Dive Brief:

• Olipop is taking indirect aim at one of the better-known soda brands – and its mountain-themed, citrus-boosted, high-energy flavor – in a new campaign for its latest flavor, “Ridge Rush,” per materials shared with Marketing Dive.
• In addition to its mountain-themed packaging and name, the better-for-you soda brand’s campaign for the new flavor takes on its larger rival with a cheeky tagline in out-of-home ads, “A Can of Do.”
• The campaign, from agency Haymaker, also includes video spots directed by comedic duo Fatal Farm (best known for directing segments for the sketch show “I Think You Should Leave”) that position Olipop’s flavor as the perfect beverage to beat an afternoon slump.

Dive Insight:

Move over, Mountain Dude, Olipop is coming for you. Without ever stating it in their press materials, it’s pretty clear who the better-for-you soda brand has in its sights with its latest Ridge Rush launch. The packaging includes mountain silhouette outlines; the flavor is an “exhilarating fusion of lemon, lime and orange juices,” enhanced with 50mg of green tea caffeine and 4g of sugar; and the tagline pretty much speaks for itself.

The brand is also going after Mountain Dew’s core younger consumers with targeted promotions like Olipop University, which offered college students a chance to get a sneak peek (and taste) of the drink before it was released to the public. The brand is also wrapping John Hunter Nemechek’s car in the Ridge Rush branding for the Sept. 8 NASCAR race and partnering with former NFL great Shannon Sharpe on recreating a viral Mountain Dew TikTok video.

Olipop’s campaign also includes two video commercials directed by the comedy duo Fatal Farm, depicting how the new Ridge Rush flavor helps combat the late afternoon slump. In one commercial, two paleontologists feel overwhelmed trying to put together a skeleton in the afternoon. After drinking the Ridge Rush, they realize no one really knows what the animals of the past looked like anyway and just put the bones together haphazardly.

In the second commercial, an alien hits the late afternoon, defeated that he will never be able to conquer Earth. His human colleague gives him an Olipop, which reinvigorates the alien to try again and, after zapping away his colleague in a green flash, feels ready to take on the world.

Olipop’s run at Mountain Dew comes just as the larger brand is renewing its claim to being the brand of outdoors and fun. Mountain Dew recently reclaimed its decades-old tagline, “Do the Dew,” and introduced a spokescharacter, The Mountain Dude, who charges into Gen Z living spaces and gets them to play games in the great outdoors. As part of that campaign, Mountain Dew recently launched a promotion using geofencing technology to provide anyone who passed through the Mountain Time Zone a free product sample.

Olipop is no doubt counting on some of that reflected interest to boost its Ridge Rush flavor, particularly as consumers look for healthier options. The better-for-you snacks category has exploded in recent years and is expected to reach $54 billion in sales by the end of 2032.

Founded in 2017, Olipop touts its high-fiber and low-sugar content and claims to be the leader in the functional soda category. The brand has faced competition of late, with rival Poppi making its debut during the Super Bowl earlier this year with a 60-second commercial touting its product with the tagline, “The Future of Soda is Now.”