In 2015, Allison Ellsworth went on “Shark Tank” and pitched a soda idea combining probiotics, fruit juice and apple cider vinegar to the Sharks. She then made a deal with Rohan Oza, creating the soda company Poppi.
Now, the brand is sold nationwide and has become incredibly popular. Due to its success, Poppi bought an ad for Super Bowl LIX starring influencers like Alix Earle, Jake Shane and Rob Rausch.
Before the ad aired, Poppisentgiant, pink soda vending machines to 32 influencers. To name a few, the list included Shane, Rachel Sullivan, Kaeli Mae, Rachel Gaede, Avery Woods, Emilie Kiser and Vidya Gopalan. After receiving the machines, the influencers posted videos with their gifted products.
The idea was for these influencers to post the soda in online content while they hosted Super Bowl parties. However, many influencers attended the event, causing some viewers to question the ethics of the marketing scheme.
The Public Relations Director of Poppi Farial Moss said the goal was to make the ad campaign stand out.
“If you’re going to launch something, you have to make a splash or nobody knows about it,” Moss told Marketing Brew.
Influencer marketing has become a big marketing ploy for many companies. Companies are sending packages and hosting events for certain influencers to bring awareness to their brands through people audiences love.
Celebrities like Kylie Jenner are famous for their influencer marketing. Crumbl is a company known for working with influencers, as many creators post promotional videos with PR packages they receive from Crumbl. Some brands are also good at workingwith micro-influencers to help grow audiences.
Poppi’s influencer marketing videos initiallygainedmillions of views, but not for all the reasons the company hoped for. Some people liked these videos, but other viewers thought it was a waste. Poppi quickly received backlashwith comments in influencers’ TikTok videos explaining why.
“They should’ve given those to college dorm rooms, or athletic departments, I’m definitely not buying another one,” one TikTok user wrote.
TikTok user Isabella Lanter created a video explaining where she believed the company went wrong and how Poppi could have done the marketing.
“Let’s stop with the out-of-touch bs please,” Lanter wrotein the video’s caption.
Other TikTok users like Asante Madrigal, Saron and Kate Glavan also made videos about the situation. A few days later, Ellsworth posted a video about the situation to Poppi’s TikTok page.
“We actually do a lot of that type of stuff,” Ellsworth said when discussing the criticism about not giving Poppi to those who need it. “But that’s not marketing.”
The company also revoked comments about college dorms and athletic departments, insisting that machines were placed in public locations like Tulane University’s student bar.
These issues have been a major problem in many PR marketing plans. Social media users have been getting angry that influencers are getting gifts they do not need or use. Some brands also pick their favorite influencers and give them better deals than others, which fans find wrong.
Poppi’s competitor, Olipop, also weighed in on the controversy and stated these machines cost $25,000. The company refuted the claim and said the machines were not that expensive.
“The falsely reported number was not only fabricated but inflated by 60%,” a Poppi spokesperson told Today.
Ellsworth also commented that the machines were never intended for the influencers to keep. She hoped to get the machines back and reuse each one for future giveaways.
Ellsworth later claimed the marketing scheme was to match the current Super Bowl. She said the event is the biggest time of the year to drink soda and wanted to make sure her soda was the one being picked.
“I hear it and if we were tone dead, we’ll own it and get better,” Ellsworth sai
In the end, Poppi apologized for the marketing ploy and promised it wanted to do better.
While vending machines may not be the PR boxes of the future, companies may still try to create similar creative ways to engage fans without going too far.
