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#270: Allison Ellsworth, Founder & Lead Creative, poppi – Build your brand
01:04:19
Listen to this leadership podcast with Allison Ellsworth, founder of poppi, and discover how to build a brand for the long term.
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- [00:00]
Host 1 (possibly Kula)
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of How Leaders Lead. Today we've got Allison Ellsworth on the show. She is the founder and creative lead behind Poppy, the brand that is making soda fun again. You might remember Alison from Shark Tank. And after that memorable appearance, everything since then has been a rocket ship for the growth of Poppy. They've taken over TikTok, they've won over celebrities, and they recently sold to Pepsi for 2 billion. In this episode, Alison shares how to build a brand that can move fast and disrupt in all the right ways. And a brand that knows exactly how to stay culturally relevant. Enjoy this episode with Alison and I'll see you at the debrief.
- [00:41]
Allison Ellsworth
Change is the only constant in life. Right. Things are always changing. And those that can embrace change as a leader, I think are going to be way more successful.
- [00:55]
Host 2 (possibly David)
You know, I love your jacket, but I also want to tell you something. I've been loading up on your flavors. I mean, and let me tell you how I got introduced to Poppy. You know, a couple years ago, I go to my grandkids house and my granddaughter said, ogo. They call me Ogo. I said, you got to try this new soda. It's so good. I love it. Everybody at school really loves it. And I tried the flavors. It's great. And one of my granddaughters, Audrey, said, pepsi's gotta. They need to do stuff like this.
- [01:26]
Allison Ellsworth
Oh, my goodness.
- [01:26]
Host 2 (possibly David)
And I said, I know what Pepsi's gonna do. They're gonna buy this. And guess what? That's what happened.
- [01:31]
Allison Ellsworth
You know, you manifested it for us, but congratulations.
- [01:35]
Host 2 (possibly David)
That's fantastic. You know, you do have an incredible product, and it's taken off.
- [01:41]
Allison Ellsworth
You know what? We would say that a lot of people are introduced to Poppy by the next generation of soda drinkers. So that influence up that just happened from your grandkids to you is really common within Poppy, which I think is so cool.
- [01:56]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Yeah. And you know what? People weren't drinking soda. You know, I. I used to work for Pepsi myself, and you know that that category's been declining for, for years. And you've got this tremendous growth brand because you solved a big problem. What are you doing with Poppy? That's that. That. That's made it take off and, and. And become so unique in the, in the soda world.
- [02:18]
Allison Ellsworth
You know, I think, like a lot of great things when we first started this, we just had a passion. We didn't really have a brand. We weren't. I wouldn't say we even had anything figured out. I think, like most entrepreneurs start out that way. But very early on at Poppy, we realized that we wanted to be soda for the next generation. And so it. It became like our North Star. If it doesn't fit within that, we're not going to do it. Like, down to certain flavors or activations or partnerships. It always like, is it soda for the next generation? And so for us, we always led with the brand and the three Cs that I always speak about, which is community first, Is it creative and disruptive, and does it move at the speed of culture?
- [03:00]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Oh, that's fantastic. And I know we're going to dig into each one of those things. And you, you built this massive brand from something that basically, as I understand it, started out in your kitchen. When did you first. First feel like you weren't this scrappy underdog anymore? And. And, you know, you became a real thing. I'm a real entity. How'd you handle this identity shift?
- [03:19]
Allison Ellsworth
You know, when we first started out, for context, we were more of like mom and pop Farmer's market. It was a different name called Mother Beverage, went onto Shark Tank and relaunched as poppy. March 3, 2020, the first week of COVID And what I think really came from that is we had to think really differently from the beginning because the world was shut down. The. The way that you market to people wasn't really something that anyone knew how to deal with at the time. And I just really feel like we were so obsessed with still sharing this with so many people. It was the right product, right time that we leaned into being a digital first brand at the beginning. And you're like, well, what does that mean? Like, digital first. But we had to reach our community digitally, right? There was no in real life events. There's no demos in stores. There was like, none of that. So for us, we just from day one, had to think differently.
- [04:12]
Host 2 (possibly David)
You know, it's amazing what you built, and I can't wait to hear your entire journey. But what's the story, though, Allison, looking back from your childhood, that shaped the kind of leader you are today?
- [04:23]
Allison Ellsworth
You know, I'm a very independent person. My kids are independent. I think I was very independent even as a child. I was raised by a single mom with my sister and brother, and I just remember having to just take care of myself. I always say I have really good, I guess, street smarts over book smarts. I was a solid C student in school. I can't believe I even graduated high school and college. And it wasn't because I was a partier or a lack of. I Just was obsessed with getting out in the world and experiencing it. So I just always learned through experience, life, getting to know people, travel, that I was never that interested in books, if that makes sense.
- [05:04]
Host 2 (possibly David)
You know, it's. As I understand it, I think your father is also an entrepreneur in the oil and gas industry. What did you learn watching him compete in that industry that you might have taken with you?
- [05:15]
Allison Ellsworth
You know, my dad's always been an entrepreneur, ever since I can remember. Still to this day is what I think I learned the most from him. And growing up around that is anything is possible and just say yes and figure it out later. And I know a lot of people have kind of said that, but I saw it every day. And even as a kid, to learn those consequences of always hearing yes, I think it built some grit in me. So, for example, I'd be like, ready for church and my Sunday best, and my dad, I'd want to go play in the dirt. My dad would say yes. Well, I had to have consequences. Now I'm covered in dirt and have to get redressed again. But it taught me that, hey, I can discover through the. Yes. And so he was one of the entrepreneurs back in the 80s that kind of got in on the oil and gas boom and then lost it all. Millions and millions of dollars, and then had to rebuild the business again. So I saw the loss, and what I learned from him is that the build of the success is way more fulfilling than the money.
- [06:12]
Host 2 (possibly David)
That's. That's, that's so true. And everybody who, who really makes it, makes a difference in the world feels, Feels that way. And, and you know, you mentioned that things really changed when you went on, on, on Shark Tank. But I have to ask you, are. Is Poppy the largest brand, most successful brand ever launched on Shark Tank?
- [06:32]
Allison Ellsworth
Yeah, we're the biggest exit ever. 1.95 billion to Pepsi. And I'm the only shark to have come back. You know, we got a deal. And then I came back and I was a shark. So there's a lot of firsts within it. It's definitely the full circle American dream. And I've always said Shark Tank changed our lives. Like, it's a fantastic show, entrepreneurs getting highlighted, because at the end of the day, you can have a great product, but if you don't have resources and you don't have money, it's really hard.
- [07:02]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Yeah, you gotta have that. No question about it. And, you know, you go on Shark Tank, you know, everybody knows that now. But what's a story from that experience that you haven't told anyone before.
