These yetis aren’t hiding in the Himalayas, they’re ice skating on the local pond and caroling through the neighborhood in a new campaign for alternative soda brand Olipop.
While the goal in this scenario is to spread cheer, the giant lumbering beasts manage only to terrorize the townsfolk. It’s not until they shed the costumes they’re hiding behind, showing their true (lovable) selves, that they are accepted into the fold.
All together now: awww.
The 30-second ad—a stop-motion animation film inspired by classics in the genre like Wallace & Gromit, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and the Rankin/Bass catalog—is the first holiday campaign from Olipop, a fast-growing, better-for-you beverage maker with $500 million in sales.
“There’s a powerful lesson here: be your authentic self,” Matt Bruhn, Olipop’s newly named chief marketing officer, told ADWEEK. “It’s wrapped in fun, but we think it’s an interesting narrative about connection and bonding and finding your sense of community.”
The nostalgic work comes from indie agency Callen based on the fully furry, slightly goofy characters that Olipop’s in-house team created for limited-time seasonal packaging and in-store promotions.
In developing a narrative around the first brand mascots, nicknamed Oli and Pop, the partners aimed to draw a parallel between yetis and soda that may not be immediately obvious. Namely, both have been vilified historically, yet they’ve had 21st century makeovers.
“Yetis have been reimagined by pop culture as a symbol for good—they’re these amazing mythical, mystical characters from folklore,” Bruhn said, pointing to the success of all-family movies from Warner Bros.’ (Smallfoot) and Dreamworks (Abominable). “They capture the spirit of the brand because there’s a certain mystery around converting soda from bad to good.”
Amped up marketing
The holiday campaign follows a stepped-up level of marketing activity from Olipop that includes professional sports sponsorships, an Olympics-pegged ad this past summer, and the recent intro of a Mountain Dew challenger called Ridge Rush, with commercials from comedy duo Fatal Farm.
Because the brand, which debuted in 2018, now has shelf space at Walmart, Target, and other national chains, its execs are increasing its media budget to keep pace with the expanded distribution.
“We’re at a scale now where traditional, large-scale advertising is very meaningful,” said Bruhn, who arrived at the brand in September. “Since the brand is literally doubling itself year on year, the spend will keep up with the speed of business growth.”
There will be “a constant flow of top-of-the-funnel, awareness-driving work” going forward, he said.
Olipop plans to continue the kind of influencer collaborations and social efforts that helped establish and grow the brand as a TikTok favorite with Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Plenty of yeti-centric content is in the works.
‘Monstrous year’
The functional soda category—which includes competitor brands like Poppi, United Sodas of America, Culture Pop, Zevia, and others—has been booming in recent years, reaching $1 billion in sales for the 52 weeks ending Sept. 9, per Circana.
Traditional soda, meantime, is seeing an uptick recently after years of slumping sales, as consumers turned away from full-sugar drinks. Inflation may be bringing them back to the affordable indulgence, analysts said, pointing to the segment’s $44 billion in annual sales.
And yet the “vast majority” of the 3% annual growth in the overall category is coming from functional soda, per Dayton Miller, managing partner of BFG Partners, whose firm was an early investor in Olipop.
“The better for you trend is still gaining momentum,” Miller said. “Olipop has delivered on that in a really clean way, and they’ve had a monstrous year.”
As a leader in the segment, the high-fiber, low-sugar Olipop has seen its sales more than double, from $200 million in 2023 to an estimated $500 million this year, according to Bloomberg.
Muscle behind ‘modern soda’
Summer, not fourth quarter, is the hottest selling season for traditional soda, but the “healthy” players have seen their numbers continue to grow year-round.
Retail behemoth Walmart, for one, is putting its muscle behind the “modern soda” category, with designated in-store and online sections that highlight Olipop, Poppi, and Tepache, among other drink makers.
Analysts at the New England Consulting Group, while questioning some of the health claims and their higher price tags, think functional sodas have long-term potential.
“These products have legs,” Ryan Welch, project manager, said. “They’re becoming something you’re proud to drink and share, you see them in more bars, restaurants, convenience stores—they have the chance for staying power.”
Olipop’s holiday effort, done on a project basis with Callen, had assists from Passion Pictures and Screen Novelties, a stop-motion animation house with a hand in commercials (McDonald’s, Honda, Ray-Ban) and entertainment (SpongeBob specials, Fortnite trailers). It will air on connected TV, social and digital platforms, and the yeti characters will appear on ginger ale and cola flavors of the prebiotic-laced soda through year’s end.
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