Eighteen months ago, Allison Ellsworth had a huge payday when Poppi, the prebiotic soda brand she founded with her husband, Stephen, was acquired by PepsiCo for $1.95 billion. Now she’s launched her next venture.
After weeks of teasing followers on social media, Ellsworth on November 9 unveiled Jetty—a line of sports and performance drinks and powders—at Target, Amazon, Whole Foods, and Sprouts Farmers Market.
With five flavors of ready-to-mix electrolyte powders and bottled beverages (watermelon, orange mango, fruit punch, black raspberry, and white cherry), Jetty is trying to carve out space in a crowded multibillion-dollar market by not specifically catering to athletes. Formulated without artificial colors, dyes, or sweeteners, each serving contains only 100 milligrams of sodium, compared with roughly 300 to 500 milligrams found in leading brands. Ellsworth aims to position it as a product for everyday wellness.
“When I say wellness, it’s not athletes. It’s like, hot girl, mom walk, and I just did a quick little Pilates this morning. That type of wellness is really important,” Ellsworth tells Fast Company. “It’s not for a marathon, not for a gym. It’s just yummy hydration. You can have hydration just for existing and have fun while doing it.”
Taking on giants—again
Like they did with Poppi, the Ellsworths are launching a new brand in a category already dominated by big names.
It’s a competitive field led by giants like Gatorade, which remains at the top with over $11 billion in annual sales, and Propel, according to a PepsiCo report. Powder mix Liquid I.V. is another athlete-targeted product that has grown quickly, with almost $1 billion in U.S. retail sales in 2025, according to data from Circana. Still, Ellsworth says hydration needed a rebrand.
“We didn’t create this because [I realized], ‘Oh, there’s this white space in the market,’” she says. “I was, like, I needed this in my life.”
But when she went to the Natural Products Expo West in California in March, she found that there was real demand for hydration products not geared toward athletes.
“Big hydration . . . is trying to make moves and take dyes out and update ingredients,” Ellsworth says. “But it doesn’t change the fact that the branding is still for a sports drink.”
That framing, she says, could be another multibillion-dollar opportunity. “I took on soda, the biggest category before. Why can’t I do that with hydration? It doesn’t scare me.”
No, really—what is Jetty?
Going up against established brands also means competing with large marketing operations. For example, Liquid I.V. recently hired former PepsiCo CMO Jenny Danzi to spearhead its cultural impact as it ramps up its presence at music festivals like Lollapalooza and the Governors Ball.
Ellsworth says Jetty is focused on gaining recognition among younger consumers—and to do that, she’s borrowing from a playbook she built while growing Poppi. The rollout has been focused on leveraging the relatability of micro-influencers, rather than relying on celebrity star power.
“I think what a lot of people get really caught up on when working with talent, especially in the early stages, is that you really do want to work with creators and influencers and not celebrities,” Ellsworth says. In Poppi’s early days, she notes, Jennifer Lopez shared photos online.
Ahead of launch, Jetty used Ellsworth’s substantial social media following and relied on creators to help cultivate an air of mystery about what the brand was. In the weeks leading up to the release, the company posted hints on its Instagram page, keeping consumers on their toes about what the new product could be.
The page features a “j-card,” offering VIP perks like first access to new product drops, insider-only information, and colorful jelly bites with “Jetty” on them. Jetty also posted a social video with branded lip gloss, face mist, and a gua sha tool. It all hinted at wellness, but kept the ultimate product a mystery until launch.
It’s a serious strategy for a serious brand builder. For Ellsworth, “it’s fun to be at it again and building,” she says.