- [07:16]
Allison Ellsworth
Yeah. You know, I think one of the biggest things was I don't think we would be here today without it in the way of. Basically we were. We couldn't pay our bills, we couldn't pay our mortgage, we were working two jobs. It was almost like if we didn't get the deal, we probably would have gone out of business and there would have never been a Poppy. You know, I always, you know, if there's a will, there's a way. I, I'd like to think that I could have been scrappy to keep it going, but it was just to the point where we'd been grinding for two years, you know, just not really making a ton of headway outside of Dallas. Texas is where we originally started it. And it just beverages. So capital intensive. A lot of people don't get beverage. You're literally shipping liquids across the country. So just think of like a D2C plate. It's harder. Right. If you think of a, a truck load full of Poppy to get it across the US is, you know, $10,000. Well, a truckload of, say, sunscreen or a beauty product. You can get like $300,000 worth of product in there. For us, it's like $40,000 worth of product in a truckload. So your costs are just higher every step of the way. So for us, if we wouldn't have gotten a deal on Shark Tank, I hate to say, but there's, there's a world where poppy would have never happened.
- [08:30]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Oh, well, thank God you went on Shark Tank because you got a great brand. You know, you end up doing this deal with Rohan Oza, who's known as the brand father, as I understand it, again. And he put $400,000 in and he got 25% of your business. Now, we've all seen Shark Tank, but how long did you actually have to make that decision that you're going to go with him?
- [08:54]
Allison Ellsworth
Yeah. So fun fact about Shark Tank is when you go into pitch, you're actually in there for 30 to 45 minutes pitching. And then they, they edit it down to about five minutes. And within that it is very. You have to figure it out on the moment. And so when they give you an offer, you have seconds to think about it.
- [09:17]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Guys, that is ridiculously good offer for you. I would have never made Run Like.
- [09:21]
Allison Ellsworth
A Thief in the Night Intriguing you.
- [09:23]
Host 2 (possibly David)
You have to take that.
- [09:27]
Allison Ellsworth
Take it.
- [09:31]
Host 2 (possibly David)
We'd love to do business with you.
- [09:33]
Allison Ellsworth
Make this big.
- [09:35]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Congratulations, guys.
- [09:37]
Allison Ellsworth
Yes. Congratulations. And congratulations on your baby. Thank you. The Way that we prepared going in is thinking what could be the craziest thing someone could ask of us? What are the craziest questions? And we worked for six months prepping for this. So from the time we tried out to the time we actually walked into the tank with six months, I was a little bit scared because when we tried I was three months pregnant, ended up going on Shark Tank, nine months pregnant and had the baby, you know, two weeks after it. And I was like, am I going to make this like I do don't care I'm going on this show even if I have the baby on set. But I do think that you don't have time to really think about it. And if you do, you can lose deals. And I've seen it happen.
- [10:18]
Host 2 (possibly David)
What was the wildest question that you had in your minds that you prepared for in that scenario where you're getting ready?
- [10:25]
Allison Ellsworth
I think like you the, the typical stuff, right? Like your margins and, and your three year projections and all that. But then it's like what if they want to buy half the company or the whole company or, or what if they want to change everything, right? You, you go through like all those scenarios nowadays. I feel like with chat GPT and stuff it make it a lot easier to prepare for, prepare for this. Back then we didn't have anything like that. But I think one of the craziest questions we got in there is everyone's yelling at you, they're asking you questions from how many bottles a year can you do? How do you manufacture it? What are your ingredients? What certifications do you have? And then Mark Cuban yelled at us, hey, where's Yalls office? And he was like wanting to have like a personal conversation of like, oh, we're like, it's on Harry High. It's such like a jarring feeling of like wait, am I, am I supposed to answer that? It's not about the business, but it is. And it's, it's funny just because they're so seasoned and so pro within it that they can ask the questions and still have fun while doing it.
- [11:23]
Host 2 (possibly David)
What was the single best piece of advice that Rohan has given you about brand building?
- [11:29]
Allison Ellsworth
Just to invest in brand building. A lot of people say it, but actions speak louder than words when it comes to actually investing in brand building. So for us, our number one KPI for the first three years of business was brand awareness. Now that's long term brand building. That's long term not knowing if what you're doing is working right. You're not Seeing that immediate performance marketing driven KPIs and he was the money. And at the end of the day he believed that's what was best. We all did. And I think it's rare where you have a full team behind a business that's really invested in long term brand building. People get that dopamine hit in a DC D2C company and it's like, oh, I, if I spin this, I immediately see that it's a vicious cycle. And usually it's a lot harder for those just really just DTC companies to eventually exit. A lot of people don't, don't really think about that.
- [12:25]
Host 2 (possibly David)
How'd you land on the name Poppy?
- [12:27]
Allison Ellsworth
Yeah, so we landed on the name Poppy because it's a playoff of soda pop. Very simple. It's Poppy soda pop pops off the.
- [12:36]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Shelf and it did. When did you know you had a winner?
- [12:40]
Allison Ellsworth
You know, we launched poppy March 3, 2020, first week of COVID The second week in April, we had an update on Shark Tank Air which was basically a national commercial week too. And our sales on Amazon went from like 4,000 day to like, you know, 20,000 a day. 100. It was like crazy. And you know, if you kind of think back at that time, we were a shelf stable product that you could pantry load that had better for you ingredients. When everyone's like really concerned and thinking about their health and wellness, really some people for the first time ever. And then we found a way to really connect digitally. So I got online and I became so super obsessed with TikTok personally. And we had some really breakthrough moments really early on. I would say we were probably one of the first hundred brands on TikTok. And it was the wild, wild west back then, like where you just post and you get a million views. I was dancing, I was doing recipe videos and for context, you know, we have over 3 billion views on Tik Tok with Poppy now. And I would say like one third of the platform has seen my face over seven times.
- [13:50]
Host 2 (possibly David)
That's. That's incred. Incredible. Now what's a belief you had in the early days of Poppy that everyone basically told you you were wrong, but you were right to keep it?
- [14:01]
Allison Ellsworth
The. I got a lot of pushback on the TikTok piece. A lot of people say Instagram was where it's at. There's a lot of dancers and people on there don't do TikTok. I got a lot of pushback on apparel. So, you know, I'm wearing one of these jackets now, but a lot of People are like, why a soda company? Why do you to do apparel? That's not just what everyone else is doing. And I was like, oh, it's just not cool. So we have apparel fully integrated into Poppy. So we have a production coordinator, we have a head of apparel and hard goods. We cut so dye everything. So much so that we, we made so many ways with it. We launched our own clothing line with Target for a two month in and out program. That was so great because then we had Poppy right next to it. They were able to sell more soda. Now we have 350,000 people walking around with Poppy billboards on their back of apparel. Right. And so that to me is the definition of long term brand building that some people might say, why would you do that? And I'm like, why not? So like little stuff, little stuff like that, that I kind of had to stick to my guns.
- [15:03]
Host 2 (possibly David)
You know, speaking of brand building, you say that a mistake that a lot of entrepreneurs make is that they focus on the product and not the brand. Say more about that.
