OLIPOP's Rapid Rise: From $75m to $200m in Just One Year

Steven: Absolutely! At OLIPOP, we receive a million cold emails from influencers seeking collaboration opportunities. To navigate this sea of potential partnerships, we need a solid formula to determine which influencers would truly resonate with our target audience.

The key is to find influencers who are genuinely interested in our brand and have already shown their support by posting about us. Ideally, we look for influencers who are also customers themselves, as they bring an added level of authenticity to the partnership.

Steven: One of the criteria we consider is whether the influencer aligns with the center of our concentric circle (i.e., Whole Foods’ moms in LA), or if they deviate from it by just a few degrees (i.e., a mother of four that shops at Walmart in Kentucky).

We aim to broaden our circle and reach a wider audience without straying too far from our core values. It's about finding the right balance between expanding our reach and staying true to our brand identity.

Steven: Certainly! One of the significant changes we made was shifting from a Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) model to a Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) model.

We focused on partnering with creators whose content aligned with our larger objectives, such as food, gatherings, or family–core values of our brand.

For instance, we collaborated with an influencer whose partner makes lunch every day and pairs it with an OLIPOP beverage.

@yeatp_

Thankful For Every Lunch She Packs Me @drinkolipop #olipoppartner #yeatp_

We even sent an OLIPOP fridge to Miah Pie, a police officer in Alabama, as a unique way to engage with the community there.

These partnerships create memorable product placements that resonate with our target audience, not just our current one. Miah is also known for her Publix videos, and Publix is a major partner of ours.

Steven: One of our strategies is to work with influencers who are not overloaded with a multitude of brand deals. Influencers who have too many partnerships can dilute the impact of their content, making it challenging to cut through the noise.

On the Celebrity side, that's why we were drawn to musicians Camilla Cabello, who had only collaborated with . and had not ventured into the beverage industry. By going deep with a few select Partners, we can ensure that our message stands out and makes a lasting impression.

Steven: When we first started, we focused on a specific audience, such as the California Whole Foods shopper, using a Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) model. However, as we scaled and entered larger retail chains like Walmart and Target, our approach needed to evolve. We began to think in terms of brand extension, going beyond our initial niche audience to reach a wider customer base.

Steven: One of the key shifts we made was flipping the influencer paradigm from direct response to product placement. Instead of solely focusing on CPA-driven influencers who primarily drove DTC orders, we started collaborating with creators who aligned with our brand's core values and represented larger objectives such as food, gatherings, or family.

Steven: We've had the opportunity to work with incredible influencers who have supported our expansion efforts. Let me share a few examples. We were blown away by the engagement we received when we partnered with Parker Thune, an Oklahoma Sooners radio host, who has a dedicated fan base on Twitter.

Through collaborations with Parker and leveraging the passion of his followers, we were able to generate significant buzz and reach millions of potential customers. I also love finding folks like Parker who’ve never done a brand deal before, and then going all-in with them. Their audience loves it.

We also recently announced our first professional sports sponsorship. We partnered with the Kansas City Current as their official better-for-you soda partner. The goal of this partnership was to not only prove that we can be a great partner in the sports space, but to also support Kansas City-based grocery chain HyVee, a core partner of ours in the Midwest.

Steven: Twitter has been a game-changer for us. We found that by going deep with a select group of influencers who have less noisy content on the platform, we could tap into highly engaged communities.

For example, we discovered a Telegram group with over 3,000 Camilla Cabello fans who are highly active on Twitter. By ‘leaking’ exclusive behind-the-scenes content of her to these fan accounts, we generated substantial views and engagement. Twitter has allowed us to connect with passionate communities and amplify our brand message.

Steven: We work closely with our agency partner to track the Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) for our video product placements. By analyzing views, comments, and likes, we can gauge the level of engagement generated by these partnerships.

It's important to note that while direct conversion may not occur immediately on platforms like TikTok, we've observed that our store locator page on our website becomes one of the most visited pages. This indicates a strong interest and intent to purchase.

Over the last 18 months, we have generated over 1.3b views at a $0.61 CPM on Tiktok. While we haven’t seen a major uptick in DTC sales from this, we’ve seen velocities grow by 2-3x in all of our major retail accounts, which is a huge win for the business.

Steven: Our focus on brand building has been instrumental in our ability to drive substantial growth with minimal marketing spend. By prioritizing strategic partnerships and retail-supported geographic alliances, we have been able to gain access to a wide range of distribution channels and expand our presence in over 22,000 doors.

I think we’ve also done a good job of diversifying our marketing mix, from Tiktok to the Camila campaign and our placement in the Nicki Minaj Barbie music video. People seem to always say they ‘see OLIPOP everywhere’ which is the best-case scenario for us on the Marketing team 😀.

Fun fact: considering the shelf space we have, we are doing the most amount of revenue in the least amount of retail doors in beverage history!

Steven: Retail-supported geographic partnerships have been a game-changer for us. By strategically aligning ourselves with retailers like Hyvee (Kansas City) and Kroger (Ohio), we have been able to amplify our brand reach and drive awareness among their customer base.

These partnerships have not only increased our visibility but have also fostered strong buyer relationships. While it may require overpaying for content collaborations, the impact on our brand presence and shelf space in stores has been immense.

Steven: Brand building has played a pivotal role in cultivating customer loyalty. By focusing on building a strong brand identity and delivering an exceptional product experience, we have created a deep affinity with our customers.

They trust our brand and have become repeat purchasers, driving our impressive retention rates. Our efforts to engage with our audience through partnerships, content creation, and challenges have further solidified our brand's connection with our customers.

Steven: The success of our subscription program is a testament to the power of the retail flywheel. By initially attracting customers through retail channels and providing an exceptional product experience, we have organically converted many of them into monthly subscribers.

The seamless transition from in-store purchases to subscriptions has created a powerful flywheel effect, where customer acquisition and retention feed into each other, driving continuous growth.

We’ve just passed 20k subscribers without spending anything on Meta ads (in the 12 months); most of our growth on subscription has been driven through our owned channels after a customer discovers the product in a grocery store.