For the Wellness Briefing, Glossy sat down with Boka’s Kinsey Butler and Olipop’s Steven Vigilante to learn about the evocative new partnership between the two powerhouse brands, which will be sold through endcap placement at Walmart and Target this holiday season. Additionally, Google drops a new health wearable, L’Oréal-owned Maybelline invests in World Mental Health Day, and a new oral care leader takes on $25 million in Series A funding.
Food partnerships hit a fever pitch with Olipop-flavored Boka toothpaste for the holidays
This season’s tidal wave of food partnerships is only getting stronger as we approach the holidays. Earlier this month, Glossy reported on a rush of CPG and food collaborations including Tower28 and Jell-O, Mane and Cinnebon, Goodwipes and Liquid Death, Too Faced and Yogurtland, Swarovski and Nespresso, Malin+Goetz and Carbone, and Logitech and La La Land, among many others.
Now, 10-year-old oral care darling Boka has partnered with better-for-you soda brand Olipop on a limited-edition product collaboration rooted in Olipop’s just-released holiday flavor, Pomegranate Sparkle. The collab includes a limited-edition Boka toothpaste in the same flavor sold alongside the soda in Walmart and Target endcaps starting Tuesday and running through the holidays.
Upon first glance, a soda-flavored toothpaste — which has never been attempted as far as Glossy can tell — is evocative, bordering on provocative. That’s because dentists frequently tell patients to avoid soda, especially right before or after brushing, since soda often has sugar and can be acidic.
“[We anticipate consumers saying], ‘Can you believe that a soda brand and a toothpaste brand are collaborating together?’ That’s scroll-stopping, and so we’re gonna play into it,” Kinsey Butler, Boka’s senior director of brand, told Glossy. “We want to use that as a moment of, ‘Huh!? I didn’t think that would ever happen!’”
In a lot of ways, all of the food and CPG partnerships launching now are designed for awareness over sales, rooted in the deep desire to “stop the scroll.”
“You want people to have an opinion,” Steven Vigilante, founding Olipop exec and current director of media and partnerships, told Glossy. “If [this collab with Boka] just goes out in the world, [and consumers think], ‘That’s stupid,’ and it’s ignored? That’s the worst-case scenario. So I’m OK with a little bit of pushback. … I’d file this in the ‘no such thing as bad PR’ bucket.”
Of course, on closer inspection, Boka and Olipop share a laundry list of similarities that they’ll leverage in their marketing and education campaign. For example, Boka focuses on the oral microbiome, while Olipop differentiates itself with gut-friendly ingredients. “Ollipop is not Coca-Cola; they’ve created a better-for-you, low-sugar, high-fiber soda,” Boka’s Butler told Glossy. “And Boka has always stood for the idea that what you’re doing should be enjoyable, and that we want everything to be in balance. It’s OK to drink some soda, [just] make sure that you’re also brushing your teeth, right?”
Walmart and Target will sell the soda and toothpaste individually through endcap displays, where consumers can buy the $11.89 Pomegranate Sparkle toothpaste alongside the drink. It also marks Boka’s foray into TikTok Shop, which kicks off October 14. Both the soda and toothpaste are limited-edition and will be available until November 27 at Walmart and December 20 at Target.
In terms of volume, Boka’s team made 200,000 items, including full- and stocking-stuffer-sized toothpastes, plus a classic mint and Pomegranate Sparkle toothpaste duo pack.
This isn’t the first time that Boka has leaned into an evocative pairing. “We’ve done activations [in the past] at Expo West where we created a candy shop [using] candies [made from] all of the different flavors of Boka products,” Butler said. “Typically, you don’t see candy and toothpaste going together, but we’re trying to show this idea that, as long as you take care of your teeth by using a product like Boka, and you’re supporting your oral microbiome [and] enamel, it’s OK to enjoy the foods and beverages you like.”
Boka launched in 2016 and was acquired by Essor Group (formerly Heyday) in 2024. Essor is a digitally native CPG company that accelerates disruptor brands like ZitSticka acne patches, Puracy cleaning products and FreshCap mushroom supplements, among others. The company is backed by VC firms like Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst and BlackRock.
As reported by Glossy in August, Boka has used a beauty marketing playbook and novel ingredients to become the No. 1 toothpaste on Amazon by sales, according to the company. The brand entered Target and Walmart in 2025, driving 481% year-over-year retail growth that year.