- [15:13]
Allison Ellsworth
Yeah, most people. And I think it's the way that we market. So we have a fantastic product. I think you have to have a good product to be successful. It's at the core of whatever you're doing. It has to be a good product. Right. So we nailed the product. We have an incredible PhD scientist team. My husband ran the entire ops and product team. I think really where it can set you apart is talking about the brand. So I always say like, versus, hey, we're poppy. We're five grams of sugar with prebiotics. We're where I say is, hey, we're Poppy. We, we're fun. Oh, and by the way, we're better for you is a way better way to market to people because the second you really get clinical and you start talking so niche, you've cut off probably half of your consumer base. Because some people might be like, oh, I don't know about pre products. I don't, I don't. That's not for me. Versus, we taste amazing. Try this. Oh, and by the way, it's good for you. You can get way more people into your fold. And with that, we invest in brand building things at Poppy. So at Poppy, we have a vertical within marketing that I don't think a lot of companies have. And it's called the, the culture team. And you might be like, is that hr? No, it is all things culturally relevant. So it's college, it's an events, it's influencer, it's social and it encompass, encompasses all the things that we do so that, that can then allow us to move at the speed of culture. And it's kind of the core, I would say that of, of the marketing and the heartbeat of the DNA of AT is really creative and the, and the culture piece, that's that long term brand building piece that we really, really invest in at Poppy.
- [16:50]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Do you think that's really the reason why the brand has become like, I would say it's, it's, it's almost a movement, you know. And what else have you done intentionally to create a community instead of just having customers? It seems like that's what you, that's what you've ended up with now is this community of raving fans.
- [17:09]
Allison Ellsworth
That's so funny. I always say we don't have customers, we have community. So you nailed it. But I will say me putting myself out there and being authentic and real, believing in the brand and then believing in the creator marketplace of working with, with influencers that are not all huge influencers. So where we have AT Poppy, it's, it's like, it's, you could call it a brand ambassador program, but it's just regular people online nowadays, everyone's creating content. Everyone's quote unquote an influencer or creating content. And we really leaned into that. So there's some people out there. If it's a good piece of content, we'll reach out to them, we'll give them a fee and we'll ask if we can get paid behind it. And it's just everyday real people that they're connecting with. Right. It's not just the like cute college girl or the cool athlete. It's like real authentic people drinking Poppy. We're diverse, we're inclusive, right? We're, we're on the forefront of, we're a trendsetter. We're not a trend follower. And with that comes is we hire young at poppies. So we at one point were 65% female. Our marketing team was very young, so they knew what was going on. I think one of the biggest myths that Gen Z doesn't work hard is bull. Right? We found incredible teams. A lot of our college ambassadors will work as interns. We hire them on if they have their pulse on culture and they work hard, they're a great fit for Poppy.
- [18:28]
Host 1 (possibly Kula)
Hi, friends. I hope you're loving this episode with Alison. As always. I hope you stay tuned to the debrief. David and I are going to break down some of these concepts that Alison is talking about so that we give you something really practical that you can apply to your work, to your leadership and to your life. So stay tuned to the very end of the episode and I will see you at the debrief.
- [18:47]
Host 2 (possibly David)
You know, when it comes to social media, I mean, you're unquestionably one of the best in the world at it now. I mean you've, you built your brand on it and, and break down your top social channels and how you leverage the uniqueness of each one at Poppy.
- [19:03]
Allison Ellsworth
Yeah, so social's tough. I think when it comes to it, you have to really think about each channel as its own individual channel. So Instagram, the way I think about that, it's basically your modern day website. So you want it to be a little bit more polished, a little bit more educational. Um, people usually if they ask who you are, they're going to go to your Instagram first, especially probably Millennial and below. And then of course you need to have a good website, which a lot of people don't think that's a social channel, but you can really talk to your community on your website. And then on TikTok, it's really where you can have a little bit more fun. I think you have to be authentic, real. I don't think it needs to be overproduced. So don't spend a ton of money or time on fancy equipment. Use your iPhone. I think you post a ton because for anyone that goes on TikTok, if you really go to someone's page, no one is scrolling down your feed and looking what you posted a month ago or even really a week ago. So just test stuff. If it doesn't work, the only thing that hurts is probably your ego. But get over it. Keep posting until you find what works. Post three, four times a day. Have fun, do stories, do something you would maybe be unhinged. Just don't get canceled. And then I think there's YouTube that, I'll be honest, not a lot of brands have figured out YouTube, including poppy. Long form content is extremely hard. One of my, you know, friends is Preston Plays. He's one of the OG, you know, Minecraft YouTubers and he has a team of like 16 editors, 30 employees running just one social channel. So I think a lot of people don't realize how robust that channel is. And then X is where you can have a lot of fun. I always say hand it over to your copywriter and let them go wild. There doesn't have to be a lot of strategy. There's. When it comes to, when it comes to X.
- [20:46]
Host 2 (possibly David)
You know, you mentioned storytelling as you were going through the rundown of the social. And. And I've heard you say that all marketing really is is good storytelling. Take me inside your process. How do you. How do you think about telling a good story?
- [21:04]
Allison Ellsworth
Well, I always say build the story before you scale, and that's where the big companies get it. Right. Wrong. Right there. You know, you take. They have these huge brands, and then they're trying to build that community and build that story. So start building your story now. However messy it is, and whatever that is, is knowing that it can evolve. I think that's where people get really scared. Is like, well, I don't have it figured out. It's okay. Test, get out, start talking. Are what we have internally. And what really is our North Star is our brand book. At Poppy, right? We're on a mission to revolutionize soda for the next generation. And how does it all work within that storytelling? And it's fun. We did our first super bowl back in 2024, and it was one of those things where we had been working on the storytelling of Poppy for about a year. And really, it starts with the word soda. Everybody knows soda's bad for you, but they still like it, right? They know it's a dirty word, but. But they want something better. So we created Poppy. You get soda without the baggage. It's very simple. We're like, now, how do we bring that to life? Like, we are the future of soda. And we were able to create a beautiful piece of content out of that storytelling of Poppy's future for the next generation of soda. And we created a piece of content to run on tv, not knowing it was going to be a Super bowl ad. And once we saw it, we were like, holy crap, this is incredible. This is telling what our story, where we want to plant our flag in three years from now. We said we were soda in it 17 times. Then we put it on the super bowl, and we tripled our awareness overnight. It really established us as modern soda within the grocery store, retail. And it changed because we had invested time in what our story was going to be, and we put it together. Now we're three years or two years past that. How does our story evolve? It can't just continue to say that over and over again. So how do you have it within use occasions? How do you talk about the next level of storytelling with Poppy? So I think, like, just start telling your story, invest time, energy into it, which a lot of people don't do, and then be able to Change and evolve the story. As long as you stick to your North Star.
- [23:18]
Host 2 (possibly David)
You know, I remember that ad that you ran on the super bowl, and it really stood out. And, you know, most super bowl ads really suck. I mean, they're just terrible. I mean, these people spend a lot of money. Well, why do you think that is? And, you know, if you were giving someone advice on, on how to do a great super bowl ad, you know, what, what would you tell them?
- [23:37]
Allison Ellsworth
I think it's celebrity Soup. Is what a lot of people don't realize is everyone tries to get as many celebrities into it as possible. But the problem is, is if everyone's doing that, then you're not unique. And then I think people try to do too weird of things to break through. And for us, we stayed true to who we. We are. So the first year was that anthemic piece. The next year that we did it, we worked with creators and we had Alex Earl and Jake Shane in it. And it. And it was like one of those things where we stayed true to who we are versus trying to not be poppy. And that's always just like what we've always done really well. We've never really had any missteps because we've done the work. We know what our brand is. And when I say people don't invest in it, it is wild how many times I talk to people to invest in the brand, and then they just go right back to being a performance marketing company and trying to get that dopamine hit.
