Bubbling With Insights: Poppi's Influencer Marketing Breakdown

Poppi's drinks are everywhere on social media. On TikTok alone, there are 10,800+ posts about Poppi! That adds up to millions of views and hence millions of people knowing about the brand 🤯

Influencer marketing is a big part of why Poppi is so well-known. But here's the thing: just doing influencer marketing doesn't always work this well. Many brands try it, but they don't all end up with thousands of videos and millions of views.

So what did Poppi do differently? How did they make their influencer marketing so successful?

In this blog post, we'll look closely at Poppi's influencer marketing strategy. We'll show you what they did right and what you can learn from them for your own brand.

🎁 Creating a wow-worthy unboxing experience

When Poppi sends their drinks to influencers, they don't just toss them in a plain box. They go all out to create an amazing unboxing experience.

But why does that matter when they're already sending some free products?

A great unboxing experience matters because your favorite influencers are getting tons of free stuff in the mail all the time. To grab their attention and get them excited about posting, you've got to stand out from the crowd. You've got to give influencers a reason to pick your package out of the pile and show it off to their followers.

The first thing to note about Poppi's share-worthy unboxing experience is their colorful box rather than a plain cardboard box.  It's set up like a fancy gift box, that turns trying the drinks into an event worth filming.

They pack the box with fun extras like stickers for decorating…

…and even a comfy sweatsuit to wear that has gone viral on TikTok!

As more influencers show off their Poppi sweatsuit, it starts trending. People make videos asking how to get one, or showing off their own if they managed to snag one. It's not just about the drinks anymore. Poppi becomes a lifestyle brand that people want to be associated with.

These extra bits in the box aren't just for show — they keep working long after the unboxing is over. Influencers might wear the sweatsuit in other videos or use the stickers in future content. They could even wear Poppi gear to events, spreading the word without saying a thing. All of this creates a brand awareness, and keeps Poppi on top of influencers' minds.

👉 Here are some ideas to make your unboxing awesome:

• Use bright, eye-catching packaging
• Include a personalized gift based on the influencer's interests
• Add a QR code that leads to a special thank you video
• Throw in some limited edition stuff from your brand as a special treat

Shipping gifts to creators can be a complex and time-consuming process. You have to tracking many packages, and then get in touch with influences to nudge them to post about you. This can quickly become overwhelming if you're only using spreadsheets and notes.

SARAL can help you. Connect your e-commerce store to SARAL and ship free products to creators, in bulk, all at once.

You can generate tracking links and coupon codes to track the sales and profit you will make — all from one simple interface. Try it for free. No technical setup required.

With SARAL you can automatically follow up with creators once they receive the products to nudge them to post. No more repetitive admin work.

🎓 Building college ambassador program through a dedicated landing page

Poppi has a dedicated landing ambassador page to collect applications from college students for the brand's ambassador program.

On this page, they're speaking directly to their target audience. The language is casual, there are emojis everywhere, colors and visuals are attractive. They've made the program sound appealing. The opening line, "Calling all college icons!" immediately sets the tone. It's not just looking for any student, but those who see themselves as trendsetters on campus. This appeals to students' desire to be seen as cool or important.

In the list of benefits, each of these points is designed to appeal to different motivations a college student might have  — social status, free stuff, creative expression, network building — while also serving Poppi's marketing goals. It's a well-crafted pitch that aligns the brand's needs with student interests.

There are social media handles and photos of current ambassadors on this page.

This shows potential applicants that the ambassador program is not just some faceless corporate initiative, but something their peers are involved in and enjoying. It makes Poppi seem more relatable and trustworthy. It subtly suggests that if these students think Poppi is cool enough to represent, it's worth checking out.

👉 Takeaway for lifestyle brands:

• If your product is something that can become part of your customer's daily lives and self-image, you should build a college ambassador program. It'll help you connect authentically with a young, influential audience at a time when they're forming lasting brand preferences.
• Build a dedicated landing page for your influencer marketing program. On this page, tell influencers what they can get from working with you, who you want to work with, and how everything works. Influencers who like your brand can learn all about it and sign up right there instead of you going and scouting for them.

