Coca-Cola's Simply Pop Enters Prebiotic Soda Market, Squaring Off Against Poppi and Olipop

Coca-Cola is making a big business move as it announces plans to enter the booming prebiotic soda market. With established players such as Poppi and Olipop seeing heightened consumer interest as both companies grow, it seems that the red-and-white brand wants to muscle into a developing, yet lucrative, space.

After all, according to a Market Research Future projection, the prebiotic soda market is set to expand from $1.15 billion, as of 2023, to a whopping $3.5 billion by 2032, meaning there's plenty of revenue in play.

Coca-Cola's Prebiotic Soda Entry Represents Excitement, Maturation of the Segment

Most consumers have likely heard of Poppi or Olipop by now, whether through word of mouth or via the extensive marketing campaigns put forth by either company. Per CNBC, Olipop recently raised $50 million at a valuation of $1.85 billion, and Poppi made waves with its second Super Bowl commercial in a row — although the latter's ad was controversial in some social media circles, it still drove heightened publicity.

With the Feb. 18 launch of Simply Pop, an expansion of Coca-Cola's juice brand, it appears that the beverage giant is ready to make a serious splash in the prebiotic soda market, disrupting established players and seeking to capture a healthy share of the money on the table.

"You would have to be under a rock… to not have seen the growth that is happening in the prebiotic soda space,” said Terika Fasakin, senior director of brand marketing for Simply, according to Marketing Dive.

As CNN outlined, Coca-Cola's move into digestive health soft drinks is just another aspect of its goal: to become a "total beverage company." Leveraging its existing Simply brand in a novel direction, the company's initial offerings similarly lean fruit-forward, appealing to a built-in audience.

“After watching from the sidelines, Coke clearly has determined that the gut soda segment has legs,” Duane Stanford, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, told CNN. “The Simply brand is a smart way to get into a fast-growing and premium soda segment that is attractive to young consumers and resonates on social media.”

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are joining the gut health trend.
Coca-Cola is coming into the category with Simply Pop, a new soda offering under its Simply banner while PepsiCo is reformulating its functional sparkling water brand Soulboost. pic.twitter.com/kttahCUDbt

— Investinq (@investinqai) February 18, 2025

Simply Pop Launches in 5 Flavors, Contains 6 Grams of Prebiotic Fiber

Coke's Simply Pop is slated to launch in five flavors — lime, pineapple mango, fruit punch, citrus punch, and strawberry — and will be sold by the case via Amazon as well as on store shelves in 12-ounce cans through a variety of national retailers. Distribution could be quite wide despite the brand's newcomer status, particularly given Coca-Cola's existing relationship with various vendors, distributors, retailers, and restaurants.

"While it’s a newcomer to the segment, Coke has some obvious advantages: more than 100 years dominating the soda category, marketing and distribution muscle, and $47 billion in revenue in 2024 — compared with the more than $400 million in sales that Olipop netted in 2024," CNBC noted.

The focus appears to be zeroed in on its appeal to a Gen Z demographic familiar with the taste profile of the Simply brand more broadly. The company plans to position Simply Pop as "the juicy new soda" and will partner with various influencers — in addition to women-focused media platform Dear Media later in 2025.

“Gen Z grew up with Simply. So while millennials or other demographics didn’t always have Simply in the household, this brand has so much love and equity,” Fasakin said. “We lean into that Simply equity and heritage [on packaging] because it delivers such high quality, great-taste expectations.”

And while Simply Pop contains 6 grams of prebiotic fiber, more than Poppi's 2 grams but less than Olipop's 9, overall claims to boost gut health have proven inconclusive as of yet, according to The Mayo Clinic. As an example, Poppi remains in settlement talks over a May 2024 lawsuit alleging false advertising concerning the health benefits claimed by the beverage maker, per NBC News.

Still, that news hasn't deterred consumers hungry for healthier (or marketed as such) alternatives to traditional foods and beverages.

“We went out and really listened to consumers. They love this space, they’re really looking for stuff that tastes good, and that’s something we know how to deliver on at Simply and at Coke,” said Becca Kerr, CEO of Coke’s North American nutrition unit.

“We do see that there tends to be an appetite for these types of products with younger consumers, like millennial and Gen Z. We see an interest in these types of products from multicultural consumers," Kerr added.

Counterpart PepsiCo is reportedly eying a launch of its own prebiotic soda in late 2025, according to CNBC.