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PepsiCo lowers its Poppi earn-out estimate, Gymshark signs Megan Thee Stallion as its first celebrity ambassador, and Diageo averts a Scottish strike.
PepsiCo's revised Poppi earn-out exposes the hidden risks of challenger brand acquisitions. Plus, Gymshark bets on celebrity reach over creator community — and Diageo faces supply chain pressure in Scotland.
In this episode:
The FMCG Marketing Daily is a concise briefing for FMCG and CPG marketers, brand managers and CMOs, hosted by Marco & Klara. New episode every day.
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Also from Marco & Klara: The Digital Commerce Daily · The Health Marketing Daily
The essential morning briefing for brand leaders in fast-moving consumer goods. Hosted by Marco and Klara — two senior strategists with decades of experience inside global CPG companies and consultancies. Every episode covers retail media and distribution shifts, brand and competitor moves from Unilever, Coke, Nestlé, and challenger brands, and the macro and regulatory forces reshaping the category. Authoritative. Analytical. No noise. Built for brand managers, trade marketers, CMOs, and agency directors who need to stay ahead.
Marco: Good morning — three stories on the show today that are all worth slowing down for.
Klara: We've got PepsiCo quietly revising what it owes for Poppi, Gymshark signing its very first celebrity ambassador, and a suspended strike at a Diageo site in Scotland that raises some uncomfortable questions about supply.
Marco: A lot to unpack — let's go.
Marco: PepsiCo has cut the amount it expects to pay out to Poppi's founders — and the reason why tells you a lot about the risks hiding inside big challenger brand acquisitions.
Klara: Let's rewind a little. Poppi is a prebiotic soda — basically a fizzy drink with gut-health ingredients — that became one of the most talked-about challenger brands in the US. PepsiCo acquired it earlier this year for a significant sum. Part of that deal included what's called an earn-out — a bonus payment to the founders if the brand hits certain performance targets after the sale.
Marco: And PepsiCo has now revised that earn-out estimate downward. In plain terms: Poppi hasn't performed well enough since the acquisition to trigger the full payout that was originally anticipated. The founders will get less than initially expected. PepsiCo hasn't said exactly why performance fell short, but the direction of travel is clear.
Klara: This is where it gets interesting for brand managers. Because earn-outs are supposed to align the founders' interests with the acquirer's. The idea is — keep the brand growing, and you get rewarded. But what often happens is the opposite. The very things that made a challenger brand exciting — speed, scrappiness, cultural authenticity — get quietly suffocated the moment it enters a corporate structure.
Marco: And that's the uncomfortable question sitting underneath this story. Did PepsiCo buy Poppi to grow it — or to absorb it and neutralise a threat?
Klara: I'd say it's rarely that cynical. Most acquisitions are genuinely well-intentioned. But good intentions don't stop integration processes from slowing everything down.
Marco: The brand equity — the goodwill and trust consumers had in Poppi — was built outside the corporate machine. Rebuilding that inside one is a different challenge entirely.
Klara: Worth watching how this one develops.
Marco: Our next story is coming up after the break.
Klara: Gymshark has just signed its first-ever celebrity ambassador — and the choice says a lot about where the brand is heading.
Marco: Gymshark is a UK fitness apparel brand that built its entire reputation through creators. Not big stars — real fitness people on YouTube and Instagram with loyal, engaged followings. That community-first approach made it one of the most talked-about challenger brands in European sportswear.
Klara: And now that's changed. The brand has signed Megan Thee Stallion — one of the biggest names in global music — on a multi-year deal. This isn't just a one-off campaign either. The partnership covers marketing, online activations, and in-store presence. That's a full commitment across every level of how a brand reaches consumers.
Marco: For me, this is the moment that defines whether Gymshark is still a challenger brand or whether it's decided to grow up and compete at a different level. Signing a mega-celebrity is a completely different bet from signing a fitness creator with 200,000 followers. The reach is incomparably bigger — but so is the distance from the community that originally made the brand feel real.
Klara: I don't think it has to be one or the other, though. Megan Thee Stallion has a genuine connection to fitness culture — she talks about it openly. This isn't a random pairing. The risk is real, but so is the logic behind the choice.
Marco: The risk I'd flag is the community. Gymshark's original fans felt like insiders. The moment the brand starts feeling like a mainstream celebrity vehicle, those early loyalists can drift. And in apparel, community loyalty is hard to rebuild once you lose it.
Klara: A live experiment worth following closely.
Marco: Our final story of the day is up next.
Marco: Diageo has suspended planned strike action at one of its Scottish production sites, with talks now underway between the company and union representatives.
Klara: To understand why this matters, you need to know that Scotch whisky isn't just a product — it's a geography. For Diageo brands like Johnnie Walker, the fact that whisky is made in Scotland is central to the brand's identity and legal status. It's not a marketing line. It's the whole point. And Diageo's Scottish distilleries sit at the heart of that.
Marco: The specific detail here is that workers at the facility had been preparing to strike. That action has now been paused while the company and union officials negotiate. No resolution yet — just a pause. The timing is awkward because Diageo is already dealing with softer demand for premium spirits across Europe and key global markets. They didn't need an operational headache on top of a commercial one.
Klara: What strikes me about this is how easily brand managers overlook supply chain risk when they're thinking about brand strategy. If a strike disrupts production at a Scottish distillery, that's not just a logistics problem. It's a story. Journalists write about it. Retailers ask questions. And for a brand built on heritage and provenance — meaning where it comes from — even a short disruption can create noise that's hard to manage.
Marco: I'd go further than that. There's a specific trap here with premium spirits. Some people might assume scarcity would help — that less supply creates more desire. But that only works when scarcity is planned and controlled. An unplanned disruption signals instability, not exclusivity. Those are very different things.
Klara: And the reputational risk runs both ways — with consumers and with the trade buyers who are already cautious about premium categories right now.
Marco: For any brand manager running a heritage product, this is a reminder that operational stability is part of your brand promise — whether you've ever said so out loud or not.
Marco: Today's thread — when you acquire, estimate carefully; when you grow, choose your symbols deliberately; and when you operate, never let the factory floor undermine the brand story.
Klara: And ask yourself honestly: what's the one operational or commercial assumption in your brand plan that you haven't actually stress-tested?