5 marketing lessons from Liquid Death’s VP of creative

Canned water and tea brand Liquid Death has developed its identity around bizarre and sometimes shocking marketing. The team behind its quick and viral campaigns is lean. Andy Pearson, VP of creative for Liquid Death, leads its mostly in-house productions and sees the brand’s unusual marketing as a TV character. “We always say we hate marketing as much as everybody else,” said Pearson, speaking at Ad Age’s Business of Brands conference in New York last week. “We always put entertainment over marketing.” See all of the Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards winners here The cure for Liquid Death’s ad allergy lies in the question “What would Liquid Death do?” The answer is found by thinking of marketing as an episodic series of spots and merch drops that have drummed up a culture worthy of primetime, with Pearson as Liquid Death’s showrunner. Also read: 3 marketing lessons from brands on the rise As marketers endeavor to compete with the barrage of attention grabs aimed at consumers, Pearson’s advice for standing out is to develop a brand’s character, make disposable content, interact with consumers, know the competition and not to overthink. 1. Develop the brand’s character All brand marketers want to describe themselves as nimble, and to respond to culture in real time. The results can vary, with ill attempts often concerning a post, spot or campaign being deemed inauthentic to the brand. Pearson likens Liquid Death’s process for creative ideation to a writers’ room for Hulu’s “The Bear” or NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” in which it can develop marketing that is culturally responsive, fast and cost-efficient without losing the brand’s identity. The goal is for consumers to think of Liquid Death as an entertainer rather than just a product, and for Pearson’s marketing to periodically pop up and be the best thing a social scroller sees all day. The creative said he doesn’t view Liquid Death’s marketing as risky, but that the real risk is being bland. The approach is easier, said Pearson, saving Liquid Death’s marketing team from being lost in what he called the “creative wilderness” when planning the brand’s next move. Recent Liquid Death marketing: Steve-O voodoo dolls In developing the character of Liquid Death, Pearson has also defined the limits of what it can and can’t do. “We’re not reckless in the [marketing] that we do; we’re very confident in the creative we put out,” said Pearson. A few items on the list of things Liquid Death will never do, according to Pearson, are to be mean or cruel in its marketing or to show guns. “We have guidelines—there’re third rails we don’t touch and places we don’t go,” said Pearson. “There’s things we know we won’t talk about or do, and as long as we’re confident in those things, that gives us a lot of freedom to do whatever we want.” 2. Make disposable content “We look at our content as very disposable,” said Person. “We want to make content that is quick and fast and easy and lets you move on with your life after you enjoy it.” Not being precious about its advertising allows Liquid Death to do two things: save money and learn faster. For Pearson, it’s about allocating as much budget as possible to production and content, so big media buys aren’t typical for Liquid Death. The money that would have gone to paid media is instead spent on creating timely marketing and releasing it on owned channels. This also helps train consumers to interact with the brand as they would their favorite show or influencer who appears in their feeds or YouTube subscriptions rather than a disruptive ad break. In addition to reducing spending, the fast and frequent approach to content keeps Liquid Death in the cycle of learning about its consumers. Rather than extensive pre-testing, Pearson said the brand’s marketing team learns live. “We use data to inform the next thing, not the thing we’re making,” said Pearson. And if a campaign falls short of expectations, “they’re big swings, but minimal investments,” he said. One example was the launch of Liquid Death’s first line of flavored waters last June. Pearson said the brand had wanted the launch to be splashy, which they originally equated to higher investment. Pearson and the team sat to discuss an agency RFP, but within 15 minutes had come up with the taste test idea instead. 3. Interact with consumers Much of Pearson’s advice revolved around engaging consumers directly. Many brands create branded entertainment and merch lines to appear as destinations alongside consumers’ favorite shows and celebrities, and Liquid Death has found much success in building fandom around its non-water drops and fan interactions. The brand frequently centers social users’ comments in its marketing (often those that are negative), pulling its following into the Liquid Death universe. One campaign created full, streamable albums based on its harshest critiques. More: A Liquid Death taste test inspired by a brand hater Oftentimes, its merch drops involve celebrity collaborations. Liquid Death has teamed with notable figures such as Tony Hawk, Martha Stewart and Travis Barker to create collectible items. “[Collectibles] allow us to paint with a different palette than other entertainment brands, because we’re a real brand that you can walk into Whole Foods or 7-Eleven and pick it up off the shelf,” said Pearson. “We have all these different levers we can pull that other entertainment brands can’t.” Pearson compared Liquid Death to “Saturday Night Live” in that it can be an outlet to allow celebrity spokespeople to try something new or kooky that they wouldn’t on their own platforms, and then Liquid Death will actually deliver on producing merch, unlike parody commercials on “SNL.” The creative pointed to his partnership with Martha Stewart, who starred in a comically violent ad to create candles out of severed hands. While Pearson mentioned that at least one celebrity has been scared off by one of his ideas, Stewart was game for the ad because she saw the value in Liquid Death’s sustainability mission and was willing to play. 4. Know your competition Critical to marketers’ success is knowing their competition, which Pearson said isn’t other brands. Rather than competing to stand out against the other spots in a commercial break, Liquid Death considers larger attention threats to be every post on every social feed, whether that’s an influencer’s TikTok video or a high school friend’s Facebook post. “When you think about it that way, it forces you to make your marketing differently,” said Pearson, reiterating that Liquid Death strives to be an entertainer over a marketer. See all of Ad Age’s Breakout Brand Leaders here 5. Don’t overthink Perhaps most importantly, Pearson said marketers shouldn’t overthink it all. And that goes both for marketing and for agencies looking to pitch Liquid Death. “There’s so much pomp and circumstance in the agency world to bring work to people,” said Pearson, who prefers agencies skip elaborate pitch decks in favor of a Google Doc with a list of ideas. Despite the request, Pearson said few agencies heed his advice—and don’t get his attention as a result. “Don’t spend time burning people out on stuff that doesn’t matter and no one on either side really wants to do, but we’re doing by rote,” advised Pearson. “We don’t take time to appreciate there’s usually a better way to do things.”

5 marketing lessons from Liquid Death’s VP of creative

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