"How do health-conscious consumers perceive Olipop vs. Poppi — and what's really driving the better-for-you soda boom?"

Without prompting, which brands come to mind first in this category? Where does this brand land in that mental list?

The first ones that pop into my head are Olipop and Poppi — honestly those two are kind of neck and neck for me right now. I see them constantly, both in stores and on Instagram. After those two, I'd probably think of Spindrift, and then maybe just... regular sparkling water like LaCroix. Poppi comes to mind slightly faster just because of the can design — it's very visual and I've seen it all over my feed. But Olipop is close behind, and if anything I feel like I have a stronger sense of what it's actually *for* — the gut health angle is more front and center for me with Olipop. Poppi sometimes feels more like a vibe than a product, if that makes sense.

Walk me through your honest first impression of this brand — not what they claim, but what you actually believe.

*takes a breath* So I'll start with Olipop because that's the one I actually buy. My first real impression — not the marketing — was that it tasted like something I'd actually want to drink on a regular basis. That sounds simple but it matters a lot. The prebiotic angle felt credible to me because the flavor wasn't trying too hard to hide a supplement taste. With Poppi, my gut reaction was that it felt more like a fashion brand that happens to be a beverage. The branding is very Instagram-optimized, the can design is very "look at me on a countertop," and the ACV positioning — apple cider vinegar — I just don't fully buy that the amounts are meaningful. It read a little more like a vibe than a functional product. I should be honest though — I'm not a nutritionist. I'm making these calls partly on taste, partly on what I see in my feed, and partly on brand feel. That's probably true for most people in my position. Neither brand has me fully convinced on the science, but Olipop feels like it's at least trying to lead with the ingredient story rather than the aesthetic.

What 3–5 words do you most associate with this brand? Give me your gut, not what sounds polite.

**Olipop or Poppi — which one?** For Olipop: *gut health, retro, trustworthy, a little expensive.* For Poppi: *trendy, Instagram-ready, fun, but... is it actually good for me?* Those are pretty much my first instincts. Olipop feels more like it has something real behind it — the prebiotic fiber story, the vintage can designs. Poppi feels more like a vibe that got really good at marketing itself, which, as someone who works in marketing, I can respect — but it also makes me a little skeptical about what's actually in the can.

How has your perception of this brand shifted over the past year or two? What drove that change?

For Olipop specifically, I'd say my perception has gotten more positive, not less. When I first started seeing it, it felt very niche — like something you'd find at a specialty health food store and pay too much for. But it's been showing up at my regular Target runs, it's in my office fridge options, and my Instagram feed has basically normalized it at this point. What shifted things for me was less about the product itself and more about it becoming... convenient. It stopped feeling like a deliberate health choice I had to go out of my way to make, and started just being an option that was already there. That's a big deal for me — I'm not going out of my way for anything with two kids and a full-time job. The one thing I'll say is I don't have a super strong view on how my perception of Poppi has shifted in comparison. I see both brands constantly, but Olipop feels like it's pulled ahead in my mental space, probably because the flavor variety they've pushed recently has been more visible to me on social.

When would you actively recommend this brand, and when would you steer someone away?

For Olipop specifically, I'd recommend it pretty easily to friends who are trying to cut back on sugar or just want something that feels a little more intentional than a Diet Coke — especially parents, because the prebiotic angle gives you a reason to feel okay about it being in the house. It fits that "better for you" story without feeling like a punishment drink. Where I'd steer someone away is if they're really price-sensitive. It's noticeably more expensive than a regular soda, and if you're buying for a family of four on a tighter budget, that math gets uncomfortable fast. I'd also pause before recommending it to someone who just wants a straight-up classic soda experience — the flavor profiles are a little different, and not everyone is into that.

What would this brand need to do differently to become your clear first choice?

For Poppi specifically — and I say Poppi because that's the one I've actually bought more than once — the thing holding it back from being a true no-brainer for me is consistency. Sometimes I grab it and it tastes great, sometimes it tastes a little off, and I can't tell if that's the flavor or the batch or what. That unpredictability makes me hesitant to, like, commit to it the way I would with something like a LaCroix. The other piece is availability. I'm in Austin, so both brands are pretty accessible, but if I'm doing a Target run with my kids and I'm moving fast, I need it to be stocked reliably in an obvious spot. If I have to hunt for it, I'm probably grabbing something else. And honestly the health claims — I'd want them to be clearer and easier to understand at a glance. Right now both brands require you to kind of already know what prebiotics are for the label to mean anything to you. If one of them figured out how to make that genuinely simple and credible without feeling preachy, that would move the needle for me.