- [24:30]
Host 2 (possibly David)
You know, tell me about this thing you got. You call it a black ops budget. Tell me about your black ops budget.
- [24:37]
Allison Ellsworth
Yeah, especially in the early years, we would have what we called was our black ops budget. And whatever you could put aside for, you know, it could be $20,000, depending on the size of your business, up to 500,000 or even a million if it doesn't have to be a lot, but it can be a lot. The way when we always say we move at the speed of culture, the only way to do that is to not really plan. And that's really scary for big companies because culture moves so quickly that sometimes a trend is not a trend after three days. So if it takes you two weeks to get a trend to prove internally at your company, you've missed the boat. And then if there's something culturally relevant happening, how do you move quick and how do you have the funds if everything's already allocated to other things? So we always had this like, fun little budget or we'd move stuff around that we could kind of have fun. And this a fun example. I'm sure you're a huge fan, or you've probably not even heard of it, but Love island is a huge.
- [25:32]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Oh, yeah, Love Island.
- [25:33]
Allison Ellsworth
Okay.
- [25:33]
Host 2 (possibly David)
I'm on the Comcast board. I have to. I have to talk about Love Island.
- [25:37]
Allison Ellsworth
Well, we love Love Island. It's such a cultural moment during the summer. Cause there's not a lot of other new TV running. And so for us, we fell in love with Amaya this season and she won. And we were having fun with it and we created a meme. So memes are a lot of moving at the speed of culture, right? It's. It's. People love them. And so we did an Amaya papaya flavor and we were like. And then the community went wild. They were like, you guys have to actually do this. Well, for us to launch a new flavor within a few months, to culturally make it make sense is really hard as a company. Right. You have to get printed cans, you have to do a photo shoot, you have to do marketing behind it. You have to have paid. We were able to pull together a brand new can with her. It was a Amaya's pina colada. We did it, I think, within three months. Now, that wasn't in the plan. Right. And so that's what I mean. Is this like black ops? But it's always. We know something like that's going to happen a year, so we kind of just keep fun money aside for it.
- [26:35]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Your approach to marketing must be blowing the people of Pepsi away. I mean, are they going to school on you now? I mean, you've. You. Not only. They not only bought a tremendous brand, that you're like, one of the top marketers in the world right now. Are they. Are they learning from you as. As we speak?
- [26:54]
Allison Ellsworth
After buying us, they were like, did not want to mess anything up. Their number one motto is like, let poppy be poppy. So it's still the same team in place. And at one point, we were looking at marketing to how do we open our audiences and maybe speak to more males? They were like, we got 22 brands focused on men. You guys focus on the women, the girlies, the puppy girlies, the millennials. So they're obsessed with what we're doing. We are doing sessions with having the best time and being collaborative. And they're really just like, allowing us to kind of stay poppy. And to your point, yes. We've had a few things where they're like, hey, maybe you guys could take a look at this. But we're still focused on Poppy, which is what's beautiful of just continuing the growth.
- [27:37]
Host 2 (possibly David)
That's great, you know, and you've, you've landed some massive brand partners. You Post Malone, Hailey Bieber, Kylie Jenner, Paris Hilton, just to name a few. Tell me a story about one of the most important lessons you've, You've. You've picked up from one of them. Any one of them.
- [27:55]
Allison Ellsworth
Well, I think it's more of an overarching thing. So a lot of people don't realize the new creator marketplace of influencers and creators is really where you should put your investment in, in those early days. So we worked with JLo maybe I think year two. Even though she was iconic, incredible partner to work with, we didn't really see it move the needle. And it was really surprising to us because we're like, oh my gosh, she's like one of the biggest stars in the world. She was a great partner. But it's what we realize is people don't really care about what celebrities are doing anymore. Especially in the early days when you're just building your business and you're not sold everywhere. If they can't find you, it's not going to have the hugest impact. So we got that lesson a little bit early on in the business. So then we doubled down with influencers and creators and our hack was just for, for fun Z's. We actually never worked with Kylie Jenner or Hailey Bieber. We just sent them product for free and they ended up posting us for free, which was way more authentic than doing a whole paid sponsorship deal with them. And then when it comes to Post Malone, we love Postie. He's from Texas and we had found out that he had stopped drinking soda and was drinking Poppy and he was a fan and so it made sense, sense to work with him because he was like, already such a big fan of ours. And then the retailers love those type of programs. So for him, it's like, if you see it's very specific on why we do things versus we need to slap a celebrity across our brand because our brand is like community driven, it's founder driven, it's team driven. So I think the biggest lesson I learned is you don't sometimes need a celebrity, but if you do do it for the right reasons, you know, I.
- [29:36]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Want to go back to TikTok for a second. You know, you said a third of their platform, their users has seen you seven times. That's an amazing, amazing stat. How did you get so much success on TikTok. I mean what was it that made that happen? I mean that's mind boggling.
- [29:58]
Allison Ellsworth
You know, I always say the biggest thing is I personally got on there and learned to edit. I know how to make a TikTok. I know how to make a trend. I post. It was like from day one it was that. But then it had to evolve, right? So then we brought in an incredible team. We brought in a social media manager. She's incredible. We have community managers consistently on the keyboards talking to people. We have three people in house doing that non stop 24, seven basically talking to our community, right? Those are our fans. They're creating content. At one time we had like seven people had logins to our tik tok and you didn't even need to get approval to post something. Like if you thought it was cute and it's trending, go for it. And that can be really scary to big companies to allow people to go, quote unquote, buck wild and just do whatever they want on social media. But of course we had Gar rails. They knew what they could and couldn't do. But that allowed us to move quick and allowed us to really have it be part of the DNA at Poppy to where it was so much bigger than me, right? It was from leadership down believing in this platform that it was so such a beautiful place to be able to talk to people. You know, now it's, it's very 360, right? We, we've run a lot of linear TV, a lot of streaming, we do a lot with meta, you know, all of that stuff. But I will say still the core audience of just like our, our like D ride or dies are on TikTok, you know.
- [31:23]
Host 2 (possibly David)
You know with all the success you had on on TikTok, you know, and you're obviously all in on, on technology and where's it going. How's, how's the, the learning that you gained on on TikTok influencing the way you're approaching AI today?
- [31:42]
Allison Ellsworth
Well, little do people know that like TikTok and anything on there has been AI for so many years. The FYP page, the way we run paid and organic is all AI driven. So much so that our paid strategy is to kind of let the algorithm and the AI do what they do best and not try to over engineer it. And so with us, I think another piece of AI that we've really, I think saved us a lot of money is I ran our creative team at Poppy and really if we want to create or produce a piece of content before, we would probably store, storyboard it out, spend a lot of time like designing mood boards and what we wanted to see where now you can feed it in and it'll almost like spit it out for you. Like, if you're like, I'm not sure what song it is, they'll make one up for you, right? And you can kind of mood board stuff out. It'll save you so much time. The amount of times we've done that and we see it and we're like, ooh, this is a bad idea. And it saved us from doing bad ideas is amazing, right? So we're using it in that aspect. And I think that a lot of people are scared of AI. They don't know how to use it. And I wouldn't say, like, we're masters at it, but I will say within our finance and ops team, it's. We're best in class.
