How Liquid Death disrupted one of the most boring categories in the world

Liquid Death wears a lot of hats. It’s the unofficial bad boy of the water industry, the only water brand that successfully sells t-shirts, and (probably) the only one that was inspired by Vans Warped Tour. The brand completely disrupted its industry and has seen a meteoric rise to success. But how exactly did they pull it off?

This week, Case Studied explores how Liquid Death made water cool with highly specific marketing, branding, and good ol’ fashioned entertainment.

The Brief:

As important as water is, it’s not a particularly exciting or sexy industry. Most of the marketing looks the same across brands, which leaves a whole lot of room for disruption. 

Having come from an advertising background, Liquid Death CEO, Mike Cessario, brought a clear, strategic vision for what the brand’s marketing and branding would look like.

“We’re an entertainment company first,” Cessario said. “We don’t want to make marketing. We want to make people laugh. And we want to be the funniest thing in someone’s feed for the day. That’s our goal.”

We don’t have official numbers on this, but it seems like, for the most part, Liquid Death reached this goal.

The Execution:

Cessario launched his brand in 2019 on Facebook, before they even had a product. They shot a $1,500 commercial to see how people would react to the brand in a low-cost way. Within 4 months, it had 3 million views and the brand’s Facebook page had 80,000 followers. 

That commercial was followed by an ongoing string of PR stunts. The list includes:

• 🧙 hiring a real witch to make sure they’d win their Super Bowl bet 

• ⚡ flying in two of their internet haters in for a blind (literal) taze test

• ♻️ having an adult film star promote their sustainability efforts 

• 🏈 a Super Bowl commercial showing kids absolutely raging at a party with Liquid Death

Among their many executions, Liquid Death has had two agency partners. One was Humanaut, where Cessario previously worked and contributed to the award-winning “Save the Bros” video. 

Humanaut was asked to introduce Tony Hawk as Liquid Death’s new ambassador. They created a video showing the former pro skateboarder announcing he unknowingly gave the brand the rights to his soul and his blood by agreeing to the partnership. 

As Hawk explains this, someone takes a vial of his blood, mixes it with red paint, and paints skateboards. He says the brand is making 100 limited edition skateboards that were being sold on Liquid Death’s site for $500 each. And part of the proceeds were going towards “killing plastic pollution and to building skateparks in underserved communities.”

In a seemingly organic stroke of luck, Lil Nas X responded to the promotion with a social post that said, “Nah he tweakin.” That simple phrase went viral, with memes popping up everywhere, to the point where media outlets made explainer articles about the phrase. The viral post eventually led to the campaign’s finale—a collaboration video between Tony Hawk and Lil Nas X. 

The other agency was Party Land, which facilitated a partnership between Netflix and Liquid Death. The streaming platform was interested in collaborating to promote Zach Snyder’s new zombie heist film, Army of the Dead. 

To do it, they made a real, 30-minute infomercial that aired in full on TV and streamed on social media. Later, they did a takeover in Las Vegas, where the film is set, that included billboards and OOH activations where the actual product was distributed.  

The Results:

For Humanaut’s part, the blood skateboards sold out in less than 20 minutes. And the campaign did something nearly every agency wants their work to do: go viral (and in a positive way). 

As for Party Land, a whopping 16% of viewers who were served the No Brainer infomercial watched the entire 30 minutes—which speaks directly to Cessario’s goal of being an entertainment company. 

As for Liquid Death, the company’s revenue grew from $45 million in 2021 to $130 million in 2022 to an estimated $260 million in 2023. The brand has a $700 million valuation and many are speculating about a potential IPO in the coming year(s). 

At least 240 fans have gotten tattoos of the brand’s logo, and Cessario got one of a random customer’s face for setting the “world record in Thirst Murder.” 

There’s no doubt that Liquid Death stands out among the water aisle crowd. But it isn’t successful just because it’s unique.

Cessario pointed out that there was a carefully planned, long-term execution strategy for what the brand would be and how he wanted it to be perceived. 

“A lot of people think you just get these genius ideas when you’re in the shower one day,” Cessario said. “I’m like, ‘No. It was a piece of wood that I chopped away at for a year or two until I finally figured out what it should be and had all the details figured out and thought through. It was meticulous.”

The Takeaways:

We get it: not everyone has the marketing budget for a collectible enema kit or 10-minute workout video.

So instead, here are some takeaways from Liquid Death that are actually actionable:

1. Marketing is entertainment

As Liquid Death has shown us, modern brands are just as much media companies as manufacturers. To standout and maximize the potential reach of social media channels and noisy world of marketing, brands need to think of their brands as entertainment.

Investments into content production, social media and storytelling are all ways brands can start to shine a different light on their brand.

2. Start with an MVP

Most teams want perfection when bringing a new product or campaign to market, but Liquid Death’s $1,500 commercial prior to launching the brand is a great example of how entrepreneurs and teams can validate ideas with limited budgets.

Want to innovate but don’t have a huge amount to spend? Consider scrappy ways to test your idea in the market like running a few Instagram ads to a signup landing page.

3. Innovation knows no bounds

The most incredible part of the Liquid Death brand is that they are selling water. The world’s most commoditized product with a total addressable market of every human being.

Some people would look at that and assume there is no room for disruption, but what Liquid Death has shown is that people love great marketing and will support brands that make great products and produce amazing work.

Death to your agency search: Finding an agency partner doesn’t have to be a time-consuming headache. Vendry will match you with vetted agencies that align with your criteria. And they do it all within 7 days or less, for free.