Sophia Sesto has a trick up her sleeve for influencer marketing: staying chronically online.

Her role — vice president of culture for the buzzy prebiotic soda brand Poppi — requires her to be tuned in to popular culture.

To spot trends and emerging content creators, it's crucial to follow "your own For You Page," Sesto told Business Insider. Sesto was recently featured in Business Insider's 2026 list of most innovative influencer marketers.

The search for new, culture-driving creators "is never-ending," said Sesto, who leads Poppi's influencer, partnerships, and social marketing teams.

Within Poppi's internal Microsoft Teams, there is a channel called "Seed" where Sesto and other Poppi staff "are constantly dropping" creators and content, accompanied by ideas for how the brand can work with these people in the future.

"It is the most manual process," Sesto said, adding that AI tools haven't yet proved useful on this front. "It's all in-house, and we say we get our consumer because we are them."

Brands are projected to spend more than $44 billion on influencer marketing in the US this year, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). As more dollars get pumped into the space, and more creators vie for those checks, standing out and driving conversation carry more weight.

Meanwhile, the internet rapidly churns through viral memes and trends. Brands only have a split second to pounce.

"A big part of my role is continuously building a model that moves at the speed of culture, while also being able to scale," Sesto said.

Poppi's reality TV love affair

Poppi's marketing campaigns around the hit reality TV show "Love Island" were right in this sweet spot.

While on her honeymoon, Sesto watched "Love Island" and kept up with her colleagues.

"We were in the Teams chats like, 'Did you watch last night? What do you think of this? What do you think of that?'" Sesto said. "I promise we get real work done too, but this is when our best work happens."

Poppi's team, like many other "Love Island" viewers, grew obsessed with a 2025 cast member, Amaya Espinal. That July, when the plot of the show turned on Espinal, Poppi's staff went on Instagram to show its support with a made-up "Amaya Papaya" flavor.

"It's our best-performing Instagram post of all time," Sesto said.

What started as a joke turned into a full marketing campaign and flavor launch. By October, Poppi had cast Espinal in a campaign and launched a limited-edition flavor, "Amaya's Island Colada." The drink was sold on Amazon and at Target.

Poppi sank its teeth into the "Love Island" fandom even further, working with creators on watch parties and other digital content. According to the company, creator-made content generated more than 212 million views.

How Poppi works with pop culture icons

Poppi has landed its bright-colored soda cans in the hands of internet celebrities like Alix Earle, Jake Shane, and Charli XCX.

Poppi has a "long-standing relationship" with Earle, Sesto said. The brand worked with Earle at Coachella in 2024 and later launched a branded can with her in 2025. Earle's partnership goes deeper than sponsorships, too. She became an investor in the soda brand in 2024.

The brand has leveraged these faces in some of its highest-budget advertising campaigns, such as its Super Bowl commercials.

Poppi recently partnered with actor Shay Mitchell's luggage brand, Béis, on a collection of suitcases. Like many brands, Poppi leveraged an IRL event to coincide with the launch.

Poppi isn't only focused on the biggest stars.

Sesto said its "always-on influencer program" is a crucial part of the brand's strategy to stay relevant and in front of consumers. When Poppi rolled out its "Shirley Temple" flavor at the end of 2025, it sent cans of the soda to influencers without any context, Sesto said, hoping the creators would post about it.

"We gave them the opportunity to launch the flavor for us," Sesto said.

Big Soda, bigger opportunities

After Poppi was acquired by PepsiCo for nearly $2 billion in 2025, a new motto defined the brand's transition: "Let Poppi be Poppi," Sesto said.

Poppi's new parent company is "leaning in" to Poppi's cheekiness, Sesto said, and letting Poppi's team "do our thing."

The new ownership is also opening up doors. Since the acquisition, Poppi inked a partnership with Starbucks, landing the prebiotic soda on the coffee chain's shelves. Meanwhile, Poppi is also venturing into international markets and launched in the UK this year.

"We're working on — spoiler alert — more places where you'll see Poppi," Sesto said.