- [32:49]
Host 2 (possibly David)
You know, finance and ops people see a lot of the, the AI benefits, but what you're talking about is really unlocking creativity and moving you further along. Not people, not many people really see AI as being a real benefit in that area. You know, how did you pioneer in that? I mean, how did you even open up your mind to that being a real possibility?
- [33:10]
Allison Ellsworth
You know, I think Google's a beautiful thing. ChatGPT. There's. Nowadays, there's nothing. You can't really figure it out on your own. And then I think we have an incredible team at Poppy, right? I think I get a lot of credit for a lot of things that Poppy when at the end of the day, it's the team team that just makes me look good. And we, like I said, we, we hire young, we hire smart people. We've kept everybody through, through the acquisition, which has been incredible. So I don't know if we're, we're huge pioneers within it, but we always think first to try something. We're not scared to try it, if that makes sense. I think a lot of people are scared to try it versus we are never scared to be the first to try something. And I think that's given us an advantage.
- [33:49]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Now you, you mentioned that you, you do have guardrails. You just don't let people go wild on, on social media. But yeah, give me an example of what a guardrail would be for Poppy.
- [33:57]
Allison Ellsworth
You know, I think things that might get you canceled, like our core audience is millennial moms and Gen Z. So I probably. We're not going to get on there and spend a lot of time talking about politics, religion, we're not going to spend a lot of time talking about cussing or anything that could offend people, right? Nowadays, people think to stand out, you have to offend people. I think our motto is more to just love, have fun, and bring joy to the world. I think that people think you have to stand out. You have to do, like, really stunty things. We don't do stunty things. We just connect with our community and we're authentic. And so, you know, they. The team kind of knows that. Or, for example, I'll be like, oh, my gosh, we should work with so and so. And they're like, oh, that person's canceled. We don't want to work with them. Like, they know there's. They. They have their. Their fingers so much on the pulse of culture, of, like, that person said so and so don't work that. Or this could maybe not be the best look like we're constantly having those conversations, those real conversations every single day.
- [35:00]
Host 2 (possibly David)
How do you get your pulse on culture? It's easier said than done. I mean, you've built a company on this, but, I mean, how do you do that?
- [35:08]
Allison Ellsworth
It's the hardest question to answer, I think. I think it's collaboration and team, because I used to be a leader where I, you know, I think all entrepreneurs start companies, and you don't really start a company to have people tell you what to do or to be collaborative. And then you kind of have to figure out that that's not the best way to do things, and you learn to be collaborative. So over the years, I think we get together once a month. We have incredible brainstorms. We have, like, unhinged calls during the week. We have one call that's our, like, social, creative call, where we just get on and we just go down deep, dark holes on the most random things and have fun. And, like, what's trending? We're pulling trend reports and kind of staying on top of what it is. And I. I got to give it to the team on this one because they are young, they are scrappy, they're hard workers, and they just have their pulse on culture. And a lot of times we can get there through interviewing people. So in a typical interview at Poppy, we'll ask, what are the brands you're looking at? And if a lot of them say really big brands, we know they're probably not really in line with culture. Like, if someone says something like, you know, no offense, I'm. I think Wendy's is iconic and Taco Bell and all these things. That's fine, but that's not really the, like, down entrepreneurial, cool move culture things. Right. So it's like maybe nude project or. Or is it. Is it just. I mean, even skims, I think, is a cool, cool, huge brand that people can look up to, so we can kind of get a pulse within that. And then I think we always, you know, you can kind of just. Your gut can tell you, you know.
- [36:37]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Back to AI for a second here. I understand you joined a AI cohort. What are a couple of the biggest insights you've learned from. From that group?
- [36:46]
Allison Ellsworth
You know, it's this TikTok collective cohort that we're part of where we've brought together quite a bit of incredible digital marketers and brand buildies and creatives, and we get access to a lot of new beta programs. There's something interesting happening right now that I'm. I'm kind of here for whatever's new and if it doesn't offend anybody. Where you could create a whole avatar of me, for example. So I still create 5200 pieces of content a month, my time. It takes time to do this thing. So then it's like you start having these questions, do we have a fun avatar? And then we talk about it and we joke about it, and we always poke fun at it and say, like, couldn't, you know, I couldn't be in seven places at once? Or is that authentic to our community? Right. So these are the kind of conversations that I think a lot of people are having with AI right now. And so for us, we've definitely decided it's. It's probably not the most authentic thing for us at Poppy, but we're having conversations, we're talking about it, we're aware of it, and I think if something comes out and it's right for us, we'll consider it.
- [37:52]
Host 2 (possibly David)
What do you think is a leadership habit that you develop because you didn't come from the beverage industry?
- [37:59]
Allison Ellsworth
Yeah. So it took me a while to figure out my superpower as a leader, but I think my ability to inspire and encourage is really infectious. So I feel like if I'm in the room, anybody can feel like they can do anything and almost take it 20% bigger, if that makes sense. So it's like, if they're like, the sky was the limit. I'm like, no, no, no, go, go. More like go. 20, 30, 40. Like, think bigger is really my superpower. I think leadership is where it was an evolving journey for me because I was Poppy. Poppy's me. I was creative. It was like this whole thing then to come in and like have other opinions and to grow. We were one of the fastest, if not fastest growing companies in the history of beverage. You know, I think that when you're growing that quick, you need really incredible people on your team with a lot of success. So early on we decided to bring in a CEO that was really hard. I had to get coaching and business coaches and figure out how to go through that because it's this thing that you want success for the company so bad and you don't want your ego to get in the way of growth. And so I'm very self aware. Was it hard? Absolutely it was hard. But look at the success we had because we made those hard decisions.
- [39:18]
Host 2 (possibly David)
What was the hardest thing about that?
- [39:20]
Allison Ellsworth
Stepping back and not just like having the final say or not just doing it my way. Because at the time I thought my way was best. I've learned it's not not always best. Sometimes it is. And I think that's a growth. That was a really big growth opportunity for me and I think it made me an incredible leader today because of it going through those hardships. And so I think change is the only constant life. Right? Things are always changing. And those that can embrace change as a leader, I think are going to be way more successful. And you just take marketing for example. If we would have just gone in and done the same boring old marketing that everyone's done for the last 25 years, Poppy wouldn't be where it was today. But we changed, we evolved, we thought differently. And so I will say even our CEO that came in, he has told me I've changed his leadership style because before he was like very organized and not as chaotic, didn't know what a black ops budget was. And now he's like sees the beauty in that. And so we were able to evolve together.
- [40:19]
Host 2 (possibly David)
What's something, you know, people are so important and you created this company and you've created the culture in so doing. You know, what's something that you really focused on in, in the, the work environment, the culture that you're, you're trying to create at Poppy.