You can use SARAL to build a custom influencer program landing page in minutes with no technical setup required:

• Choose from pre-designed templates
• Add your brand colors, logo, and copy
• Include an application for applying to your influencer program.

🛒 Leveraging influencers to announce retail availability

When Poppi started selling offline in retail stores they leveraged influencers to spread the word about it.

This strategy helps Poppi solve a big challenge. When launching stores like Walmart, or WholeFoods, brands need to seel fast to keep their spot on the shelves. By getting influencers to point their followers to specific stores, Poppi increases the chances of people actually going there and buying their soda.

Here's a post from an influencer informing people that Poppi is available at WholeFoods.

Here's another post nudging people to shop for Poppi at Wegmans.

This post shows people that you can get Poppi delivered on Instacart as well.

The influencers become like walking, talking billboards for Poppi. But instead of promoting direct sales, they're announcing the brand's launch in retail spaces.

Magic Spoon is another DTC brand that leveraged influencers' reach to inform people that they've launched in big retail stores.

Influencers can be powerful allies in spreading specific messages or announcements, not just promoting products. In this case, Poppi used influencers to communicate their retail availability, but this approach can be applied to various types of brand messages:

• New product launches
• Brand repositioning
• Sustainability initiatives
• Company milestones
• Educational content about your product or industry

View influencers as extensions of your communication strategy, capable of delivering targeted messages to your targeted audiences.

Now that we've seen how Poppi runs their influencer marketing, let's see the team behind it and what their roles are.

👥 Poppi's influencer marketing team

Poppi's influencer marketing team features three key roles for different aspects of their influencer marketing.

1— Influencer Coordinator: Lauren Wysseier

She's likely the operational backbone of the team, ensuring that influencers know everything they have to do and they have all the resources. As an Influencer Coordinator, she likely:

• Manages schedules for influencer posts
• Tracks what influencers promise to do
• Handles sending product to influencers

Having someone in this role can help your brand stay organized and on top of all the moving parts in influencer campaigns.

2— Influencer Relations Manager: Emmerson Allen

Emmerson focuses on building connections with influencers. An Influencer Relations Manager might:

• Keep in touch with influencers regularly
• Make sure that influencers stay dedicated to the brand
• Relay any feedback from influencers to the brand, and vice-versa

This role shows how important it is to have someone dedicated to nurturing influencer relationships. You can't build relationships unless you're genuinely interested in spending time & effort doing that.

SARAL's Creator Relationship system makes it easy to stay on top of your influencer partnerships. You'll never miss a birthday, task, or follow-up again. All your conversations and emails are in one place, so you can quickly see your history with each creator.

3— Collegiate Relations Manager: Caroline Taylor

Caroline's role is about reaching college students. As a Collegiate Relations Manager, she probably:

• Works with college ambassadors
• Plans events on campuses
• Hosts events at campuses

This special role shows that Poppi sees value in dedicating a person for a specific groups like college students.

👉 Your team doesn't have to look exactly like Poppi's. It's likely that you're doing. It's about understanding the different elements of successful influencer marketing and applying them in a way that works for your brand's size and resources.

But don't add team members as work load increase. The key isn't always more people—it's working smarter. Brands like Poppi, or 1st Phorm (4000 influencers!) managing huge influencer communities while keeping their teams lean have learnt that they need to move beyond spreadsheets and invested in specialized tools.

You should invest in tools that can automate time-consuming tasks, centralize communication, and provide in-depth analytics. One such tool is — SARAL, an all-in-one influencer marketing tool that helps you:

• Find influencers
• Reach out to them
• Manage relationships
• Ship out your free products
• Create coupon codes, and track results

…and do so much more all in the same platform.

Start your 7-day free trial with SARAL today. Test out everything for yourself, talk to the team, and even run your influencer program. It is built to help your brand get its worth from influencer marketing.