PepsiCo-owned Poppi soda is back on college campuses for the third year in hopes of winning the back-to-school marketing season — and the brand has new tricks up its sleeve. “We just hit a milestone on our application for our [paid student] ambassador program,” Sophia Sesto, Poppi’s vp of culture, told Glossy. “There are over 11,000 applicants [so far this year], so our team jokes it’s easier to get into an Ivy League [university], which is less than a 2% acceptance rate, than it is to get into the Poppi ambassador program.”
After two successful back-to-school seasons, the better-for-you soda leader is expanding its reach on campus by hiring 250 paid student ambassadors for semester-long partnerships, official partnerships with 20 sorority chapters, and a merchandise collection available at Target including mini fridges, robes, pillows and more dorm essentials.
The company is also beta-testing a new ‘ambassador crew” program that taps best-friend groups of up to four people for paid on-campus group content creation.
“Not everybody wants to be creating content on their own,” Sesto said. “This was an exciting idea from the team; we’re always trying to figure out what’s new, what’s next and how we continue rewriting this on-campus playbook.”
