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🪩 Volume 138 | May 27, 2026

 

This week, I did something that felt equal parts exciting and terrifying: I opened my laptop, pulled up (and paid for) LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and started going to ~*find my people.*~

 

TERRIFYING! TBH!

 

Context: My agency, Brand Good Time, is roughly 6 months into full audience pivot. On the horizon, we’ve got new landing pages, a new lead magnet, a new diagnostic quiz coming soon… we're rebuilding the front door of the business to speak directly to a different-staged ideal client. Aaaand instead of sitting back and waiting for that new door to open on its own, I decided to get proactive (more out of necessity, than desire, if I’m keepin’ it real).

 

The imposter syndrome has been REAL. Even when you know your work is good, and even when you have the case studies and the receipts (proof, timeline, screenshots!) to prove it, going out cold into a new market feels like starting from scratch. Because, erm, in some ways, you are. It's a new form of ground zero.

 

And while I wish we could, we can't sleepwalk through it. Every message you write, every person you reach out to, every word on those new landing pages—it all has to be deliberate, specific, and unequivocally true.

 

Which brings me to a brand that has been doing exactly that—and just made it official—for the third time in eight years. 🍰

 

 

 

 

I tried Olipop for the first time in 2018. A very health-conscious friend put one in my hand and said something along the lines of “it's actually good for you, I promise.” I was skeptical—I'm not a sugary soda person, never have been—but I was quickly won over. Taste was great, and I liked what it was: a gut-healthy soda with good ingredients and no pretense. At the time, she specifically loved it over Poppi because Olipop felt more true to its roots. It wasn't trying to be a party drink with a wellness label slapped on.

 

That integrity is what makes what Olipop has done since so interesting to watch.

 

 

Olipop launched in 2018 as a “sparkling digestive tonic,” and was firmly planted in the gut-health niche. It worked—but it had a ceiling. 

So in 2021, they made their first big move: they dropped the tonic positioning entirely and relaunched with the tagline “A New Kind of Soda.” Almost overnight, this repositioning expanded their market from gut-health drinks to a healthier soda replacement for a broader crowd. They also ditched paid ads entirely and went all in on creator partnerships and organic content on TikTok.

 

Where that landed them: From roughly $70–100 million in revenue in 2022–2023, Olipop grew to over $400 million in sales in 2024, landing a $50 million Series C and a $1.85 billion valuation in early 2025.

 

And then last week, they did it again.

 

 

Olipop just unveiled its first major brand refresh since its launch in 2018—and this time, it's not just a tagline change! They launched a new creative platform called “The Feel Good Soda,” complete with a new visual identity, refreshed packaging, and a national advertising campaign. 

The new cans are bolder, brighter, and feature hand-drawn illustrations inspired by the late '60s and early '70s. They also unveiled something I find fascinating for a CPG brand: a first-ever sound identity—a reimagined version of The Chordettes' “Lollipop: with updated lyrics and ADORABLE production, designed to create a consistent sensory thread across TV, digital, and in-store touchpoint.

 

The campaign itself, called “A Good Start,” shows how one small, intentional choice can spark a ripple effect—inside and out (LOVE this trope!!).

 

It's running on connected TV and social, and it lands at exactly the right cultural moment: the fibermaxxing trend is all over TikTok right now, and Olipop has long contained 6 to 9 grams of fiber per can—they didn't create that trend, they just already owned that territory.

 

So, net net, what Olipop has done BEST over the last 8 years is that they’ve kept clarifying who they already were until more people could see themselves in it. “Sparkling tonic” was too narrow. “New kind of soda” opened the door a bit wider. “Feel good soda” blows the whole wall out—while somehow still feeling exactly on brand. Each evolution was less a departure and more a zoom out. They never stopped being the gut-health drink, they just got better at telling the story to more kinds of people.

 

The rebrand visuals are COOL, and yes, standing out on shelf is part of it. But as any good marketer—and any good consumer—knows, you have to look deeper than the packaging. The activations, the campaign rollout, the new iconography, the sound identity—this is what a campaign looks like when it's been genuinely POURED into. (Which, for what it's worth, is exactly the kind of work we love doing at Brand Good Time. No brand is too small for a real campaign. It's the most fun you get to have in marketing.)

 

 

You don't have to blow everything up to reach a new audience. But you do have to be willing to zoom out—to ask: is my current positioning the most accurate and expansive version of what I actually offer? Are you describing your work in a way that lets the right people see themselves in it?

 

Tara Bosch—the founder who built SmartSweets from her kitchen into a $360 million acquisition by TPG Growth before age 30—is back with a new brand. It's called Snackish, and it debuted at the Sweets & Snacks Expo in Las Vegas last week. The chips deliver eight grams of protein per bag, and that protein comes from the potato skin itself—which also gives the chips a fiber boost. COOL product (and I cannot wait to try). But what ACTUALLY caught my eye was the pre-launch on LinkedIn. Her entire team flooded the platform ahead of the expo—building buzz, generating curiosity, making noise before a single bag hit a shelf, all in butter yellow. That, my friends, is a founder who knows that the audience you build before launch is the one that carries you through it. Watch this one!

 

 

The limited-edition collaboration pairs Dagne Dover's bestselling Landon Carryall Bag with a travel-sized Lola Blanket, available in four colorways: Oyster, Dune, Dark Moss, and Onyx. I didn't buy it. I WANTED to buy it. Particularly I loved that these two brands share color palettes so the collab felt less like a marketing stunt and more like something that was always meant to be.

 

 

I just think Swig's merch shop is a whole ass case study in brand extension done right. Drinkware brands launching apparel and lifestyle merch is not new, buuut Swig's execution feels genuinely FUN and on-brand, not like a cash grab. When your customers want to wear your brand, you've crossed a line most businesses only dream about.

 

Something to watch: how many of your favorite "product" brands are becoming lifestyle brands—and what does that mean for the brands that were lifestyle-first from the start?? 👀

 

Til the next cake drop,

 

🍰 Lauren