Without prompting, which brands come to mind first in this category? Where does this brand land in that mental list?

Olipop comes to mind first, pretty immediately. Then Poppi. After that it gets fuzzy — there are a handful of other prebiotic or functional sodas on shelves but I couldn't name them off the top of my head. Olipop is probably at the top of my mental list just because I encountered it first, maybe two or three years ago, and the branding stuck with me. It feels more considered than Poppi does — the vintage-inspired packaging, the flavor names, it all coheres. Poppi reads a little more trend-chasing to me, though I know they have a real following.

Walk me through your honest first impression of this brand — not what they claim, but what you actually believe.

When I first came across Olipop, my reaction was pretty skeptical — like, another "better for you" soda trying to justify a $3 price tag with a crowded ingredient label. But then I actually read into what they were claiming about prebiotics and fiber, and it seemed at least grounded in something real rather than just slapping "natural" on the can and calling it a day. With Poppi, it felt a bit more like a trend play to me. The aesthetic is very dialed in — very Instagram-ready — but when I looked at the actual apple cider vinegar content, it's a pretty small amount. I'm not a nutritionist, so I can't say for certain it does nothing, but it reads more like a marketing hook than a meaningful health benefit. So overall, Olipop feels like it's trying harder to actually deliver something functional, even if I still have some skepticism. Poppi feels like it's winning more on vibes and branding than on substance. And as someone who thinks a lot about how brands communicate — a brand is basically its reputation, not just the packaging — that gap between visual identity and actual product integrity is something I notice pretty quickly.

What 3–5 words do you most associate with this brand? Give me your gut, not what sounds polite.

*thinking for a second* For Olipop... gut reaction? "Gut health, retro, trustworthy." Maybe "earnest" too. It doesn't feel like it's trying too hard to be cool, which I actually appreciate. For Poppi — "influencer-y, trendy, flashy." It's not necessarily bad, but when I see Poppi it feels more like a vibe play than a health play. Like the branding is doing more heavy lifting than the product.

How has your perception of this brand shifted over the past year or two? What drove that change?

Poppi or Olipop? I'll speak to both since I've tried them. For Olipop, my perception has actually gotten more positive over the past year or so. When I first saw it, I was a little skeptical — it felt like another "health halo" product where the marketing was doing more work than the actual ingredients. But I dug into what's in it, the fiber content, the prebiotic stuff, and it seems like there's real substance there. That shifted things for me. Poppi I'm a bit more mixed on. The rebrand, the heavy influencer push — it started feeling less like a product people genuinely love and more like a brand trying to manufacture that feeling. There's a difference between building a real reputation and just doing trendy things to stay visible, and I think Poppi has drifted toward the latter. It doesn't make it a bad product, but it makes me less interested in paying attention to what they're saying. Part of what's driving that shift generally is just being more attuned to when a brand is using social causes or wellness language to feel principled rather than actually being principled. I notice that more now than I used to.

When would you actively recommend this brand, and when would you steer someone away?

Olipop I'd recommend pretty readily to someone who's trying to cut back on regular soda but isn't ready to just drink plain water or sparkling water all day. The fiber and prebiotic angle feels like a genuine functional benefit, not just a label decoration. And the flavors actually taste like soda, which matters. Where I'd pump the brakes is if someone's on a tight budget. At three or four dollars a can at some retailers, it adds up fast, especially if you're trying to make it a daily thing. On $55k in Portland, I feel that. I'd probably tell them to watch for multipacks at Costco or Target rather than grabbing singles. I'd steer someone away if they're already eating a pretty fiber-rich diet and mainly want a treat — at that point the functional story is kind of wasted on them and they might as well just buy whatever tastes good. The premium price is harder to justify when you're not really there for the health angle.

What would this brand need to do differently to become your clear first choice?

For Olipop specifically, I'm pretty close to already being there — I buy it pretty regularly. But if I'm being precise about what would lock it in completely, it's more transparency around sourcing. Like, I know they lead with the fiber and prebiotics story, but I don't know much about where those ingredients actually come from or how the supply chain looks from a sustainability standpoint. That matters to me more than it probably does to the average buyer. For Poppi, the gap is bigger. The aesthetic is fun but it feels like the brand identity is built around the vibe rather than the substance. A brand is really just its reputation, and right now Poppi's reputation feels more like a social media moment than something with real roots. If they grounded the health claims more clearly and pulled back on the influencer-heavy positioning, I'd take it more seriously. Either way, neither brand has really engaged with me as a community member — it's still pretty much one-way marketing. Something more participatory, even just transparency about what they're doing environmentally or local sourcing commitments, would move the needle for me.

