Coca-Cola She launches the Soda’s prebiotic brand called simply pop, getting upstarts Olipop and Poppi.
Starting from the end of February, consumers on the west coast and southeast will be able to try Coke’s iteration of trendy drinks.
Consuming soda in the US has fallen into the USA in the USA, injured due to health problems and increasing alternatives on the market, from cold beer to energy drinks to water. But in the last five years, soda containing prebiotics have been removed thanks to the newcomer from the Olipop and Poppi industry.
Olipop recently raised $ 50 million Worth $ 1.85 billion, the company announced on Wednesday. And Poppi made his other straight The look of super bowla In this year’s game, shelling up to $ 8 million to get to a record audience.
Digestive health drinks grew from the 197 million dollar category in the USA in 2020. To one of the approximately $ 440 million in 2024, according to the EuroMonitor International. Still, it is a fraction of the entire Soda market, which is worth billions of dollars.
Simply pop -‘s first product line is leaning on the fruit, nodding Koke’s brand simply juice. The flavors include pineapple mango, lime, strawberry, fruit blow and cytrus breakthrough.
“We came out and we really listened to consumers. They love this space, they really look for things that have a good taste, and it’s something we know how to deliver on simply and in Coke,” said Becca Kerr, Coke’s North North Director, who Includes its simple and fairlife brand.
Simply pop drinks do not have added sugar and contain 25% to 30% of the real fruit juice, the company said. They also contain vitamin C and zinc, which can enhance the immune system.
They also have six grams of prebiotic fibers – the contents of the Triple Poppi fibers, but less than Olipop’s nine grams.
Prebiotics have stripped off thanks to the claims that they can enhance “bowel health” by helping useful bacteria to grow in the gut. Their health benefits Were not fully proven.
“We see that there is an appetite for these types of products with younger consumers, such as millennium and Gene Z,” Kerr said. “We see interest in these types of products of multicultural consumers.”
But health requirements can encourage a return. Poppi is in conversations about a settlement around a A lawsuit filed At the end of May, it challenges the company marketing, claiming that the Poppi products are not as healthy for the gut as advertised.
Koke had a prebiotic soda category for several years on his radar, Kerr said. Olipop CEO and co -founder Ben Goodwin said CNBC 2023 That both Coke and Pepsico had already accessed a potential sale company. It’s Pepsi reported that he was planning its own launch of the prebiotic soda in 2025.
Although this is a newcomer in the segment, Coke has obvious advantages: more than 100 years dominating the soda category, marketing and distribution muscles and $ 47 billion in revenue in 2024. – compared to more than $ 400 million sales that Olipop was recorded in 2024. .
Still, Coke failed before when he tried to persecute a trend of drinks. He pulled his spicy taste with shelves 2024 just months after declaring it a permanent addition. And in 2023 he reduced the distribution of his brand AHA sparkling water after the product failed to take off with consumers.
