A healthy alternative to regular soda in attractive packaging? This writer is sold! 

In the bustling world of trendy, healthier beverages, packaging plays a crucial role in capturing consumers' interests. Two popular functional beverage brands, Olipop and Poppi, have emerged as frontrunners in this competitive market. 

As an artwork management platform, we know a thing or two about packaging artwork. In this article, we will be breaking down the packaging design of these two brands, comparing and contrasting their approaches to determine which one should be a public favorite! 

Know your soda brand

Olipop

Founded in 2017, Olipop is listed as one of the top emerging CPG brands in 2024. It emphasizes using prebiotic fiber and plant-based sweeteners to promote gut health. The brand offers a variety of flavors, including classic options like Cherry Cola and Root Beer, as well as more adventurous choices like Peaches and Cream and Banana Cream. Olipop's packaging is refreshing, featuring pastel backgrounds and bold colors.

The name Olipop is derived from the prebiotic fiber oligosaccharide (oli) and "pop" for soda.

Poppi

Poppi is a Texas-based beverage company that landed in the shelves of grocery stores from a farmer’s market after a Shark Tank investment in 2019. The brand offers a range of sparkling prebiotic beverages such as Strawberry Lemon, Grape, Watermelon, and more. Poppi’s packaging is more vibrant with whimsical illustrations.

The healthy soda brand is focused on lowering blood sugar, controlling appetite, and improving gut health. 

Olipop’s packaging: A marketing genius

After its rebranding in 2018, we can see how Olipop’s packaging takes a slightly different approach, focusing on a neat design and easy communication.

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How impactful is Olipop’s new look?

• Overall visual hierarchy: It is important to identify these cans at a glance while purchasing. Olipop’s rebranding focuses on its branding and flavor. The new design follows a hierarchy highlighting the flavor compared to the old design. For, you can see the way ‘Strawberry Vanilla’ is emphasized above on the new packaging which gives consumers an idea about the flavor of the product—making it easier to choose the flavor they want while they make a quick pit stop.
• Contrast and typography: The new packaging only uses lighter shades. Among its cans, you can notice how Olipop incorporates white or pastel-colored backgrounds with darker shades of fonts. This also shows a good example of contrast and the use of negative space. Also, the typography used here is clean and modern.
• Illustrations and logo: We like the illustrations on the new packaging, which are simple and effectively convey the flavor. However, the placement of the logo makes it difficult to read. The logo appears compressed and looks like it continues onto the other side, which can be confusing. The overall design is minimalist, with a focus on clean lines and uncluttered space. 
• Messaging: Not only does the brand follow a good visual hierarchy but also a clean communication hierarchy. The front side of the new packaging provides all the details on the product and what benefits it provides. Instead of focusing on the names (Olipop and Sparkling Digestive Tonic), the new design focuses on the taste (Strawberry Vanilla) and the benefit (Supports Digestive Health). 

What makes Olipop’s packaging unique?

Olipop’s packaging aligns with its sustainability goals. The brand focuses on reducing its carbon footprint through energy-saving activities and claims ethical supply chain management, ensuring the highest social and environmental responsibility standards. 

All in all, the brand's display of its packaging message shows its suitability for consumers looking for healthier options and the cans are easy to handle and fit in your hand. 

Poppi’s packaging: A colorful affair

Poppi’s packaging is a visual feast for the eyes. The brand uses a vibrant and playful color palette often featuring bold hues like orange, pink, and blue. The packaging is designed in such a way that it appeals to its target audience - the Gen-Z and millennial crowd.

The typography used on Poppi cans is playful, and rounded letter shapes that could resemble bubbles, adding to the overall friendly vibe. Here, the imagery plays a significant role in Poppi’s packaging. The cans often feature illustrations of quirky or abstract patterns, creating a sense of fun. Compared to Olipop, the logo placement is clearer on Poppi’s can.

What we are not a fan of…

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1. Readability: While Poppi's packaging is visually appealing, there are issues about its legibility. The flavor of the product, first, is not really visible along with the benefit. It’s facing upwards (1, in the diagram) and smaller in font size. 
   Also, when you look at this packaging above, you can see the white color is washed out (especially for the flavor) on the yellow background making it difficult to read.The contrast between white text and a bright yellow background is not ideal. This can be inconvenient for consumers who need to quickly identify the flavor or nutritional information on the can.

2. Display of Unique Selling Points (USPs): When you work on a design, placing the text or information is also important. The flavors should be upfront and just adding ‘5g sugar’ (2, in the diagram) on the front is not relevant. Here, Olipop has done a better job of highlighting its ingredients and other benefits. 

Olipop vs Poppi: May the best packaging win

Here, both Olipop and Poppi have shown a strong understanding of the importance of packaging in the beverage industry. While Olipop takes a minimal and sophisticated approach to its packaging design, Poppi's is more vibrant and playful.

Ultimately, the best packaging is the one that effectively communicates the brand's message and resonates with the target audience. 

Create winning packaging with Artwork Flow

Whether you have a team of 10 or 50 and want to collaborate efficiently on packaging designs to launch them on time, Artwork Flow’s artwork management software is a fine choice. For instance, when a packaging design is ready for review, your designer uploads it to the platform. The project collaborators receive a notification and the brand manager can then review it to ensure that the creatives align with the brand guidelines which are already saved in the library. After that, the Regulatory Affairs team can proofread with AI for missing logos or discrepancies and provide accurate feedback on the creative. The designer picks it up again and the cycle continues until the packaging design is approved. Overall, you can streamline the entire packaging design process on a single platform and not miss out on any important feedback.

Moreover, Artwork Flow offers features such as label management, online proofing, version control, asset management, and more. Schedule a demo to fast track your packaging design process!

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