Poppi, the famous prebiotic soda brand, recently made headlines with an ambitious $800K influencer campaign, sending full vending machines filled with their drinks to top influencers—a move that sparked a wave of user-generated content (UGC).
That said, not all of it was positive!
EmbedSocial’s social listening capabilities helped me track and analyze over 500 social media posts mentioning Poppi’s campaign to assess its impact.
Using AI-powered sentiment analysis, topic clustering, and key insight extraction, I saw what worked, what didn’t, and what could be learned from Poppi’s strategy.
Here’s how it was done and what was uncovered.
Social listening of Poppi’s social media campaign
Poppi launched a $800K influencer stunt, sending vending machines with sparkling prebiotic drinks to influencers in the hopes of creating a viral moment.
But was it the right move?
By analyzing over 500 social media mentions, it became clear that Poppi’s success wasn’t due to happenstance but the result of well-timed cultural positioning that aligned with key moments in pop culture, such as the Super Bowl.
We divided this analysis into two parts: general analysis, consisting of categorizing the posts and finish insights and patterns. And sentiment analysis, going deeper into the posts content and finish information of what really people psotesd about the brand.
Here are the details for each of this analysis:
General analysis of social media posts
In the first part of the analysis, we did categorization of all posts and used AI to find sense on what kind of information we can structure out of this larger data set of the social media posts generated during the campaign.
We identified 5 categories:
- Content type distribution – Breakdown of text vs. image vs. video posts.
- Hashtag usage – Analysis of how frequently hashtags are used in posts.
- Top contributors – Users who posted the most content.
- Posting activity over time – Number of posts per day to see trends in engagement.
- Media usage – Comparison of posts containing images vs. videos vs. text-only.
Check for each the charts and the findings below:
Analysis 1: Content type distribution
The chart above shows the distribution of different content types in the dataset. The most common type of content is text, followed by images, while videos are the least frequent. This indicates that the platform is primarily used for textual discussions, with some visual content being shared.
Analysis 2: Hashtag usage
The chart reveals that the majority of posts do not include hashtags, with only a small portion containing them. This suggests that hashtag use is not a primary strategy for engagement in these posts. Increasing hashtag usage could potentially improve content discoverability.
Analysis 3: Top contributors
The chart highlights the top 10 users who contributed the most posts. The leading contributors have posted significantly more content than others, suggesting they are key voices in the dataset. Monitoring these users can provide insights into high-engagement content and potential influencers.
Analysis 4: Posting activity over time
The chart shows the daily posting trend over time. There are clear spikes on certain days, indicating peak engagement periods. Identifying these high-activity days can help in scheduling content for maximum reach.
Analysis 5: Media Usage
The chart illustrates the distribution of text-only, image, and video posts. The majority of posts are text-only, followed by images, while videos are the least common. This suggests that users prefer sharing text-based content, with visuals playing a secondary role.
Summary of findings:
- Text posts dominate, while images are moderately used, and videos are rare.
- Most posts do not contain hashtags, which may indicate untapped engagement potential.
- A few users contribute the majority of the posts, highlighting key influencers.
- Posting activity fluctuates, with noticeable spikes on certain days.
- Text-based content is the primary format, with fewer image and video posts.
Sentiment analysis of social media posts
Here’s a deep dive into how Poppi leveraged UGC to accelerate growth—and some important lessons for brands looking to replicate this approach.
In growth marketing, sentiment analysis is one of the most powerful tools for gauging how a campaign is performing.
For Poppi, sentiment was a reflection of public opinion and a key driver of organic growth. So, by studying over 500 social media posts, I found a clear pattern that helped Poppi build momentum through authentic consumer advocacy.
Here’s a breakdown of the sentiment across UGC:
- Positive sentiment (185 posts) – consumers highlighted Poppi’s taste, the brand’s visibility during the Super Bowl, and the overall appeal of its marketing.
- Neutral sentiment (281 posts) – these posts didn’t have strong emotional undertones, but they still served as a signal of awareness about Poppi’s stunt.
- Negative sentiment (34 posts) – the negative feedback stemmed from Poppi’s stunt excluding some customers with the exclusivity of the campaign.
By gauging their brand sentiment via UGC, Poppi not only learned what went right and what went wrong, but they also got social proof that drives further engagement.
That said, the campaign was labeled “tone-deaf” and “wasteful” by some who felt the brand should have prioritized giving free drinks to everyday customers instead:
- “Love Poppi, but this vending machine thing feels like a slap in the face to actual customers.”
