Quick Facts
- Poppi received more than 11,000 ambassador applications for fall 2026, up from under 300 in spring 2025.
- Nine of the top 10 highest-selling Target stores during sorority recruitment season are located in or near college towns.
- The brand is distributing more than 28,000 pieces of free merchandise across campuses this back-to-school season.
PepsiCo-owned Poppi is entering its third consecutive back-to-school season with its largest campus push yet. The prebiotic soda brand has hired 250 paid student ambassadors for semester-long contracts, signed official partnerships with 20 sorority chapters, and launched a dorm-themed merchandise collection at Target.
The scale of student interest tells the story. Ambassador applications climbed from fewer than 300 in spring 2025 to 6,100 in spring 2026 and now exceed 11,000 for fall 2026. Sophia Sesto, Poppi’s VP of Culture, told Glossy the acceptance rate now rivals Ivy League admissions. ‘There are over 11,000 applicants, so our team jokes it’s easier to get into an Ivy League, which is less than a 2% acceptance rate, than it is to get into the Poppi ambassador program,’ she said.
Each ambassador contract runs roughly four months. Students gain early access to new flavors, exclusive merchandise drops, and direct contact with the Poppi team. The program is separate from standard influencer arrangements and positions students as on-the-ground sales and culture scouts.
Poppi is also beta-testing a new format called the ambassador crew program. It pairs best-friend groups of up to four students for paid collaborative content creation. The format lets the brand produce authentic group content without coordinating unrelated creators.
The sorority strategy has shown measurable retail results. According to Glossy, Poppi told BestColleges that during peak sorority recruitment, nine of the top 10 highest-selling Target stores were in or near college towns. The brand is building on that data by stocking sorority houses with branded fridges packed with product and setting up large-scale displays designed as backdrops for RushTok content.
Campus activations this fall include airbrush merchandise personalization stations and more than 28,000 pieces of free merch distributed across schools. The Target collaboration features current Poppi ambassadors rather than outside talent, centering the dorm collection on the students who already represent the brand.
The campus playbook follows a pattern the brand established before its acquisition. In 2023, Poppi drew more than 1,800 ambassador applications and activated across 10 sororities and 15 student organizations. In 2024, a partnership with the University of Texas at Austin’s Zeta chapter produced organic social content and national press during rush season. The brand reported a 28% increase in units sold to young adult audiences after a 2021 University of Alabama event.
PepsiCo closed its acquisition of Poppi on May 19, 2025, paying $1.95 billion, or $1.65 billion net after $300 million in anticipated cash tax benefits. The deal gave Poppi access to PepsiCo’s distribution network, retail relationships, and advertising resources. Ram Krishnan, CEO of PepsiCo Beverages U.S., said the company intends to scale Poppi’s existing momentum using those capabilities.
Poppi co-founder Allison Ellsworth cited distribution as the core reason for the sale. ‘We wanted to continue to get Poppi to as many people as possible,’ she said. ‘The only thing to really secure that is to bring in a distribution partner like Pepsi.’
The campus ambassador model gives Poppi a low-cost method to identify which college markets and retail locations convert at the highest rates before committing to broader distribution. With PepsiCo’s supply chain behind it, the brand can act quickly on what those students surface.
