OLIPOP, a single-serve soda that is relatively new to the market, recently managed a noteworthy feat when it crushed the competition, including Coke and Pepsi, and became the No. 1 best-selling brand of fizzy drinks at a number of household name grocers across the U.S.
The naturally sweetened pop brand is on track to double sales from 2023 and draw in $0.5 billion in sales for 2024.
“It’s mind-blowing, and it’s amazing,” CEO and Co-Founder, Ben Goodwin, told FOX Business during a phone interview.
“For better or worse, sometimes I can be a little stoic about it, because, for me, it means we are tracking against what we set out to do.”
But Goodwin and his co-founder, David Lester, anticipate no discernible slow down as the functional and modernist soda brand has plans to embrace innovative marketing strategies, influential product development and an even greater impact on the single-serve beverage category.
“The pace that we’re growing is fantastic,” Goodwin, a college dropout from California, said.
“I’m absolutely thrilled.”
Goodwin lives in Washington State and works 100% on the in-house formulation of new flavor profiles.
Recently, OLIPOP made headlines when its “Barbie” collaboration trumped a popular animal product in sales.
“At some of our retail partners, our “Barbie” flavor was outselling eggs,” Goodwin said.
“Clearly, people responded well to it.”
In early May, Food and Wine reported Olipop “Barbie” cans were selling out faster than eggs at Sprouts Farmers Market locations.
Mattel, an American multinational toy company, connected with OLIPOP and introduced the idea of a collaboration.
“It was kind of a no-brainer,” Goodwin said of the partnership.
The pink cans, with multigenerational appeal, were brimming with Peaches and Cream sweetness.
Goodwin says he kept a case of the limited edition cans for himself, in addition to a case of the “Minions” Banana Cream cans revealed to consumers in 2022.
While the deluxe alliance forced “Barbie” fans to flock to stores, Goodwin says buyers can expect new flavors both this year and next, as well as “very cool” partnerships in the future.
“One of the big areas I think we still have to grow, and I’m really excited to grow, is our marketing strategy,” Goodwin said.
OLIPOP pulls from deep-rooted American history to assemble flavor pairings and design elements. Goodwin says there is extreme competition with household-name brand sodas as consumers feel a deep connection and nostalgia to traditional brands.
“The fact that folks are actually willing to try a brand like ours and fall in love with it and make that switch in many cases, it’s something I take pretty seriously,” Goodwin said.
“It’s probably not the easiest choice for a lot of people to move away from some of those legacy brands.”
Goodwin added that the fact that Americans easily identify with sodas they were raised on has had an impact on OLIPOP’s strategies.
“It’s a tall order to get marketing to that right,” he said.
Goodwin pursued entrepreneurialism instead of environmental science, and his resume includes the assisted launch of a kombucha company and an enterprise that preceded OLIPOP, which he engaged in with Lester.
“We were living off of our savings from that venture while we were formulating OLIPOP,” Goodwin said.
“It was very nice to get back off of my savings and get back to my paychecks, because it had been a couple of years.”
Today, OLIPOP is sold in Target, Walmart, Publix, Kroger, Whole Foods, Sprouts and Giant Eagle, among other retailers.
Goodwin says that OLIPOP has struck a chord with hospital systems as medical institutions are seeking healthier drink alternatives to offer patients and visitors.
“Our formula is very different from the majority of the rest of the category’s formulas,” Goodwin said.
“We’re Classified by the FDA for having an excellent source of fiber and most of our competitors don’t meet that designation.”
Plant fiber and prebiotics are just a few ingredients found in each can of OLIPOP.
On the brand’s website, digestive health support in every can is advertised, in addition to high fiber ingredients and 2-5 grams of sugar.
The company employs a scientific advisory board, which includes doctors from a number of reputable universities.
“We crossed the T’s and dotted the I’s, both internally and for multiple sources externally, so we really could stand behind our formula,” Goodwin said.
“At the level of fiber that we have, and the types of fiber that we have, there tends to be a kind of intrinsic protection around communicating having gut benefits.”
He added that among various demographics, the brand observes a dropoff with regard to soda consumption by younger consumers, including Gen Z, who have made clear their refuge in healthy alternatives to food and drink.
“There’s a little more of an expectation,” Goodwin said.
“Younger demos also feel like something should be able to be really delicious and still functional.”
In 2023, Gen Z was named the “more sober generation” by Statista, as they are consuming less alcohol per capita. The generation is choosing more non alcoholic beverages, which also offer health benefits, than any other generation.
Goodwin says he and his team are actively exploring different product formats, including bottle types, and he anticipates that customers will soon be awestruck when they are treated to various ways to enjoy the soda, though the company currently takes a zero plastic-bottles approach.
