For the past year, for the first time in Dr Pepper’s 140-year history, the brand has been the second-most-popular soda in America. As of October 2025, it commanded a 12.2% volume share of soft-drink sales, per Circana. It has held onto second place largely by appealing to Gen Z—launching flavors conducive to the growing “dirty soda” trend—and expanding its college football sponsorships.

With its limited-edition Dr Pepper Creamy Coconut, the brand capitalized on the TikTok trend of people making dirty soda with Dr Pepper by mixing it with cream and flavored syrups. The coconut-flavored soda—introduced in summer 2024 and resurrected in summer 2025—is Dr Pepper’s most successful limited-time variety to date. The flavor, and buzz from dirty soda’s prominence in Hulu’s popular show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, helped Dr Pepper amass 12 million likes and nearly 2 million followers on TikTok.

Dr Pepper CMO Drew Panayiotou says the coup was part brand awareness, part carbonated kismet. “Who knew dirty soda would become this thing?” he says. “When people start using your product and creating other things, that’s amazing.”

On the football front, through an expanded partnership with Disney announced in August, the two companies are bringing together their proprietary data on beverage consumption and college football viewership to create thousands of ads tailored to regional flavor trends. “We’ve now taken that fan data and used it to personalize our advertising,” Panayiotou says, “to make it more relevant to people based on how they fan.” 

This story is part of Fast Company’s 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brand’s purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.