Olipop is creating a mocktail drive through promotion in L.A. to capitalize on the popularity of Dry January. With 30% of Americans saying they’ll forgo alcohol this month, Olipop wants to be top of mind with the teatotaling masses. The activation takes place on Monday at the Royal Lobster, where mocktails, mocktinis and spicy pickle soda will be on offer.
“We’ve been tracking Dry January for years and have been watching it explode in popularity every year,” said Steven Vigilante, director of strategic partnerships at Olipop. “North of 30% of adults this year are participating in it. Last year, we had a virtual mocktail generator on our site. We named him Olivier, the Olipop sommelier. It was all virtual and it spit out a recipe for a mocktail based on what flavor of Olipop you had in your refrigerator. We gave away some mocktail kits and did some influencer gifting. This year, we thought it would be fun to do something in real life.”
Olipop is hosting a virtual drive-thru through the 13th, giving fans a chance to win mocktail starter kits and exclusive prizes such as the limited edition dry thru pack for $35.99, which consists of flavors such as tropical fruit punch, classic grape and lemon lime.
Vigilante, who invested in consumer brands before joining Olipop, including better-for-you junk food products, said no one had revolutionized the soda category. “Of all the junk food categories, it’s the biggest and does the most damage to human health. The story of the product is it’s meant to mimic soda shop soda but with less sugar and a third of your daily fiber intake,” he said.
“We call it a trojan horse because we use the flavor profile to get in the door with people and then sneak in the fiber, because 90% of Americans don’t get the 30-plus grams of fiber youre supposed to get. We’re trying to kill two birds with one stone, which is to reduce sugar and increase fiber intake.”
Options at the dry thru will include Olipop’s Dirty Protein soda, a twist on the popular dirty protein soda trend, combining root beer with KOIA’s Vanilla Bean Protein Shake; Spicy Pickle Soda, a bold, briny fusion of pickle and jalapeno juice in the signature vintage cola and the Sleepy Girl mocktail, a blend of lemon lime soda, pure tart cherry juice, and a hint of magnesium powder.
The dry thru at Royal Lobster will operate from 1 to 6 pm at 4450 Beverly Blvd. offering one drink order per customer while supplies last. “It’s been a crazy, wild ride,” Vigilante said, noting that Olipop is doing hundreds of millions in revenue and ran ads on the Golden Globes. “Our New Age marketing efforts have spanned across social and influencer and digital media and music videos. I’ve been reading scripts and working with directors to write Olipop into movies.
“For us, the mission is soda addiction,” Vigilante said. “It’s not often discussed, but it’s a prevalent issue in this country and we hear stories from folks all the time who couldn’t kick their soda addiction no matter how hard they tried. They really noticed major changes in their diet and their lives after switching to Olipop. We’re proud of that. We hope to make some noise around the drive thru and have people show up.”
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