Sophia Sesto has a trick up her sleeve for influencer marketing: staying chronically online.
Her function — vice chairman of civilization for the buzzy prebiotic soda brand Poppi — requires her to be tuned in to famous culture.
To place trends and emerging satisfied creators, it's crucial to prosecute "your own For You Page," Sesto told Business Insider. Sesto was lately featured in Business Insider's 2026 catalog of most innovative influencer marketers.
The hunt for new, culture-driving creators "is never-ending," stated Sesto, who leads Poppi's influencer, partnerships, and social promotion teams.
Within Poppi's inner Microsoft Teams, there is a conduit called "Seed" anywhere Sesto and another Poppi personnel "are continually dropping" creators and content, accompanied by ideas for how the brand can activity alongside these group in the future.
"It is the most manual process," Sesto said, adding that AI tools haven't yet proved helpful on this front. "It's all in-house, and we say we get our person since we are them."
Brands are projected to expend additional than $44 milliard on influencer promotion in the US this year, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). As additional dollars get pumped into the space, and additional creators vie for those checks, position out and driving conversation transport additional weight.
Meanwhile, the net quickly churns through viral memes and trends. Brands lone have a divided second to pounce.
"A big part of my function is continuously construction a example that moves at the speed of culture, during additionally being capable to scale," Sesto said.
Poppi's actuality TV affection affair
Poppi's promotion campaigns about the hit reality TV display "Love Island" were correct in this saccharine spot.
While on her honeymoon, Sesto watched "Love Island" and kept up alongside her colleagues.
"We were in the Teams chats like, 'Did you observe final night? What do you think of this? What do you think of that?'" Sesto said. "I commitment we get genuine activity done too, but this is whenever our finest activity happens."
Poppi's team, akin many another "Love Island" viewers, grew obsessed alongside a 2025 mold member, Amaya Espinal. That July, whenever the storyline of the display turned on Espinal, Poppi's personnel went on Instagram to display its assistance alongside a made-up "Amaya Papaya" flavor.
"It's our best-performing Instagram article of all time," Sesto said.
What started as a gag turned into a complete promotion run and sensation launch. By October, Poppi had mold Espinal in a run and launched a limited-edition flavor, "Amaya's Island Colada." The beverage was sold on Amazon and at Target.
Poppi sank its teeth into the "Love Island" fandom equal further, operating alongside creators on observe parties and another digital content. According to the company, creator-made satisfied generated additional than 212 myriad views.
How Poppi plant alongside pop civilization icons
Poppi has landed its bright-colored soda cans in the hands of net celebrities akin Alix Earle, Jake Shane, and Charli XCX.
Poppi has a "long-standing relationship" alongside Earle, Sesto said. The brand worked alongside Earle at Coachella in 2024 and afterward launched a tagged can alongside her in 2025. Earle's alliance goes deeper than sponsorships, too. She became an capitalist in the soda brand in 2024.
The brand has leveraged these faces in several of its highest-budget promotion campaigns, specified as its Super Bowl commercials.
Poppi lately partnered alongside performer Shay Mitchell's luggage brand, Béis, on a gathering of suitcases. Like many brands, Poppi leveraged an IRL event to coincide alongside the launch.
Poppi isn't lone focused on the biggest stars.
Sesto stated its "always-on influencer program" is a crucial part of the brand's scheme to remain applicable and in forefront of consumers. When Poppi rolled out its "Shirley Temple" sensation at the end of 2025, it sent cans of the soda to influencers without any context, Sesto said, expecting the creators would article concerning it.
"We gave them the chance to initiate the sensation for us," Sesto said.
Big Soda, bigger opportunities
After Poppi was acquired by PepsiCo for nearly $2 billion in 2025, a new motto defined the brand's transition: "Let Poppi be Poppi," Sesto said.
Poppi's new genitor business is "leaning in" to Poppi's cheekiness, Sesto said, and letting Poppi's squad "do our thing."
The new ownership is additionally beginning up doors. Since the acquisition, Poppi inked a alliance alongside Starbucks, landing the prebiotic soda on the coffee chain's shelves. Meanwhile, Poppi is additionally venturing into global markets and launched in the UK this year.
"We're operating on — spoiler vigilant — additional places anywhere you'll see Poppi," Sesto said.
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Sydney Bradley has been covering media and tech for Business Insider since 2020. She breaks news and writes extensively concerning Instagram and Facebook, as fine as new social media startups, dating apps, the creator economy, venture capital, and tech culture.She regularly contributes to BI's "After Hours" series, anywhere our reporters dive into the social scenes shaping tech, media, and finance.Sydney's reporting on Instagram was nominated as a finalist for the 2021 Los Angeles Press Club National Entertainment Journalism Awards.She graduated from the University of Virginia alongside a flat in American Studies. You can prosecute Sydney's activity on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram at @sydneykbradley.Have a tip? You can additionally communication her via encrypted messaging app Signal (@sydneykbradley.123), encrypted email ([email protected]), or norm email ([email protected]). Use a individual email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing data securely.
