy campaign imagery borrow more from fashion, beauty and luxury than from the visual language traditionally associated with soft drinks.
Even the way poppi launches new flavours feels closer to a product drop than to a conventional drink release. The brand's roots are far humbler: what became poppi started life as a homemade apple-cider-vinegar drink sold in bottles at local farmers' markets.
That creative approach helped transform the drink into one of the fastest-growing beverage brands in the US. In 2026 PepsiCo acquired poppi in a deal worth almost $2bn, capping a rise built as much on how the product looked and was launched as on what was inside the can.
Why it lands
- Beauty and fashion codes give a drink with a functional ingredient cultural desirability, so the brand competes on wanting rather than on health claims.
- Candy-coloured cans and a chunky serif logo make the pack itself the advertisement, which suits a market where the product is seen on shelves and in feeds.
- Launching flavours like product drops turns a routine line extension into an event, creating scarcity, collectability and repeat attention.
- Starting as a farmers'-market product and dressing it for mass imagery shows that identity can carry a niche drink into the mainstream.
What it did
The approach helped turn the drink into one of the fastest-growing beverage brands in the US, and PepsiCo acquired poppi in 2026 in a deal worth almost $2bn.
What you can take
To make a functional product desirable, borrow the visual grammar of an aspirational category: dressed like beauty, a drink promises pleasure first — function becomes the reason, not the pitch.
Since then
poppi's beauty-coded identity carried it from farmers'-market bottles to one of the fastest-growing beverage brands in the US. PepsiCo acquired the brand in 2026 for almost $2bn, and Creative Review's September 2026 feature held poppi up as the clearest example of 'better for you' drinks adopting fashion and beauty codes, with flavour launches that feel like product drops.
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