Without prompting, which brands come to mind first in this category? Where does this brand land in that mental list?

Olipop comes to mind first, honestly — wait, let me rephrase. Olipop is just the one I see everywhere. It's at my Kroger, it pops up in my social media feed, coworkers bring it in. Poppi is second, and I kind of group them together mentally as "the gut health soda brands." After those two, I'd maybe think of Waterloo or LaCroix, but those are more just sparkling water to me — different category really. Olipop feels like it has the stronger foothold in my head just from sheer exposure.

Walk me through your honest first impression of this brand — not what they claim, but what you actually believe.

When I first saw Olipop at the grocery store, I honestly thought it was just another trendy drink trying to capitalize on the health wave. The packaging is pretty, I'll give them that. But my first instinct as a nurse is always — okay, what's actually in this, and does it do what they're saying it does? Once I looked closer at the ingredients and saw the fiber content and the prebiotics, I was a little more open to it. That said, I'd want to see actual research backing up the gut health claims before I'm fully sold. There's a lot of "better for you" products out there making big promises, and the ones that stick around are the ones where the science holds up under scrutiny. I'm not dismissing it, but I'm not just taking the label at face value either.

What 3–5 words do you most associate with this brand? Give me your gut, not what sounds polite.

For Olipop? "Gut health," "vintage vibes," "pricey treat." For Poppi — "trendy," "influencer-y," maybe "apple cider vinegar" because that's always front and center on the label.

How has your perception of this brand shifted over the past year or two? What drove that change?

My perception of Olipop has actually gotten more positive over the past couple years. When I first saw it, I kind of wrote it off as another trendy wellness thing with a premium price tag that probably wasn't worth it. But I started seeing it pop up more at Kroger and Target, and I'd see it go on sale or show up in those "buy 4 get one free" deals, which made me actually try it. What shifted things for me was reading through reviews more carefully — people talking about the prebiotic fiber content and actually noticing digestive benefits. As a nurse I'm a little skeptical by nature, like I want to know if there's actual research behind the claims, not just marketing language. I'd say Olipop has done a better job lately of at least pointing toward some of that. Poppi I'm a little less sure about — the apple cider vinegar angle feels more like a buzzword to me. The price is still a sticking point. Around $2.50 to $3 a can is hard to justify regularly on my budget, so I'm mostly buying these when there's a deal.

When would you actively recommend this brand, and when would you steer someone away?

For Olipop specifically, I'd probably recommend it to someone who's trying to cut back on regular soda but isn't ready to just drink plain water or sparkling water all day. Like, if a coworker at the hospital tells me they're trying to ditch Diet Coke, that's a pretty natural fit — it still tastes like something familiar but the sugar content is way lower and there's at least some fiber in there. Where I'd steer someone away is if they're just grabbing it because it seems trendy and they haven't actually looked at the price. It's not cheap, and if you're not actively trying to solve a health goal, a $3-4 can is hard to justify. I'd also be a little cautious recommending it to patients or anyone with specific gut issues without them checking with their doctor first — the prebiotic claims sound good but I haven't seen enough clinical backing to stake my professional reputation on it.

What would this brand need to do differently to become your clear first choice?

For Olipop specifically, the price point is the biggest thing. I can find coupons here and there, but it's still a tough sell when I'm comparing it to a regular soda that's a fraction of the cost. If they had a better loyalty program or more consistent deals at Kroger or Target — somewhere I'm already shopping — that would move the needle for me. I'd also want to see more independent evidence that the gut health benefits are real. Right now it feels like I'm mostly taking their word for it, and as a nurse I'm a little skeptical of health claims until there's an actual study behind them. If they could point to solid third-party research, not just their own marketing, that would genuinely make a difference in how much I trust the product.

Without prompting, which brands come to mind first in this category? Where does this brand land in that mental list?

When I think better-for-you soda, Olipop comes to mind first, then Poppi pretty close behind. After that it's kind of a drop-off — maybe Waterloo or Spindrift if you're counting sparkling water adjacents, but those feel like a different thing. Olipop probably edges out as my top-of-mind just because I feel like I encountered it earlier — I think I saw it in a Whole Foods end cap before Poppi really had its retail push. Poppi has definitely closed that gap though, especially after the Super Bowl ad cycle. At this point they're almost interchangeable for a lot of people I know, which is probably a problem for both of them from a differentiation standpoint.

