In the staid world of bottled water, former Vayner Media and Netflix Creative Director Mike Cessario spotted an opportunity for disruption hiding in plain sight. What if you took the world’s most boring product – bottled water – and gave it a rebellious makeover, infusing it with a punk rock attitude and marketing it to thrill-seeking outsiders instead of health-conscious yuppies? That crazy idea became Liquid Death, the canned water brand with a taste for controversy and a middle finger raised to convention. In just under four short years, the brand is on track for an IPO powered by Goldman Sachs with a US$700M valuation. They have received US$200M in Venture Capital and their investors include Powerplant Ventures and Live Nation.
Liquid Death burst onto the scene in 2019 with a manifesto: water naturally kills innocent souls each day, enjoying water can be metal, and bottled water is the lamest thing in existence. They packaged their water in tallboy aluminum cans just like beer, slapped on black and white skull and crossbones logos, and set about shocking and offending sensibilities through shock marketing on social media. In this post we analyse what really makes Liquid Death tick.
The Liquid Death Target Market/Archetype
Liquid Death has a special customer in mind: The young rebellious man who might have previously only drunk water at the gym. In an interview with Business Insider, Liquid Death’s founder explained the brand’s appeal to the metal and punk rock community: “If you think about it, it makes sense, everything metal and punk is extreme. Being vegan is extreme, protesting deforestation is extreme. There are more vegans at a heavy metal show than a Taylor Swift show.” As a business owner having a clearly defined target market is of key importance.
The Liquid Death Cult
A cult refers to a group of people who are intensely devoted to a particular brand, celebrity, or product. In this context, the term is often used to describe groups of fans who have a deep emotional attachment to the object of their devotion and are willing to go to great lengths to support it. One of the key ways Liquid Death has created a cult-like following is through their engagement with their audience. They’ve created a strong presence on social media, often sharing user-generated content from fans who proudly display their Liquid Death cans. They’ve also hosted events and collaborations (sponsoring punk and heavy metal shows) with other brands in their niche, further solidifying their place in the community.
The Von Restorff Effect
The Von Restorff Effect is a psychological phenomenon that describes how our brains tend to remember things that stand out from their surroundings. The basic idea is that when we encounter a group of similar things, we are more likely to remember the one thing that is different or distinctive in some way. This could be something like a bright color, an unusual shape, or a unique sound. Simply put, we are drawn to the unusual. The water category doesn’t get more unusual than Liquid Death.
The Power of Branding and Marketing
Sometimes we waste our time trying to reinvent the wheel trying to find minor points of differences. Yogurts made with “new and improved” sweeteners that tasted pretty similar to the old ones. Pasta sauces with vegetables that were, at best, marginally chunkier or less chunky. And dishwashing liquids in bottles with supposed revolutionary cap designs that functioned the same as before. Liquid Death didn’t waste their time with any of that bull, they just played to their founder Mike Cessario’s strength in branding and marketing. Turns out you can take an existing product, change nothing about it, market it in a different way and win!
You can watch some of Liquid Death’s Commercials here.
Source: Smart Company
