For the last few years, better-for-you soda brand Zevia has positioned itself as a “radically real” alternative to artificial sodas, often using its marketing to take shots at artificial intelligence — from Coca-Cola’s AI-driven ads to the buzzy tech’s growing presence in the business world. The brand earlier this year also called on consumers to detox from artificial sodas with a “Ztox” effort that deployed branded trash cans and a garbage truck in downtown Atlanta, the home of Coke.

The results, like its ingredients, are real: Zevia saw net sales grow 21.2% year over year to $46.1 million in Q1 2026, gains the company attributed to recent marketing efforts, along with new innovations and expanded distribution.

To support its growth, Zevia in March teamed with Cardi B, who joined the company as a shareholder and brand ambassador. Along with sponsoring the rap superstar’s “Little Miss Drama Tour,” the brand will feature Cardi B in a summer campaign set to include commercials, social content, retail displays, sampling and more. While the larger campaign is still to come, the partnership is already yielding dividends, with the announcement alone generating 152 million editorial impressions in its first week.

Zevia has doubled marketing spend as a percentage of revenue over the last two years, executives explained on a call discussing earnings. While the company spent 11.2% of net sales in Q1 2026 on marketing — down from 16.2% in the same period last year — the company plans to direct much of its marketing spend to Q3 to leverage the Cardi B campaign as well as new packaging and flavors.

Marketing Dive spoke with CMO Kirsten Suarez, who joined Zevia in 2023 after stints in marketing at Taco Bell and Procter & Gamble, about how the beverage fits into a crowded space, how it approaches competitive sparring and what to expect from the Cardi B partnership.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.  

MARKETING DIVE: Where was the brand when you joined nearly three years ago?

KIRSTEN SUAREZ: Zevia has been around a couple decades and had a pretty good product-market fit. It already had quite a number of stores and distribution, retail banners, e-commerce following, but I would say, it was not that developed of a brand. 

I think this product has lot of upsides that a lot of people don't know about yet. What is it about this product, and how can we construct a brand that can be a bit distinctive and differentiated from the category, and have that connect to what's true about the product? That's been a lot of the focus: getting to a brand strategy, getting a team in place and building the marketing ecosystem and flywheel. Some of the more recent work came as a result of those three priority areas. 

Where does Zevia fit in what has quickly become a crowded beverage space?

Our lead focus is definitely our soda. Zevia was really a pioneer in the space of stevia and using it in a beverage. How do we stack up versus the players? I would say we have the most simple ingredient statement, and we aren't using anything artificial. We do well in classic soda flavors that could have different names — things that people may have had a memory of, or something they used to like, but they no longer want to partake in certain ingredients — they can come to Zevia for that. 

We've also been innovating in some more modern, fruit-forward flavors. We find when we talk to consumers, a lot of them drink a variety of beverages for different jobs, but we find Zevia really is that treat that they can enjoy, that in some cases is replacing something else that they may have used to have a bit of a habit with. They can still get the flavor, but really feel good about it. 

How has Zevia worked to connect AI to artificial ingredients?

Soda is a category where culture matters. I've definitely worked on some brands with much bigger budgets that can buy their way and all the reach. The challenge can be more real for a brand that's trying to grow like ours. As we were working on the brand strategy of what's really true about our product, but also, what do we see happening in culture, is there a connection between those two things that strategically makes sense? 

It sometimes has us playing with AI, as less of a commentary on AI itself, and more of a commentary on artificial. What are the conversations that people are having, where we can intersect and perhaps bring something fun for them to consume and engage with? We've found that connection to work really well, where we can tap into something entertaining or engaging for people, but it also gives us an opportunity to then somewhat simply say, “This is what Zevia is about,” as we are seeking to build that understanding and those memory structures.

Speaking of your history at larger brands, what is the challenge and opportunity of being a smaller brand?

We do pride ourselves on being able to go faster and be leaner. What are all the things you don't have because you're smarter, but actually are your strengths? We try to really make sure that we can be efficient with approvals and everything. Our social team is creative and they have a lot of license. We prediscuss some things, but we're not going to run every post and idea through a series of approvals, because it's probably going to tamper the creativity, take too long and be late.

We're also in a learning culture. It's okay if everything doesn't work, and honestly, if everything works, we're probably not doing enough, trying enough, being creative enough. I always tell people what I love most about my job is also what's the hardest, but that's part of what makes it so fun for everyone working here. 

Zevia has taken some shots at your competitor in Atlanta. How are you approaching competitive sparring?

Here’s the thing: Don't do it just to do it. This is the conversation I've always had with the team. When the moment strikes and there's something really interesting and a reason that we would do something, that's when we talk about it. The enemy in our work is the idea of artificial or the idea of fake. But there are moments that we are acting as more of a challenger to the industry and the category, and it's because we thought people are going to like it and people are going to agree. If you look at the roots of our brand, it does have something to do with why we were founded, but it's like, let's not be having industry talk. What do people really care about? 

How did the partnership with Cardi B come about?

To have a partner who's really meaningful in culture could obviously help us from a business and a marketing perspective, but we really wanted to find someone who was willing to do a less traditional deal with us, one that would be longer term. We are in a deal for two years, not just, “Let's do an ad for a moment and have a production day together and call it at that.” 

From a brand fit perspective, we wanted someone who could align with us on being real, and we think there's no one else who could top her in that regard. From a social following… how much reach do we have in paid versus what can we generate by the culture caring and by their social following?

We are working on our campaign with her, as well as a series of content, and thinking about, how do we integrate into retail together? How do we think about product? We’re very excited because of her authenticity — I try to never use that word. It's such an overused word. But with the point we're making, and the long-term nature of the partnership — she does have equity, as well — we are both incented to grow Zevia together.