"Brands are getting Gen Z 100% wrong." That is Poppi cofounder Allison Ellsworth, speaking on Fortune's Term Sheet podcast. Her evidence is hard to argue with: PepsiCo paid $1.95 billion for Poppi in March 2025, and Ellsworth says part of what the giant bought was an education in how to talk to Gen Z.
I asked my Gen Z son which brands actually get it right. His answer: Mug Root Beer, Nutter Butter, and Mountain Dew. He is not wrong, and the numbers back him up.
The $0 media spend that beat every ad budget
Nutter Butter is the strangest case. Dentsu Creative New York rebuilt the 55-year-old cookie brand's TikTok around surreal, unsettling, horror-adjacent videos, leaning into meme culture instead of product shots. The results: 249 million earned views, 15 million engagements, and a TikTok following that crossed 1.6 million, all on a reported $0 in media spend. Amazon sales jumped 190% from January to June, per Stackline data.
The honest caveat: viral metrics are not the same as durable growth. Attention is rented, and the brand still has to convert it into repeat buyers. But as a top-of-funnel play, it is hard to find a better return on zero dollars.
When the drop sells out in two hours
PepsiCo's Mug Root Beer took the same principle to TikTok Shop. Working with VaynerMedia, the brand turned its bulldog mascot into a social-first character and started dropping absurd limited editions, including a root beer-scented cologne and a "Dawg DNA Kit" spoofing dog breed tests. The DNA kit sold out in two hours on a TikTok Live that drew 2.4 million unique views. The campaign pulled over a billion earned impressions and 40 million social views in three days. Mug is now the fastest-growing brand in the root beer category.
Mountain Dew played a similar game from a different angle: real-world treasure hunts for new flavor launches, with clues dropped on social and cash prizes hidden at 7-Eleven stores. The first hunt generated 2.6 million views and 13,000 engagements organically. Research the brand cites says 41% of Gen Z will try a new snack or drink flavor immediately on release, the highest of any generation.
What this means for your business
You do not have PepsiCo's budget or a creative agency on retainer. That is fine, because the lesson is not "be weirder." The lesson is structural: Gen Z rewards participation over polish. They want to be entertained, included, and in on the joke. A local business that shows its real people, reacts in real time, and treats the comments section like a conversation will outperform a competitor running glossy stock-photo ads, every time.
Entertainment first. Selling second. That is the whole playbook.
How we can help
We as your partner build social programs around this exact principle. Our paid social management turns your best organic moments into scaled reach on Meta, so one good video does the work of ten ad variations. Our audience strategy work maps what your younger customers actually respond to instead of guessing. And our creative direction keeps your content native to each platform, so it earns attention instead of interrupting it.
Which brand do you think actually understands your customers?
Data over opinions.
Frequently asked questions
How do I market to Gen Z without sounding like an ad?
Stop making ads and start making content. Gen Z has seen every ad format and tunes out anything that feels manufactured. The brands winning with them, Nutter Butter, Mug Root Beer, and Mountain Dew, all lead with entertainment: absurd humor, limited drops, real-world games. Your product appears inside the entertainment, not in front of it. If your social content could run as a TV commercial, it will not work on Gen Z.
Does unhinged social media marketing actually drive sales?
Attention and revenue are related but not identical. Nutter Butter's zero-media TikTok run drove a 190% jump in Amazon sales over six months, per Stackline data, so the pipeline from chaos to checkout is real. But viral spikes fade. The brands that win convert the moment into followers and repeat buyers. Treat unhinged content as top-of-funnel fuel, not the whole engine.
Can a small business copy what these big brands do?
Not the stunts, but the principle. You do not need a cologne drop or a treasure hunt. What transfers is the posture: show real people instead of stock photos, react to comments in real time, and let your personality show. A local business owner answering comments with genuine humor will beat a competitor's glossy ad creative with Gen Z, at a fraction of the cost.
Where should Gen Z marketing actually run?
Where they already are: TikTok and Instagram first, YouTube second. And close the loop where discovery happens. Mug Root Beer and Mountain Dew both sell through TikTok Shop because Gen Z discovers and buys in the same session. Then use paid social on Meta to amplify your best organic posts to new audiences, so one good video reaches ten times the people.
Sources
- Fortune on TikTok: "Brands are getting Gen Z 100% wrong, according to @POPPI cofounder @Allison Ellsworth"
- ProFood World: "PepsiCo Makes $1.95 Billion Move to Acquire Poppi Soda"
- Never Always: "Nutter Butter's Unhinged TikTok: What $0 in Media Spend Teaches Us About Attention"
- VaynerMedia: "How MUG Root Beer Turned a Meme Into Marketing Magic"
- Marketing Dive: "PepsiCo's Mug brand finds Gen Z sweet spot: Fragrance, dogs and TikTok"
- Mediaweek: "Mountain Dew turns flavour launches into real-world treasure hunt"
Want your brand speaking Gen Z's language?
We build social programs that earn attention instead of interrupting it, then scale what works with paid social.
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