- [40:37]
Allison Ellsworth
So with our growth, it was so fast. I mean we were 300% year over year. We went from like 0 to 500 million in four years. Like, it's crazy growth. And so to keep people, to not burn out and keep people motivated is really hard. Right. But I think what we did special at Poppy is we invested in the culture and the team. So when we first started the Company. We were a fully remote company for the first two years. Two years of COVID makes sense. When it was time to reopen and start an hq, we did start one in Austin, and anyone that wanted to come could come. Nobody had to come. Right. It was this. We were able to create a beautiful culture where remote worked and person worked, and we didn't care what you wanted to do. I think that's hard for big companies to, like, kind of figure out that balance. And it was because we invested in things that were fun. So my biggest thing to prevent burnout is to have fun. And I know it's like, work hard, play hard, but it's more, you know, giggling and meetings, being funny, not taking yourself so serious. If you're going to be together as a team, don't spend the entire day in a, you know, a boardroom. Talk going over power PowerPoints, like, go play pickleball. You know, how much more creative you can be in talking about stuff if you're out playing pickleball or golf or ax throwing or a panic room. Like, I know it sounds cheesy, but we really intentional with making sure we did stuff like that at Poppy, that it wasn't all work, because then people come back refreshed, they want to work harder, and we saw a bigger return. And I always think laughter prevents negative health issues, all sorts of things. So don't take life so serious. And that's kind of was the culture at Poppy. It was this work hard, play hard mentality. Be silly.
- [42:18]
Host 2 (possibly David)
And now you have this group of axe throwers.
- [42:21]
Allison Ellsworth
Yes, exactly. Anyone that wants to sign up. Pickleballers and ax throwers.
- [42:25]
Host 2 (possibly David)
I love it. You know, there's this phrase that I hear a lot. You know, mom, guilt. Has that shown up to you in any point? And if so, how'd you navigate through it?
- [42:38]
Allison Ellsworth
Yeah, I mean, I think people have all sorts of guilt when you are working, you know, 80 hours a week and gone constantly. I think for me, I had a good support system at home, and mine were very little. And I think early on, me and my husband, we worked together. We're both the founders of Poppy. So it was 24 7, poppy. It was like all we talked about in our households. And early on, we kind of said, let's let the guilt go. We're already working so hard, we are so tired, and we're just making it harder on ourselves. Let the guilt go. No. Are the kids happy? Are they loved? And do they feel safe? And once we kind of got to the bottom of that, I I'm pretty good at letting that stuff go. Yeah. Do I miss them when I go to town? Yes. But, like, they're fine. They're loved. They're. And they're happy and healthy. So I'm better at it than most because I just feel like we're all human, and sometimes you don't have to be so hard on yourself.
- [43:34]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Now, you and your husband Steven, built this business from scratch as a team of two, and it was that way for quite a while. What advice would you give to others when working with a spouse?
- [43:48]
Allison Ellsworth
Just know what you're getting into. At the end of the day, we do very different things, and we have such incredible talents at what we do. Right. I did the creative and brand. He ran our OPS and supply chain and our innovation team, and I respected what he did. I think he respected what I did. No, I know he respected what I did, and I think that we saw value in that. And the sacrifice that we had was towards one common goal. Like, all teams are all things you're doing. If you guys have a common goal that you're both working towards, it's really rewarding. I'll be honest. Now that we've sold Poppy and we're on the other side and we're working on almost, like, different goals, it's a new dynamic that we're working through. Like, wait, what you're doing? What you're doing this? And we're having to, like, relearn how to work together. But that's just adaptability and change that. Now I'm like, gotta figure that one out. So I think that most people can't do it. I would never change it and not do it with them.
- [44:46]
Host 2 (possibly David)
You know, has there ever been a moment when you two completely disagreed on something and. And. And it actually made Poppy better?
- [44:55]
Allison Ellsworth
Yeah. One of our biggest fights was when we were going from Mother beverage to Poppy, and he wanted to add sugar to it. So how I started Poppy is I had some health problems, and my tummy hurt, and I was tired all the time. Started drinking apple cider vinegar. Didn't like the taste. Taste of apple cider vinegar. So I went to my kitchen, and I created the first version, and he was like, it's good, but it can be a little bit better. Let's add five grams of sugar. And I was like, never. We're never doing that. And then he totally just did it anyways. And then our sales, like, triple, quadrupled. It was wildly successful after that. And what we realized is people say one thing, and they do Another so people want to be healthy, but they, they, they aren't. Right. And so 5 grams of sugar was like that, that cusp of I still feel pretty good about myself. And then we opened ourselves up to so many more people because it tasted way better. And so it was one of those moments where I was wrong. He loves when I say that, but I will say, you know, like there's stuff like that that it was just like I thought it was the right way and then he won it and vice versa. We have multiple where I was like, nope, we're doing this. And he got behind me.
- [46:03]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Now I gotta ask you this. Take me behind the scenes of your PepsiCo D deal. What's something people don't know about how it all came together?
- [46:11]
Allison Ellsworth
O. Okay. So I think something that's kind of fun is we were having crazy growth and we never did a formal process. So a lot what that means is like you hire a bank, then you kind of go out to the market and say we're for sale. Well, we weren't sure because we were having crazy growth. It's always a balance of right time, you don't want to do it too soon, you don't want to do it too late. And so we had almost been kind of like talking to Pepsi and dating them. But then when it was finally time to do it, I think we made one phone call and they gave us an offer in three days. And it was, I think one of the fastest M and A offers and acceptance. I mean, I don't know the ins and outs of other ones, but I mean it was just so wildly fast because we had been dating them, done the in person meetings. It was like all of that, that stuff already that when it was finally down to get down to business, we just knew they were the right partner. They gave us a fair offer. We didn't want it to drag out and hurt relationships. And we said yes, we're like, let's, let's go.
- [47:12]
Host 2 (possibly David)
And it sounds like, you know, while Pepsi has 100% control of the business or did they own 100%?
- [47:19]
Allison Ellsworth
They bought 100%. Yeah. And.
- [47:21]
Host 2 (possibly David)
But you're still running the business, you and the CEO and the team and they're, it's pretty much hands off. Is that, that, that, am I describing it that properly or they're working.
- [47:32]
Allison Ellsworth
Yeah, they're allowing Poppy to say Poppy. So our CEO is still running the business. I obviously am no longer an employee because I sold my business. So I, I came back on as an advisor. So I'm still advising with the same team on the creative and brand and all of that. So yeah, their, their whole thinking was like, don't mess up a good thing.
- [47:51]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Because you know this brand is your identity. I mean it's, it's like letting your baby go. How hard was that?
- [47:57]
Allison Ellsworth
You know, I just kind of feel like she's at college now, so I'm here to like guide her. But I know for sure the team, I mean some of the team has been with us since day one. They are, they know stuff and are way cooler than me and a lot of stuff. So I also think what comes with a good leader is trust. And I truly trust the team and, and I'm so happy that I could kind of like, like step back and advise and just like really see it grow. And I'm, I'm seeing it. We're just still doing such sick stuff.
- [48:27]
Host 2 (possibly David)
That's great. And, and you disrupted an industry dominated by giant corporations like PepsiCo and Coca Cola. What do you think it is that you understand about today's consumers that maybe big players don't get? And I'm not just talking about PepsiCo and Coca Cola. You know, let's Procter and Gamble. You pick the company. What do you think it is that, that you get that maybe others don't?