- “This marketing is genius. They didn’t need a Super Bowl ad—everyone is talking about them anyway.”
- “Wish they had given out more free product instead of sending full vending machines to influencers.”
The lesson here is that building a base of brand advocates is incredibly valuable, but it’s essential to ensure that your campaigns resonate with the broader audience.
Poppi’s positive sentiment was amplified by its advocates, but the negative feedback from some of their core customers illustrates the risks involved with exclusivity.
What’s fueling the conversation? Topic clustering breakdown
Social listening not only helps track immediate reactions but also provides insights into how UGC evolves over time. Poppi’s strategy aimed to create a viral moment—but was it a sustainable strategy for growth? Here are a few critical takeaways:
- Super Bowl (189 mentions) – The Super Bowl is the most-watched sporting event in the U.S., making it the perfect moment for brands to insert themselves into viral conversations. Poppi didn’t just capitalize on the event—it strategically aligned itself with the Super Bowl’s massive audience, generating an organic spike in brand mentions.
- Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce (56 mentions) – Tying your brand to the Swift/Kelce phenomenon was a surefire way to tap into the current zeitgeist. Poppi’s association with this trending topic generated massive visibility as fans jumped on the bandwagon.
- Philadelphia Eagles (22 mentions) – leveraging localized UGC campaigns targeting specific fanbases can create spikes in engagement. Poppi used the buzz around the Eagles to further deepen its connection with a passionate sports community.
- Vending Machine Stunt (29 mentions) – While it started as a bold, viral move, the vending machine stunt generated mixed opinions, resulting in both positive conversations and some backlash from customers who felt excluded.
Capitalizing on trending cultural moments is a highly effective growth strategy, but the timing and execution must be spot on. Plus, you must understand how to avoid potential pitfalls (like exclusivity backlash), which is equally as important.
That’s where social media listening comes in! Tracking real-time cultural shifts is key to inserting your brand into conversations when momentum is peaking.
What went right (and wrong) with the vending machine stunt
As mentioned above, Poppi sent full vending machines to influencers only without distributing free products to everyday customers. Here’s what worked and what didn’t:
Why the stunt worked:
- Physical stunts drive virality – you have to immediately share a full vending machine in your living room, right? It’s a spectacle in and of itself!
- Exclusivity creates demand – by limiting the number of recipients, Poppi added exclusivity into the mix, which is a powerful tool for driving perceived value.
- Influencer engagement – Poppi was smart about which influencers they partnered with, as the right creators can turn a stunt into an aspirational trend.
Why the stunt backfired:
Here’s where things got tricky: the risks became apparent when we saw the backlash from certain segments of Poppi’s core audience:
- Brand-consumer disconnect -a major part of the controversy stemmed from the feeling that everyday consumers were left out. While influencers got the spotlight, regular paying customers were left wondering why they didn’t get the same love.
- Perception of wastefulness – full-sized vending machines, shipping costs, and the environmental footprint seemed excessive, especially when Poppi could have reached a broader audience by sending product samples directly to customers.
- Sidelining early advocates – Poppi’s founder has acknowledged the role early adopters played in the brand’s success, and yet, the brand sidelined them for big-name influencers, which lacked the authentic connection of micro-influencers.
- Missed UGC opportunities – the campaign could’ve been a goldmine for user-generated content (UGC) if it had been more inclusive, as it would have generated an even higher volume of UGC if it involved regular customers, thus driving further engagement.
What’s the lesson here? Well, celebrity and macro-influencer partnerships are mainly good for a short-term visibility boost.
If you are looking for a deeper and more authentic connection, you should find and nurture partnerships with smaller, yet more loyal creators.
The future of influencer marketing is about recognizing the power of community and building relationships that drive long-term success.
Poppi’s missed opportunity shows that brands should never underestimate the value of their early advocates and smaller communities—they drive your organic growth.
The playbook: How to steal Poppi’s UGC growth strategy (without the backlash)
So, how can you utilize Poppi’s strategy to get all its benefits while minimizing the drawbacks? Here are several key lessons that any brand can implement:
- Activate brand advocates—identify and engage your most loyal users—those early adopters and superfans who have been vocal champions of your brand. Like Doritos did with their ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ contest, empower your customers to co-create.
- Share your customer’s content—once you find loyal followers, give them the opportunity to participate in your campaigns, share their content, and feel valued. These brand advocates amplify your reach and build trust at low or no price at all!
