PepsiCo-owned prebiotic soda brand poppi has locked in a transatlantic brand partnership with Love Island, securing in-show placements across both Love Island USA on Peacock and Love Island UK on ITV. The deal was brokered by Studio 55, ITV Studios' newly launched global brand partnership unit, and extends poppi's presence into U.S. retail activations and UK experiential marketing, with further international rollouts planned.
For operators and buyers tracking where emerging beverage brands are spending their marketing dollars, the move is a signal worth watching. Poppi's decision to invest in high-reach reality television — rather than traditional trade or out-of-home advertising — reflects the brand's ongoing push to embed itself in cultural moments that resonate with younger, health-curious consumers. In-show placement inside two flagship reality formats gives poppi sustained on-screen visibility across audiences on both sides of the Atlantic simultaneously.
Studio 55 positioned itself as the architect of the deal, underscoring its mandate to close larger, cross-border licensing agreements since its recent launch. The partnership structure — combining broadcast integration with retail and experiential components — is increasingly the model brand owners are pursuing to convert viewer awareness into purchase behavior at shelf. For convenience, grocery, and on-premise buyers, that kind of coordinated push can translate into accelerated velocity at retail and heightened consumer pull-through.
Poppi has been one of the more closely watched entrants in the better-for-you beverage industry analysis space, having built a following around its prebiotic positioning and bold branding before its acquisition by PepsiCo. The Love Island tie-in extends that momentum into a global arena, and the planned international rollout suggests the brand's ambitions stretch well beyond its current North American footprint. Operators eyeing the functional soda category for menu additions or retail sets would do well to track how this campaign performs in driving trial and repeat purchase. Food & Beverage Magazine has been following the rise of prebiotic and functional carbonated drinks as a category reshaping cold-case decisions across foodservice and retail alike.
For hospitality and restaurant beverage program decision-makers, the broader takeaway is that better-for-you soda brands are no longer relying solely on trade marketing to build velocity — they're buying into culture at scale, and that investment shapes consumer expectations before guests ever arrive at a venue.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