- [48:51]
Allison Ellsworth
I think to make impact you don't have to spend a lot of money. I think that big marketing campaigns and to break through to build community isn't highly produced content. It isn't over the top in real life activations. It's not spending a ton of money running TV ads. It's finding out where your community is and meeting them where they are and that's where you, you should invest. And I think, you know, I always say, I think, think if three years from now and I see like an ad where people are, are giggling around a pool like cheersing a Poppy with cheesy smiles on the face, like that's my worst nightmare to have like this overproduced like we're having fun ad. It's like they just try so hard versus what is culturally relevant and it's really hard to figure it out. But hire young and trust your team.
- [49:42]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Now in your business, you know, how big is your brand right now in terms of sales?
- [49:48]
Allison Ellsworth
You know, Poppy is. Well, we have 250 employees. We are in the US, Canada, Mexico, looking to go into the UK and then you know, on track, you know, sometime next year do over a billion.
- [50:01]
Host 2 (possibly David)
So you're a billion. And you, you know, in the soda business, typically you obviously want to make that as mainstream as you. You possibly can, you know, and. And how do you balance this community versus going broad?
- [50:16]
Allison Ellsworth
No, you just. You don't forget where you came from. We had a good lesson one year. So if I had to say there was one misstep along the way with Poppy was our super bowl. Last year. We ran an ad and we wanted to figure out a way to 360amplify it. And we sent out vending machines and we sent them to 30 different places because we wanted to be in like all the cities across the US and the Internet thought that we had gifted vending machines to influencers. And they were like, poppy, this is just too much. You already did a Super bowl ad. This is like out of touch. Why would you give them. And then our biggest competitor got into the conversation and started putting false information out there that they were $25,000 vending machines. And it was this. And it was so. It just started to spiral and it felt really out of touch and not community driven. And so it was a good lesson for us to remember where we came from, that we didn't really need to do something so extravagant in that versus this year. You know, we're just going to do some fun watch parties. Like, you don't need to go that big every time if you're already doing a Super bowl ad. So I think for us, we're still learning and it was a good lesson for us.
- [51:26]
Host 2 (possibly David)
You know, this has been so much fun. And Alison, I want to have some more with my lightning round of questions. So are you ready for this?
- [51:32]
Allison Ellsworth
Okay.
- [51:33]
Host 2 (possibly David)
The three words that best describe you.
- [51:35]
Allison Ellsworth
Authentic, direct and kind.
- [51:39]
Host 2 (possibly David)
If you could be one person for a day besides yourself, who would it be?
- [51:42]
Allison Ellsworth
Martha Stewart.
- [51:43]
Host 2 (possibly David)
What's your biggest pet peeve?
- [51:45]
Allison Ellsworth
People chewing really loud.
- [51:48]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Who would play you in a movie?
- [51:50]
Allison Ellsworth
Anne Hathaway.
- [51:51]
Host 2 (possibly David)
What's your go to Poppy flavor?
- [51:53]
Allison Ellsworth
Strawberry. Lemon.
- [51:54]
Host 2 (possibly David)
What's something from your early prototypes you're glad never made it to the shelves?
- [52:00]
Allison Ellsworth
Class bottles.
- [52:02]
Host 2 (possibly David)
What's a piece of feedback you've never forgotten?
- [52:04]
Allison Ellsworth
Figure out your non negotiables early and hang on to them.
- [52:08]
Host 2 (possibly David)
What's something you've been curious about lately that has nothing to do with work?
- [52:12]
Allison Ellsworth
Golf.
- [52:13]
Host 2 (possibly David)
What's the one thing you do just for you?
- [52:16]
Allison Ellsworth
Golf.
- [52:17]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Besides your family and friends, what's your most prized possession?
- [52:21]
Allison Ellsworth
Maybe my. My jewelry. My family owned a jewelry store and I have some beautiful pieces from my grandfather that gave to me.
- [52:29]
Host 2 (possibly David)
I thought you might say it was your lob wedge. After those two goals I know, right? If. If I turned on the radio in your car, what would I hear?
- [52:37]
Allison Ellsworth
A podcast.
- [52:38]
Host 2 (possibly David)
What's something about you? Few people would know.
- [52:40]
Allison Ellsworth
I was a dance major in college.
- [52:42]
Host 2 (possibly David)
What's one of your daily rituals? Something that you never miss.
- [52:46]
Allison Ellsworth
Five step skincare routine.
- [52:50]
Host 2 (possibly David)
I. I love it. That's fantastic. You're out of the lightning round. Great job. What's next, Allison? I mean, both for Poppy and you personally.
- [52:59]
Allison Ellsworth
I think for Poppy, it's to continue doing what we do best and revolutionizing soda for the next generation. And then for me, figuring out personally how to, you know, step back, be with my kids a little bit. My husband's very eager to start another business already. I'm like, give me a second. So we'll see. But I definitely see another. Another business in me. I'm not done yet.
- [53:27]
Host 2 (possibly David)
And so I have to ask you, you know, what's your handicap? What's your golf handicap?
- [53:31]
Allison Ellsworth
Oh, it's horrible. So since quote unquote retiring, I've been taking golf lessons twice a week. I did a 97 yesterday, which is for three months in is not bad. 25 handicap.
- [53:44]
Host 2 (possibly David)
I mean, you're getting there.
- [53:45]
Allison Ellsworth
It's horrible. Let's. It's okay.
- [53:48]
Host 2 (possibly David)
You're getting there.
- [53:48]
Allison Ellsworth
Three months in. I'll take it.
- [53:50]
Host 2 (possibly David)
All right, last question. What's one piece of advice you'd give to anyone who wants to be a better leader?
- [53:57]
Allison Ellsworth
Be comfortable with being uncomfortable if you want to scale and grow quick and don't let your ego get in the way of growth.
- [54:05]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Fantastic. Allison, you're something else. I really enjoyed this. The time flew. Fantastic.
- [54:10]
Allison Ellsworth
Thank you.
- [54:16]
Host 1 (possibly Kula)
David. I had to run out of Poppy on the very day that we record the episode about Alison Ellsworth.
- [54:23]
Host 2 (possibly David)
What's wrong with you, Kula? I mean, you know, I mean, everybody has Poppy in stock now. It's the hottest new soft drink beverage out there.
- [54:31]
Host 1 (possibly Kula)
Well, I agree, and it's why my fridge is normally stocked with poppy. However, I drank the last one I had last night and didn't have time to make it to the store today. But I was hoping to cheers you with a can of Poppy as we debrief this after episode. I love the way that Alison goes about building a brand. She says that, you know, a lot of startups make the mistake at the beginning of focusing way too much on their product and not enough on the brand. And when that happens, people don't feel a strong connection to the product because there's no real brand that they can develop a relationship with when those priorities compete. David, Product and brand. How do you guide your team through that tension and create a great product while also building momentum around a brand people feel connected to?
