Into the Rabbit Hole w/ Liquid Death
- Umang Srivastava
- May 14, 2024
- 5 min read
Branding is a lot about standing out from the clutter or in the words of all brand managers ‘being disruptive’ and in a world where ‘being disruptive’ has become a buzzword we ought to question, what truly is disruptive. We dive into the rabbit hole w/ Liquid Death, a truly disruptive water brand being built by Mike Creciro, its origin story, and how they are inspiring brand-builders across the world.
Brand Origin Story
The idea originated at the Vans Warped Tour in Denver Colorado in 2009 where Monster being the sponsor of many bands had stacked the backstage with Monster cans but filled with water because that is what the artist preferred over energy drinks all the time.
“I remember thinking that was kind of messed up. I'm like, man, that's so sort of sneaky. But at the same time, it started making me think about why aren't there more healthy products that still have funny, cool, irreverent branding. Because most of the funniest, memorable, irreverent branding marketing is all for junk food. BudLight, Dos Equis, Snickers, Doritos, RedBull. And that was, I think, planted the early seed of probably what ultimately ended up becoming Liquid Death.”
Mike, a graphic designer, continued working in advertising agencies through the next decade, while the idea of an ‘irreverent canned water brand’ simmered in the back of his head. In 2017, he finally decided to partner up with J.R. Riggins, bartender Pat Cook, and artist Will Carsola and give this idea a run - by launching it on social media without a single can in production! They created a promotional video using a 3D-printed can on a shoestring budget of 1500 USD and boosted it with another 600 USD. The response was staggering, the video had gone viral racking up almost 3 million views. They had messages from distributors and 7-Eleven owners eager to stock the product. The approach is similar to developing a minimum viable product, the product here being the brand itself.
Value Propositions
This initial testing of water on social media was a clear indicator that they were on to something. They got backed by LA incubator & fund Science Inc. (who had also backed Dollar Shave Club) and finally got into developing the product a healthy hydration alternative for partiers. The tall can & the brand as shown in that mock ad were designed to ‘fit’ more with the cooler beer/energy drink brands instead of the Aquafinas or Evians of the world. “Death to plastics” was one of the brand ethos from the very beginning, the big reason why they chose to can the water instead of putting it into a plastic bottle, even for the mock ad. They found an Austrian supplier just by searching on Google, who was willing to can the water.
Their brand tagline is “Murder your Thirst”, and every can of theirs is alegit thirst quencer, they started with selling Mountain Water and now their product portfolio contains - flavored water, sparkling water, and iced teas. Their manifesto as mentioned on their website is - ‘We’re just a funny beverage company who hates corporate marketing as much as you do. Our evil mission is to make people laugh and get more of them to drink more healthy beverages more often, all while helping to kill plastic pollution.’
Liquid Death is not the first beverage company to create brand loyalty through entertainment, Red Bull and Monster have done it with extreme sports, Liquid Death uses comedy and they have maintained that their bar for entertainment is not other funny commercials but rather an animation show or a stand-up show on Netflix.
Authenticity as Disruption
It's very easy for all of this to sound like a gimmick but from Mike’s perspective, everything is a gimmick. Red Bull, a caffeinated soda brand sponsoring extreme sports & athletes is a gimmick, and Budweiser sponsoring the FIFA World Cup is a gimmick. Marketing has always been about tying the aspiration lifestyle to its product. Isn’t it refreshing to see a brand completely dismiss the corporate doublespeak language and actually invest in a brand story that’s unapologetic and real? Interestingly, these challenger brands today are disrupting that age-old corporate model by integrating authenticity into the product and the brand itself, that’s the reason why Liquid Death’s communication feels authentic, disruptive, and effortless, all at the same time. As Mike puts it ‘the marketing has been baked into the product’. Challengers brands are usually made by industry outsiders and on Liquid Death, Mike partnered with the current COO J.R. Riggins, bartender Pat Cook, and animation artist, Will Carsola to start this venture, none of them had any experience in building a beverage brand. Mike's agency experience and Will’s experience in creating shows for Adult Swim have been the driving force for the insane marketing that the brand is now synonymous with. They put out a metal album called the “Greatest Hates” which turned internet hate comments into metal lyrics; when the internet throws lemons at you turn them into severed lime sparkling water.
Their '22 Super Bowl commercial depicted a group of kids partying wildly with cans of Liquid Death water, with the cover of Judas Priest's "Breaking The Law," as the background score, suggesting the kids were partying with something more illicit than water and ending with a simple "Don't be scared. It's just water".
The punk & counter-culture nature of the brand was also seen in the ad launching their range of iced teas dubbed as "Your Grandma's Energy Drink'. Directed by Jeff Tremaine of Jackass fame featured a Death Metal playing band of elderly women. We can call this brand language as signature Liquid Death now.
Their mascot Murder Man is unlike any other brand mascot we have ever seen, it’s meta and unlike other mascots, it’s super-entertaining. They recently even came out with a fake trailer for an animated TV show - “The Adventures of Murder Man” showing its origin story under the hand of Liquid Death CEO! That’s a meta-brand universe that I wouldn’t mind jumping into.
Takeaway Triple Pointer
Branding for healthy consumer products doesn’t have to be boring and sappy. Be authentic & disruptive, and build a brand story that creates ‘fans’ for your brand.
“Bake the marketing into the product”. Branding and marketing strategy needs to be developed along with the product itself and shouldn’t be a retrofit.
Brand MVP by creating speculative ads and using social media for distribution is a prudent strategy for challenger brands to test the initial enthusiasm within your target customers without investing heavily in product development or manufacturing.
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