• by Danielle Oster , Yesterday

Visitors to a pop-up soda drive-thru in Los Angeles next week will have the opportunity to try some unique drinks. Among the mocktails available? Spicy Pickle Soda and Cereal Milk Soda.

Olipop is staging the “soda drive-thru” May 12, to celebrate the return of its Orange Cream offering as a “permanent” flavor. The brand originally launched the flavor as a limited-edition offering in 2021.

“Since then, we’ve received countless DMs, emails and comments asking for it to return,” Olipop Director of Strategic Partnerships Steven Vigilante told Marketing Daily. “Bringing it back permanently is our way of honoring that loyalty and excitement. Orange Cream is here to stay, and the timing couldn’t be more perfect heading into summer.”

He added, “We took inspiration from the viral soda shops in Utah, especially popularized by ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ show on Hulu, and thought: What if we brought this to life outside of Utah, but in Olipop-style? L.A. felt like the perfect city to bring it to life.”

In fact, “It’s a driving-forward city and drive-thrus are embedded in daily life, so the drive-thru format just made intuitive sense,” he said.. “But beyond that, L.A. holds a special place in Olipop’s story. It’s where we hosted our very first Soda Shop pop-up back in 2019, so bringing Orange Cream back here in such a big way feels like a full-circle moment."

Despite what Vigilante described the “perfect timing” of the activation ahead of the summer (and, as it works out, the second season of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" debuting on May 15, that wasn’t always the plan. The activation was originally planned for January, and rescheduled due to the L.A. wildfires.

Visitors to the drive-thru can order one of a number of free mocktails made using Olipop. The Cereal Milk Soda is a combination Olipop’s Orange Cream soda and vanilla almond milk, topped with a vanilla frosted rim and crunchy fruity cereal. The Dirty Protein soda is a take on the “dirty soda” trend of “spiking” soda with cream and flavored syrup or fruit juice. Olipop’s take combines its Orange Cream soda with the Vanilla Bean Protein Shake offering from plant-based protein drink brand Koia.

In addition to the creative concoctions, Olipop also partnered with Crocs to offer visitors to the pop-up the chance to pick up exclusive merch, including Bae Crocs in an orange color scheme akin to the Orange Cream flavor.. Olipop will hand out the exclusive footwear, not available in stores or online, to a limited number of visitors to the pop-up.

“Our two brands have been finding the right moment to do something together for a while and when we started to talk about the Orange Cream drive-thru, it felt like the perfect moment,” Vigilante explained of the collaboration. “Orange Cream is a joyful flavor, and what’s more joyful than a bright orange Bae Clog?”

The brand is also offering fans outside L.A. a chance to experience a virtual version of the soda drive-thru. It’s hosting daily “Virtual Drive-Thru” events from 12-5PM PST May 12-19, awarding 1,000 fans a “Drive-Thru Kit” or a case of the Orange Cream flavor. In partnership with Koia, the kit allows fans to mix their own Dirty Protein Soda at home, or, in partnership with Pomona Organics and Moon Juice, to unwind by making themselves a Sleepy Girl Mocktail.

Vigilante said the free drive-thru activation was part of the brand’s strategy to “build moments with our community,” pointing to activations like its “senior soda consultants” search and Ridge Rush launch campaign as examples of the approach.

The return of Orange Cream as a “permanent” flavor follows Coca-Cola launching its own Orange Cream flavor earlier this year. Coca-Cola’s decision last September to discontinueits “permanent” Coca-Cola Spiced flavor, meanwhile, offers a reminder that the designation is subject to change.