Walk me through your honest first impression of this brand — not what they claim, but what you actually believe.

When I first came across Olipop, my instinct was to go check the label and cross-reference the ingredients against what I knew about prebiotics and fiber — that's just how I approach any new food or drink product. And honestly, the formulation held up better than I expected. The fiber content and the specific prebiotic strains they're using felt like they were actually grounded in something, not just marketing language slapped on a can. Poppi my reaction was a bit more skeptical initially — apple cider vinegar as the hero ingredient felt more like a trend play than a deep functional story. It's not that ACV has zero basis, but it felt thinner as a differentiator. Where I've landed is that Olipop feels like a brand that started from the ingredient and built a product, whereas Poppi feels like it started from the aesthetic and worked backward. That said, both are genuinely better than legacy sodas, and I think that consumer shift is real — the data on pandemic-era brand switching suggests people who found these brands aren't going back to Coke or Pepsi as their default. Whether either brand can sustain that loyalty long-term is a different question.

What 3–5 words do you most associate with this brand? Give me your gut, not what sounds polite.

*[for Olipop or Poppi — going with Olipop since that's the one I've been buying lately]* Gut reaction: "gut-friendly, functional, slightly premium, trustworthy." If I had to add a fifth — "legit." Like it actually feels like a product that has a reason to exist beyond just being a trendy alternative.

How has your perception of this brand shifted over the past year or two? What drove that change?

For Olipop specifically, my perception has actually gotten more positive over the past couple years. When I first tried it, I was a little skeptical — it felt like another wellness trend with a lot of packaging around a marginal product. But I kept coming back to it, and I think what shifted for me was that the taste actually held up over repeated purchases, which isn't always the case with "better-for-you" alternatives. What drove the change was partly just accumulating experience with it, and partly seeing more rigorous conversation online about the fiber and prebiotic claims. I'm the kind of person who reads into the formulation details, so when I started seeing more substantive discussion — not just influencer posts — about what's actually in it, that gave me more confidence. Poppi I'm a bit more neutral on. The branding is very sharp and it's clearly resonating with a certain audience, but I haven't had the same "this is the real deal" moment with it that I had with Olipop. The apple cider vinegar positioning feels a little thinner to me from a functional ingredient standpoint, but I don't have a strong enough view on the nutrition science to make a definitive call there.

When would you actively recommend this brand, and when would you steer someone away?

For Olipop specifically, I'd recommend it pretty readily to anyone who's trying to cut back on regular soda but isn't ready to just drink sparkling water. The fiber and prebiotic angle is genuinely differentiated — it's not just "less bad," there's actually something functional there. I've sent it to probably a dozen people in my network who were looking for that kind of swap. Where I'd steer someone away is if they're expecting a full sugar-rush experience. The sweetness profile is different, and if you haven't mentally made peace with that, you're going to be disappointed. I've also seen people with more sensitive digestive systems have some adjustment issues with the fiber content, so I'm a little more cautious recommending it to that group without a heads-up first. Poppi I'd probably recommend more selectively — it skews toward people who are already engaged with the "gut health" conversation and care about the apple cider vinegar component specifically. If someone just wants a tasty better-for-you drink and doesn't have strong priors about ACV, I'd actually point them to Olipop first. The flavor execution feels more polished to me.

What would this brand need to do differently to become your clear first choice?

For Olipop specifically, I think the main thing holding me back from calling it my clear first choice is just consistency in availability. I'll find a flavor I like — the vintage cola or the classic root beer — and then it's out of stock at Whole Foods or Target for two or three weeks. For a brand at this stage of growth, that's a supply chain problem that erodes loyalty faster than any bad review would. On the product side, I'd love to see them lean harder into transparency around the actual functional benefits. The prebiotic fiber angle is interesting, but I want clearer before-and-after framing — not medical claims, just better education. Right now it feels like the label does a lot of work but the brand's digital presence doesn't fully close the loop for someone like me who's going to go research it anyway. Poppi has the same availability issue but their social presence is stronger, so at least you feel like the brand is alive between purchases. Whichever one of them builds a better retention loop — maybe a subscription with flavor customization, some kind of loyalty mechanic — that would move the needle for me pretty quickly.