INSITE OOH Media Platform

Poppi -Introduced to the UAE market as Popit- has already made one of the biggest moves in the better-for-you soda category. Now, the brand is taking that momentum into the UAE, using its first major out-of-home (OOH) campaign to combine product awareness, entertainment marketing and one of the world's most recognisable superheroes: Spider-Man.

Following PepsiCo's $1.95 billion acquisition of the brand in 2025, Popit has gained access to the scale, distribution and marketing infrastructure needed to expand beyond its original US audience. Its UAE market entry is now being supported by a high-impact OOH rollout tied to Sony Pictures' Spider-Man: Brand New Day, putting limited-edition cans and the superhero at the centre of the campaign.

For Popit, however, this is more than a product launch.

The campaign signals how a functional beverage brand can use entertainment partnerships, cultural relevance and strategic OOH media placement to move beyond a niche health proposition and compete for mainstream consumer attention.

From Shark Tank to a $1.95 Billion PepsiCo Acquisition

Founded in Texas in 2017, the brand began as Mother Beverage before evolving into Poppi and building a position within the fast-growing functional soda category. Its appearance on Shark Tank helped accelerate awareness, with entrepreneur Rohan Oza investing $400,000 in the business. The brand continued to grow before PepsiCo announced its agreement to acquire it for $1.95 billion in March 2025, completing the acquisition two months later. For PepsiCo, the deal represented an opportunity to strengthen its beverage portfolio with a brand built around the intersection of wellness, soda, and younger consumer culture.

For Popit, it meant something equally important: scale.

That scale can turn a challenger beverage brand from a social-first success story into a player capable of entering new markets, securing wider distribution and investing in large-scale brand awareness campaigns.

The UAE is the latest market where that ambition is becoming visible.

What Makes Popit Different From Traditional Soft Drinks?

Traditional soft drinks have historically competed through taste, refreshment, brand recognition, and mass-market availability. Popit enters the category with an additional layer: a functional beverage proposition built around prebiotic fiber and better-for-you positioning.

That distinction gives the brand a different marketing narrative.

Instead of asking consumers to leave the soda category behind, Popit positions itself as an alternative to conventional soft drinks while connecting the product with wellness-conscious consumption. But functional benefits alone do not necessarily create mass cultural relevance.

That is where Popit's marketing strategy becomes more interesting. The brand has the functional credentials to differentiate itself on the shelf, but it is increasingly using lifestyle marketing, social media, entertainment IP, and experiential touchpoints to make the product relevant outside the beverage aisle.

Its UAE OOH campaign is a clear example of that strategy in action.

Popit's UAE Market Entry

Following PepsiCo's acquisition, Popit expanded its presence in the UAE through retail and quick-commerce channels including Noon Minutes, LuLu Hypermarket, Spinneys, Waitrose, Global Beverages and Martoo.

The market entry places the beverage within a competitive UAE soft drinks landscape where consumers have access to established international brands as well as a growing selection of premium, functional and lifestyle-led beverages.

For a new entrant, however, availability is only the first step. A product can appear on a supermarket shelf or quick-commerce platform without becoming part of consumers' mental shortlist.

That is where OOH advertising becomes particularly valuable. By taking Popit beyond retail environments and onto Dubai's major roads, the campaign is using outdoor media to build reach, brand recognition and top-of-mind awareness among a much wider audience.

And rather than launching with a conventional product-focused message, Popit has chosen a globally recognised entertainment property to make that first impression.

Why Spider-Man Is a Strategic Fit for Popit

The partnership with Sony around Spider-Man: Brand New Day gives Popit an immediate cultural hook.

In an OOH environment, that recognition matters.

A consumer does not need to know Popit's entire product proposition to recognise Spider-Man. The character can generate the initial visual attention before the branding and product message complete the communication.

But the partnership does more than solve an awareness challenge.

It also helps Popit expand its brand positioning.

The beverage began by challenging conventional soda through its better-for-you credentials. Spider-Man moves the brand into a different cultural territory: entertainment, fandom, collectability, and popular culture.

The limited-edition cans reinforce that transition.

The packaging becomes part of the campaign rather than simply appearing as a product shot. That gives the collaboration a tangible retail component while creating the potential for the can itself to become a collectable object for fans.

This is where the entertainment partnership becomes strategically relevant.

Popit is not abandoning its functional beverage positioning. It is surrounding it with cultural relevance.

Inside Popit's First UAE OOH Campaign

The campaign's creative platform is built around a simple line:

“A Brand New Day. A Brand New Popit.”

The copy connects the beverage directly to Spider-Man: Brand New Day while simultaneously positioning Popit as something new entering the UAE market.

That creates a useful dual meaning for a market-entry campaign.

The Arabic adaptation, “Youm Jadeed. Popit Jadeed,” takes the same idea into the local market while preserving the rhythm and wordplay of the original execution.

For an international campaign entering the UAE, that kind of localization is important. Rather than simply translating the English copy, the Arabic version retains the campaign's personality and makes the message feel more native to the audience.

The campaign then introduces a second message:

“Limited Edition. Limited Time.”

From a consumer marketing perspective, this adds urgency to the entertainment collaboration. From an OOH perspective, it also gives the audience a simple message that can be understood quickly while passing the billboard.

The visual hierarchy supports that objective.

The blue background creates a strong visual field, while the yellow limited-edition messaging provides contrast and helps the secondary message stand out. The Popit can occupies the centre of the hoarding, making the product the primary visual asset.

Spider-Man and the web treatment add entertainment value without overwhelming the product branding.

That balance is particularly important in outdoor advertising.

The superhero earns the attention. The product needs to own the memory.

How Popit Uses OOH to Build Brand Awareness

The campaign extends across multiple OOH formats, including large-format hoardings and lamppost advertising across major vehicular routes in Dubai, including Sheikh Zayed Road.

The media strategy supports the campaign's primary objective: mass awareness.

For a beverage entering a new market, outdoor advertising can provide something digital targeting cannot replicate in the same way: repeated exposure across a shared physical environment.

Commuters travelling along high-traffic routes can encounter the same creative multiple times, increasing the opportunity for brand recognition and message retention.

The creative is also built for the realities of the medium.

A passing driver is unlikely to stop and read a long product explanation. Instead, the campaign uses a recognisable entertainment property, a large product visual, short-form copy and strong colour contrast to communicate the idea quickly.

This is where the OOH execution demonstrates effective media-to-creative alignment.

The campaign does not attempt to explain every reason to choose a prebiotic soda.

It creates curiosity first.

The product, packaging, and retail availability can then complete the journey elsewhere.

From Functional Soda to Cultural Relevance

Popit's UAE OOH campaign ultimately represents more than another beverage launch.

It shows how a functional soda brand can use entertainment marketing to broaden its positioning, while using outdoor advertising as a mass-reach channel to establish visibility in a new market.

PepsiCo provides the scale. Spider-Man provides the cultural recognition. The limited-edition packaging creates a tangible product story. And OOH connects all three elements with consumers across Dubai's busiest routes.

The strategic opportunity for Popit is therefore bigger than simply selling another can of soda.

The brand is attempting to move from functional benefit to lifestyle relevance, from product differentiation to cultural recognition, and from challenger brand to mainstream beverage player.

That makes the UAE rollout particularly worth watching.

Spider-Man gets Popit noticed. The product gets the close-up. And Dubai's streets become the stage on which the brand begins its next chapter.