Minions x Olipop

Imagine you’re a parent looking for a fun drink to serve at your kid’s birthday party. You’re scouring the beverage aisles, shuddering at the thought of buying regular soda, which has over 40 grams of tantrum-inducing sugar per can. 

You spot the sparkling water. It’s clearly the healthier option, but you can’t afford to be seen as the lame parent.

Suddenly, an adorable minion appears in your peripheral vision. It’s banana cream soda, which is arguably the ideal kid’s flavor, and it only has 4 grams of sugar per can. Parenting win.

The Minions x Olipop collaboration is brilliant because it appeals to kids and adults alike. While the banana cream flavor is a youthful departure from their more mature flavors like ginger lemon and vintage cola, it makes perfect sense because the minion looks like a banana. The cheeky mischief we associate with Minions makes the soda seem like an indulgent treat, but it’s actually healthy. 

As Olipop’s first collab, this yellow icon marks a coming of age for the brand itself. Collaborations have become such a crucial part of a brand’s growth and marketing strategy that doing your first is a sign you’ve made it. And for a small soda brand, having Universal Pictures as a first partner is shockingly impressive.  

Apparently we weren’t the only ones who were taken by surprise. Leaders at Olipop also froze when a member of the famous entertainment company cold-emailed them via LinkedIn—they thought it was spam! 

We’re glad it wasn’t spam. 

The collaboration has arrived just in time for summer and Minion’s upcoming sequel, Rise of the Grew. Nothing screams summer like a fun movie and a cold can of soda, and the brands took advantage of that by creating an advertisement that’s almost as entertaining as a movie preview. 

Heck, the minions are so cute, you might buy the soda based solely on the commercial. It’s a diabolical strategy, indeed.