- Time your campaigns with trends—Poppi didn’t wait for viral moments—they created their own by aligning with trends as they peaked. Use real-time monitoring tools to track rising trends and jump in early and ensure your involvement feels natural and authentic.
- Balance exclusivity with inclusivity—while exclusivity generates buzz, it can also alienate your core fanbase. So, you must find a balance—create aspirational, exclusive moments, but also keep your campaign accessible.
- Optimize hashtags for organic reach—branded, trending, and niche hashtags are key to driving organic discoverability. Poppi’s strategic use of hashtags like #poppi and #drinkpoppi kept the momentum going long after the campaign peak.
It only takes a little bit of tweaking to get the most out of a UGC campaign like this one, and you’ll start reaping all that social media buzz in no time at all!
The shift to micro and nano-influencers
If there’s one thing Poppi’s campaign has shown us, it’s that consumers are increasingly drawn to nano and micro-influencers rather than big-name celebrities.
Why? Because they want something real. Consumers are craving authenticity over perfection, and the down-to-earth influencers they follow reflect that.
Brands need to actively listen to what their customers are saying, not just about their product but also about the types of influencers and content that resonate with them.
Therefore, investing in a social listening tool is more than tracking mentions—it’s about understanding the deeper context behind those mentions.
It’s about knowing who’s driving conversations, what types of influencers are sparking engagement, and where your brand fits.
How this social monitoring analysis was conducted using EmbedSocial
To uncover the full impact of Poppi’s $800K influencer stunt, we leveraged EmbedSocial’s advanced social listening capabilities to collect and analyze real-time consumer conversations across multiple platforms.
This allowed me to process and interpret over 500+ organic posts to understand audience sentiment, key discussion topics, and overall campaign performance.
Unlike manual tracking, which is time-consuming and incomplete, EmbedSocial’s unlimited monitoring ensures that brands pull in massive amounts of social data.
With real-time aggregation and UGC tracking, brands gain a 360-degree view of audience sentiment, engagement trends, and campaign effectiveness in one place.
We then uploaded this dataset into ChatGPT to analyze key trends, sentiment patterns, and campaign performance insights.
Here’s a visualization of the entire process:
Step 1: Automated UGC collection
Using EmbedSocial’s social media monitoring tool, we automatically tracked and aggregated all posts that mentioned #Poppi, brand mentions, and related campaign hashtags across Instagram and Threads. This meant:
- Unlimited UGC pulling – collecting and processing hundreds of posts in real time, without platform restrictions.
- Cross-platform monitoring – a single dashboard to track and manage UGC from multiple channels.
- No manual effort is required, eliminating the need for tedious post-by-post tracking and allowing teams to focus on strategic decision-making.
Here is how the social listening dashboard looks with the generated posts:
With EmbedSocial, brands can capture, analyze, and act on UGC at scale—without missing any crucial conversations happening around their brand.
Step 2: AI-powered analysis
Once we had collected the data, we exported it and uploaded it into ChatGPT 4.5 to structure and interpret the findings. Our analysis focused on three key areas:
- Sentiment analysis – categorising audience reactions into positive, neutral and negative to assess overall brand/campaign perception.
- Topic clustering – identifying the dominant themes driving the conversation (Super Bowl mentions, influencer engagement, backlash, etc.).
- Actionable insights by role – breaking down findings into actionable takeaways for brand marketers, community managers, and growth strategists to inform future decision-making.
Key benefits of using EmbedSocial for social listening:
- Unlimited UGC collection across multiple platforms, ensuring no data gaps in campaign performance.
- Structured data export & reporting, making it easier to identify trends and measure ROI from influencer and brand-led campaigns.
- Real-time insights for strategic decision-making, empowering brands to respond, adapt, and optimize based on actual audience feedback.
Want to see how EmbedSocial can help you track and analyze your brand’s social media impact–without missing a single conversation?
Schedule a demo or start a free trial today!
Final thoughts: How does social listening fuel long-term growth?
Poppi’s $800K influencer campaign highlights the immense power of UGC in driving brand awareness and engagement. However, it also demonstrates the risks of exclusivity and the importance of balancing virality with authenticity.
By leveraging social listening tools like EmbedSocial, brands can track real-time sentiment, monitor emerging trends, and refine their marketing strategies for sustained growth. The key takeaway? Your audience is already talking about your brand. The real question is: Are you listening?