- [55:15]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Well, I think they're inextricably linked. I mean, I think if you, you have to understand what your product is, then you, then you develop the emotional connection that exists between your product and the customer. In her particular case, she developed this fantastic new brand that basically is solving the problem in the soft drink category. Most soft drinks are perceived to be not healthy for you. She's created a healthier soft drink and it only has 25 calories, you know, 5 grams of sugar, you know, great ingredients, and it tastes good. And you know, that's, that's the key here. I mean, she's really created a better for you brand that tastes good. Anytime you can do that in the world of packaged goods, you've usually, you know, hitting the home run because people, people don't want to sacrifice on taste. So if you can give them something that tastes good that's better for them, you're all set. In fact, you know, I was introduced to this product I mentioned on the podcast by my, my grandkids. My grandkids love the product. They said, you know, ogo, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta taste this product. It's great. And you know, I did, and it's a terrific product. And my granddaughter Audrey says, you know, Pepsi ought to buy this. And I said, they will. And sure enough, as I mentioned earlier, they did. But, you know, she's found the magic of linking a product with an emotional hook, a real benefit that the consumer buys into. And she's really a tremendous marketer.
- [56:55]
Host 1 (possibly Kula)
One of the things I really love about, you know, the way she markets the brand and stays culturally relevant is in her team, there is an entire team called the culture team. And she talks about this in the episode it's not, you know, HR internal culture. It is a group of gen zers who are constantly scouring the Internet for culturally relevant trends that they can latch onto to build momentum for a brand. They even have a black ops budget. And it's basically like carte blanche a little bit to this team to say, hey, if there's a trend and you see something that would work, go ahead and do it. There's no approval process for social posts at Poppy, so she's created this environment where people really feel the autonomy to see something that might work and test it out and they have the resources to really do that. And I'm curious, you know, as she was talking about that in the interview, David, what do you think the real lesson is there for leaders whose brands might not be trying to stay culturally relevant, but there's surely a lesson there in empowering your team?
- [57:54]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Yeah, well, I think the team has been empowered to execute what the brand stands for. What she said is that everybody understands what the brand is there, therefore, she can turn them loose. And you go out on social media and you get the message out, but you do it in a way that's consistent with. With, you know, our brand. So if you. If you're in charge of X, you go out and you do as many tweets as you can possibly do, that's consistent with our brand. And whether you're doing it with Snap or Facebook or TikTok, which, I mean, it's amazing what she's done on TikTok. She's the TikTok maven. You know, the statistics of the people that know her have seen her over seven times was amazing. A third 33% of all TikTok users have seen her seven times. And she said she basically posts on TikTok almost 100 times a month, and she's out there. And they built that brand without spending a lot of marketing dollars relative to a lot of other companies in a category which is driven by Coke and Pepsi, and they're spending millions and millions of dollars. And they did go on the super bowl, but they went on with the coolest ad that got the most publicity and the most likes, and just. It was amazing what they did in social media because they took it virtual. And so they compounded that super bowl ad and probably was maybe one of the best super bowl buys in the history of marketing.
- [59:25]
Host 1 (possibly Kula)
I love that you make the distinction that the team is empowered to act on what the brand stands for. And she's very clear throughout the whole episode. We are poppy. We are fun. We sell fun. Poppy is popping off the shelves. And you kind of alluded to this earlier, but what I love that she has leaned so hard into is that they really sell fun in a soda. And then, oh, by the way, it's better for you than Coke or Pepsi. What is the lesson in not necessarily leading with the features of your product, even though they might be valuable, but instead leading with this kind of brand identity piece that people really can create a connection to?
- [60:04]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Well, she has a great name, and she has a terrific product. Great name exudes fund. The soft drink category is a fun category, but the magic of that is that people did discover on their own that it was a better for you product. And, you know, I think the fact that she sold the benefit of the category and the consumer then realizes exactly what differentiates it on their own was extremely powerful because, you know, any. Anything that a consumer can convince themselves of. Of is infinitely more powerful than being told something. And so, hey, I get this great tasting product that's fun. And by the way, it's better for me. Not bad. Pretty good formula.
- [60:51]
Host 1 (possibly Kula)
I mean, I was pretty surprised the first time I took a sip of poppy that it was actually delicious and amazing. Like, I thought it was going to taste watered down and kind of gross because my friend, it says prebiotic soda on the. I'm like, what is a prebiotic soda? This can taste nasty.
- [61:05]
Host 2 (possibly David)
What's cool about that, and I love that story, is that, you know, you've got to have good, healthy debate along the way. And her husband, who's in charge of supply chain management, manufacturing, you know, basically said, allison, you've got to, you know, we got to make this product taste better. It just doesn't taste good. And people aren't going to drink it if it doesn't taste good. And she said, he said, you got to put a little sugar in it. And she said, no, no, no, no. This is a healthy product. This is vinegar. And, you know, all this stuff, it's going to go after gut. What is it? What's the phrase? Gut.
- [61:35]
Host 1 (possibly Kula)
Gut health.
- [61:35]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Gut health. Oh, yeah. Oh, boy, I really want to drink that stuff, you know. And he says, put some sugar in it. So I put a little sugar in it, made it taste good, and it flew off the shelves. But they had healthy debate. She was totally against it, but he helped define the brand and take the brand in the right direction in the end. And she freely, freely acknowledges the fact that they wouldn't be as successful if they hadn't made that decision.
- [62:00]
Host 1 (possibly Kula)
It certainly sounds like she and her husband act as truth tellers for each other, and we talk a lot about that and how important it is on the show. David, after you talk to Allyson, and as you're kind of reflecting on this conversation, if there's one thing that a leader listening to this episode should really take away and try to apply to their own life, what do you think it would be?
- [62:20]
Host 2 (possibly David)
Well, it's interesting. I was really, you know, impressed with how confident she was. And, you know, and I always, people always ask me all the time, what do I look for in the very best leaders or what the best leaders really exude. And I always say they have an uncanny combination of confidence and Humility, and I think she's a good example of that. Now, it's hard to tell from a one hour podcast. Okay. But, you know, she was extremely confident. I mean, she knew her brand. She knew how they differentiated themselves. Why wouldn't you be confident? You just sold a brand for $2 billion. You have enormous success. But she was very humble. She gave so much credit to the team and talked about how and her husband for how they got to where they are. And I think when you have that uncanny combination of confidence and humility, which means you don't know everything and you need other people, that's great. And by the way, she really is rooting for Poppy and she's rooting for whatever their name next brand is. So she has that third thing that great leaders have, too, which is a healthy dissatisfaction with the status quo. I mean, she's got some unfinished business out there, and she's going to try to help Poppy get there because she really believes in her team. And she's also going to probably come up with another new product. And I hope she can go on Shark Tank and sell it. Although she's a Shark Tank consultant now, she's actually asking the question. And by the way, Shark, she. She has the money now, so she won't have to go on Shark tab. So I'm pretty impressed with that, too.
- [63:49]
Allison Ellsworth
I love it.
- [63:49]
Host 1 (possibly Kula)
I love it. I will certainly keep my eyes on Allison Ellsworth and her husband to see what they do next, because if it's anything like Poppy, it's gonna also be popping off the shelves.
- [63:59]
Host 2 (possibly David)
I agree.
- [64:01]
Host 1 (possibly Kula)
Well, David, thanks again for another excellent episode of How Leaders Lead. And thank you for listening to this week's episode. See you next week.