For Olipop’s part, collaborations have been a dynamic part of its growth strategy. For example, the independently held, 8-year-old soda maker has partnered with beauty brand CocoKind on lip gloss, with entertainment brands like “Barbie” and “SpongeBob SquarePants” on exclusive flavors, and with food and supplement makers like Fruit Riot and Grüns.
Vigilante told Glossy that Olipop has two primary partnerships coming out in 2027 — one with a wellness company and another with a legacy food company. “I’ve been pitched everything under the sun,” he said. “A theme for us going into next year [around collaborations is] fewer, bigger, better.”
News to know:
- L’Oréal-owned Maybelline New York launched a campaign on Thursday tied to World Mental Health Day. The brand’s global mental health program, called Brave Together, has helped more than 4 million people access free one-to-one support worldwide, according to the company. “We are broadening the mental health conversation to recognize the essential role of connection and the people who help us through life’s most difficult moments,” Yasmin Dastmalchi, president at Maybelline and Essie USA, said in a statement. “Our goal is to turn awareness into action by encouraging more open conversations, reducing stigma and helping people connect with support when they need it.”
- Could membership-based preventative dental care be the future of oral health? Wally, a NYC-based chain of oral care clinics offering unlimited access to cleanings and diagnostics for $249 per year, has raised $25 million to scale. Maveron led the funding round, with additional investment from Bling Capital and angel investor Jack Abraham, co-founder of Hims. Wally plans to expand from 15 to 100 locations over the next year.
- There’s a new health tracker in town. Google announced its new Fitbit Edge on Monday, a thin wrist tracker with a battery that lasts a week on one charge, according to the company. The new tracker watch starts at $179.
- Gymshark, the fitness apparel and accessory company owned by CEO and founder Ben Francis, has hired Megan Thee Stallion as its first celebrity ambassador in a multi-year partnership. “We’ve always believed the gym is where women build themselves twice over: their bodies, and their minds,” Carly Natalizia, chief commercial officer at Gymshark, said in a statement. “Megan embodies that better than almost anyone we could imagine: she is unapologetic, she trains to get stronger, to clear her mind, and to keep growing. That’s exactly the story we’ve built this brand around.”
Stat of the week:
American consumers are mentally and physically exhausted, according to a September study released by the Centers for Disease Control. According to its 2024 National Health Interview Survey, 71.5% of adults reported experiencing fatigue at least some days in the prior three months. In this context, fatigue is defined as physical or mental tiredness or exhaustion that does not improve with additional sleep or rest. Women were more impacted than men: 20% versus 13%. Among adults with frequent fatigue, 29% reported limitations in social activities, and 36% reported limitations at work.
In the headlines:
Sports betting sparks public health debate [Fitt Insider]. The menopause workplace policies that will actually benefit women [Women’s Health]. For some women, weight loss drugs are a secret they keep from their partners [Self]. A new study links TikTok beauty routines to these inflammatory skin conditions [Allure]. Can wearables really track blood pressure without the cuff? I tested them. [WSJ]. The stress hormone (not cortisol) driving cellular aging and how to keep it in check [SuperAge]. David Beckham’s IM8 signs NBA nutrition partnerships [ATN]. Welcome to Creator University: Inside the colleges building creator economy programs [Digiday]. ‘ACOTAR’ is the latest franchise that brands are clamoring to collaborate with [Modern Retail]. At 61, DonnaJean Wilde can plank for 5 hours. Here’s her secret [Vogue].
Listen in:
What if new product development didn’t have to be so complicated and expensive? NIOD, the second brand from Estée Lauder-owned Deciem, entered Sephora in August with an NPD tactic borrowed from tech companies like Apple. Amy Bi, vp of global brand at Deciem, sat down with Glossy Beauty Podcast host Lexy Lebsack to walk through the benefits, the challenges and the advantages of an iterative approach to new product development.
Need a Glossy recap?
Beauty Briefing: How far can Y2K nostalgia go? Fashion Briefing: How 3 fashion brands crossed $100 million in revenue without outside investment. How to use IRL events to build community against a ‘sea of sameness’ online. Universal Standard’s x Abisola collab makes a business case for size inclusion amid the GLP-1 boom. Pop Newsletter: College-age creators are embracing Amazon and ShopMy, moving away from Shein and malls. ‘There’s nothing wrong with being a heritage brand’: How Revlon is updating its image by looking to the past.
