How Liquid Death is becoming more than a water brand, with edgy marketing that entertains

All Liquid Death sells is water—but the brand’s tallboys emblazoned with dripping skulls, calligraphy and flavors such as “mango chainsaw” generate as much buzz as alcohol brands, if not more. See all of Ad Age's 2022 Marketers of the Year here. The edgy marketing and packaging and smart social media strategy are fueling stellar sales for the canned water brand. Revenue jumped from $45 million last year to $130 million this year and is expected to double by 2023, according to a brand spokesperson. This growth is the result of an emphasis on entertainment, largely through organic social posts, said VP of Marketing Greg Fass. He is a former competitive snowboarder who developed a keen skepticism toward corporate brands hoping to cash in on his lifestyle. “When we talk about the success (of a campaign), we talk about wanting to be the best thing you saw on the internet that day,” Fass said. “We’re trying to make stuff that’s genuinely funny, not just advertising funny.” This mindset means that "we have to think much bigger than just water" when it comes to considering competitors and their content, he said. Fass, who was named one of Ad Age’s 40 Under 40 recipients in September, has said the brand actually hates marketing. That skepticism, fueled by a distrust of traditional corporate ad techniques, has pushed Liquid Death into boundary-stretching creative unlike anything the beverage category has seen. The brand has capitalized on shock value in its advertising, most recently putting out a video that shows it tasing its haters as punishment for giving incorrect answers in a blind taste test. In other gory campaigns, the brand partnered with Martha Stewart to produce black unscented candles in the shape of a Liquid Death tallboy in the grip of a severed hand and released skateboards with professional skateboarder Tony Hawk’s blood mixed into the paint that sold for $500. Its content has also included long-form videos such as a horror film—“Dead Till Death”—in July 2021, and a 10-minute workout video with comedian Bert Kreischer this past July. For the Super Bowl, Liquid Death won attention without buying a national in-game ad via a stunt that fed into its underdog ethos. It sent a witch to the SoFi stadium in an attempt to help the underdog Cincinnati Bengals by casting spells during the game. Liquid Death bet $50,000 on the Bengals, pledging to send winnings to fight plastic pollution.Related: Kids chug tallboys in Liquid Death regional Super Bowl ad While it lost that bet, the brand keeps winning plenty of free media attention. Bon Appetit has praised it as “Gen Z’s La Croix,” referencing the pioneering sparkling water brand favored by older generations. Liquid Death's popularity with younger demographics is reflected in the brand’s internal data: 59% of its consumers are between the ages of 18 and 35, while 25% are members of Gen Z, according to a brand spokesperson. On social media, half of its TikTok audience is aged 18 to 24, while another 30% are 25 to 34, and 64% of its Instagram followers are aged 18 to 34, said the spokesperson. Liquid Death doesn’t have an agency of record and has worked with agencies including Humanaut and Party Land, while relying on in-house work the majority of the time. Liquid Death is still small compared with canned and bottled water giants such as Coke-owned Dasani and PepsiCo's Aquafina—both of which exceeded $1 billion in annual sales at grocery and convenience stores and other traditional retail outlets, according to trade publication Beverage Digest. Liquid Death has a 0.2 market share point in still water and 1 share point in sparkling water, by dollars, according to Beverage Digest. But Liquid Death is making moves to expand, including moving into the flavored sparkling water category with its introduction last January of flavors such as Severed Lime and Berry It Alive, along with Mango Chainsaw. While small, Liquid Death's revenue momentum is “an enviable growth rate for a startup brand,” said Duane Stanford, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest. By tapping into the question of “why can’t canned water be as cool as beer” and being consistent with this message in its marketing, the brand is avoiding just being a fad, he said. Liquid Death also embraces sustainability because its packaging doesn't use plastic. But the brand has avoided overtly plugging that benefit, said Andy Pearson, VP of creative. Instead, it relies on how sustainability “is ingrained in the product itself” with metal instead of plastic packaging, said Pearson. “We’re trying to compete with the cool factor of these unhealthy brands” such as energy drinks or beer, said Pearson. “Brands that have had a health focus or sustainability focus have lost out to” these competitors in the past, he said. See all of Ad Age's 2022 Marketers of the Year here. ~ ~ ~CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this story did not include all of Liquid Death's Super Bowl-related marketing.

How Liquid Death is becoming more than a water brand, with edgy marketing that entertains

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