The packaging was bold, clean, and unmistakable. The formulation was health-conscious but mainstream enough to hit broad distribution—in other words, distinct enough to stand out, streamlined enough to scale.
That’s lesson three: Design for acquisition, not just admiration. If your goal is to be scooped up by a CPG giant, make their life easier. Make it so your brand can plug in and light up shelf space without a massive overhaul.
Raise smart money and spend it smarter
Let’s not ignore the elephant in the room: Poppi raised aggressively. And it used that capital to dominate visibility, both on- and off-shelf. It secured top-tier retail placement, invested in brand awareness, and ensured that Poppi wasn’t just a cool indie soda—it was everywhere.
Big buyers like Pepsi don’t just look at velocity, they look at viability. Poppi wasn’t a gamble. It was a proven, scalable brand machine with momentum.
Lesson four: Smart fundraising fuels growth. Poppi used its funding not just to grow, but to show up like a billion-dollar brand long before it was one. When you look like a category leader, act like one, and show you can move like one, acquisition becomes a reality, not a fantasy.
A bigger shift inside Pepsi?
Now with Mauro Porcini—the visionary behind much of Pepsi’s internal creative—announcing his departure, it begs a bigger question: Are we witnessing a strategic pivot in PepsiCo’s approach to growth?
For a legacy CPG giant, acquiring culturally hot, design-forward brands is a smart way to inject relevance into the portfolio. It’s quicker, cleaner, and often more efficient than trying to incubate coolness internally. Especially when brands like Poppi are already doing the heavy lifting—building loyal audiences, cracking the algorithm, owning shelf space.
So where does this leave Pepsi’s internal creative engine? Possibly in a transitional moment. A rebalancing. A strategic shift to focusing on shareholder value.
It’s a signal to founders, marketers, and brand-builders: The playbook is evolving. Authenticity matters. Simplicity scales. And bold, sticky design isn’t just nice to have—it can be the very thing that tips an acquisition over the line.
For winning startups, it’s open season. For mass consumers, it’s more choice, more personality, and a new generation of brands built to both connect and convert.