How Olipop spreads Christmas cheer across social media

This holiday season, will your content be a Christmas cracker or will it go down like a bowl of sprouts at the kids’ table? We’ve found an incredible brand to help you get a grip on the festive reigns and steer your sleigh in the direction of success. Included in Bain and Company’s 2024 insurgent brands list, Olipop has been recognised as a brand to watch with its growth building 10 times faster than its peers. The brand has been gaining momentum like a snowball since its launch in 2018 and we’ve noticed that Olipop has a knack for dishing out content to the platforms where it sparkles best. In this article, we’re unwrapping how Olipop places its holiday content across several of their social media accounts. 

Here are 3 holiday wins for your brand to discover this Christmas…

1. Content stems from a holiday ad

Heartfelt holiday ads have been a major component of many brand success stories over the past couple of decades. You only have to look at John Lewis to realise the impact of a well-positioned seasonal ad that pulls at the heartstrings. November and December are the top 2 months for online sales, so positioning a holiday ad that connects with your audience in time for the Christmas sales rush is a must to get into the hearts and minds of consumers.

Olipop’s social media content this year is centred around a strong holiday ad which features 2 loveable yetis who want to join in the festivities. The ad ultimately ends in the yetis winning over the locals instead of accidentally scaring them away. The themes of inclusion, acceptance and fun are crucial to this well-thought-out ad, helping to bring the Christmas spirit to this bubbly product.

The main ad is posted across most of the Olipop social media accounts, but on the platforms where it isn’t directly posted you can find nods to the campaign through different posts. For example, on X Olipop reposted a post directly referencing the ad.

Having a strong holiday ad provides the basis for a significant amount of spin off social media content. The characters step out of the ad and onto the streets of New York on TikTok, into memes on Instagram and onto the product packaging that is featured in content across all social platforms.

2. The power of the mascot

In the world of Olipop you can wave goodbye to Santa and say hello to Oli and Pop - the loveable winter yeti mascots. Like a well-written jingle, a mascot can live rent-free in our minds for years. Just think about McDonald’s clown Ronald McDonald, M&S’ Colin the Caterpillar and Tony the Tiger from Kellogg’s Frosties and how deeply ingrained they are in the long-term memories of everyone brought up since the 90s.

A good winter mascot is memorable, recognisable and loveable. A prime example is Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot, who has been the star of Aldi UK's Christmas ads since 2016. Adding a mascot as a major part of the Christmas marketing keeps branding consistent across the main advert, social media posts, in-person marketing and product packaging, while giving people a personality to buy into.

3. Content crafted to fit different social media apps

A big part of Olipop’s social media success is its acknowledgement that content which is the gift that keeps on giving on one platform, may also go down like a smelly guy hanging around the mistletoe on another. For this reason, we can see that Olipop has created seasonal content specifically for certain social media platforms. And while Olipop does crosspost some posts, it isn’t passing out the same content to different audiences in the same way that Grandma dishes out the mince pies.

Here are some examples of how Olipop sprinkles social media in Christmas cheer…

TikTok

Olipop’s biggest social media following is on TikTok and there’s an avalanche of unique content created for it, which makes sense - it pays to be present where your audience is. In continuity with the holiday ad, Olipop’s TikTok content follows the adventures of the holiday mascots Oli and Pop. Olipop has leveraged a lot of the elements we’ve come to expect from TikTok content - vertical videos with snappy cuts, humour, catchy music and relatable text overlays, but the personality of the brand is proudly placed at the centre of the scene.

Instagram

Olipop’s Instagram content is a mixed stocking stuffed with carousels, reels and photo posts. Memes are embraced like a warm hug, vertical videos are present but several are totally different to what you’ll find on TikTok and there’s even a quiz to find out which Yeti you’re more like - flash back to 90s magazines or what? 

Mixing up content types on a platform that enjoys the selection is like giving the audience an advent calendar. What will be the next little treat?

LinkedIn

Head to Olipop’s LinkedIn to find posts written specifically for the business market; celebrating the success of the holiday campaign and shouting out the creative agency partner. You won’t find Olipop bragging about its marketing wins anywhere but LinkedIn because it would make people snooze like Grandpa after too many glasses of mulled wine. But on LinkedIn it makes sense and it is received well from Olipop's 214k following (larger than Olipop’s followings on Facebook, Threads and X!) These posts provide a lot of social proof and honestly make Olipop look like the party to be invited to.

Threads

Instagram’s Threads gets only a little engagement for Olipop so there isn’t a huge focus on crafting sparkly new content here. That doesn’t mean Threads is neglected though. With 60k followers, it’s still a platform worth posting on. Instead, Olipop spreads the festive cheer in photo posts shared elsewhere too.

Facebook

There's a lot of crossover between Olipop’s Instagram and Facebook page - memes, reels and a quiz all make a festive appearance. But Facebook has a crucial creative branding element that Instagram doesn't - the Facebook banner. Olipop has made multiple Christmas banners to spread the wintery joy and its holiday products.

X

Olipop saves X for reposting community commentary and showcasing products in the real world. There’s something really raw and authentic about Olipop’s approach to X but the simple approaches are sometimes extremely effective. Take a peek at the example below… there’s the product pictured, text that begs for a response and engagement heaped as high as the bowl of roast potatoes at Christmas dinner.

Knowing who’s partying with you and the content they’d like to be gifted is the key to making your brand a social media star. You can find this crucial information by using Minter.io - the social media analytics tool for businesses. Unwrap information about your unique audience, what content types they vibe with the most and when they want to be served up the good stuff. By using Minter.io you can ensure your content is the Christmas feast everyone’s been waiting for. Discover more now.