• by Danielle Oster , February 18, 2025

For much of its recent history, any new competition in the soda category seemed about as threatening to Coca-Cola as a fly buzzing around a lumbering polar bear.

Times have changed, and prebiotic soda brands like Olipop and Poppi have proven increasingly enticing to health-conscious consumers over the past few years.

Olipop, recently given a $1.85 billion valuation, outpaced giants like Coca-Cola in the non-alcoholic beverage category across both dollar and unit growth for the 12-week period ending 10/6/2024, according to Circana/SPINS data. The brand is particularly popular with younger consumers, achieving a 25% adoption rate with Gen Z, according to Numerator.

In addition to scale, such brands have also grown their retail footprint, and marketing presence -- with Poppi’s second-consecutive Super Bowl ad scoring “100% brand recognition” in marketing research company System1’s analysis of big game ad effectiveness.

As these brands have continued to roll out new flavors across more store shelves, Coca-Cola hasn’t had an answer to the draw of the healthier soda category -- until now.

Today, Coca-Cola announced the introduction of its new Simply Soda line, marking the company’s entry into the new category with its first prebiotic soda. Containing prebiotic fiber purported to support gut health, and Vitamin C and zinc it claims “support immune function,” Simply Pop includes 25%-30% fruit juice, with no other added sugar.

The new product line leverages existing brand equity in Simply Beverages, a juice-focused brand first introduced in 2001. Simply Soda line launches later this month with five flavors: Strawberry, Pineapple Mango, Fruit Punch, Lime and Citrus Punch. It will initially be available at retail locations in select regions, as well as online nationally via Amazon Fresh.

Unsurprisingly, Coca-Cola has had its eye on the emerging category -- which made up about 34% of total sparkling soft drinks growth as of last March, according to Nielsen data -- and the launch has been in the works for some time.

Simply Senior Director of Brand Marketing Terika Fasakin cited the increase in consumer interest in “functional beverages” and an increased focus on wellness since the COVID pandemic as contributing to the prebiotic soda category’s rapid growth. “There is an undercurrent or growth in consumers truly caring about their gut health as a result of overall wellness, and an understanding of how much that contributes to wellness as a whole -- as well as wellness-curious consumers…actively trying and seeking different products on their wellness journey,” Fasakin told Marketing Daily.

She added, “because this category was growing so fast and changing so rapidly, we approached this as if we knew nothing about the category.”  To determine where there were opportunities, the company spoke with consumers across the country through focus-groups, shop-alongs, and other consumer research channels – focusing on both prebiotic soda consumers, and those aware of the category but “hesitant” to try the novel beverages.

“When consumers talked about flavors that interest them, so often fruit flavors came up,” Fasakin said. “That’s what inspired the Simply branding for this product. Simply are the juice experts."

Consumer research also helped hone aspects of the product's development as well, including dialing in the right amount of sweetness for the beverage.

The  Simply Pop launch campaign will include in-store marketing, OOH, and “heavy” use of influencer marketing partnerships across digital, and social media activations across Instagram and TikTok, Fasakin said, with a creative concept centering the “juicy” aspect of the new line, “because ‘juicy’ really conveys the product experience” of the new soda.

The launch campaign will be followed by a partnership with the Dear Media network and a podcast tour in early Q2. Simply Pop’s agency partnerships for the new brand are VML, Cartwright, and Hogarth through WPP’s dedicated bespoke agency model for Coca-Cola, Open X; along with GroupM media agency Momentum, and United Talent Agency.