Liquid Death is the latest packaged water product to hit the beverage market. While it might not be my cup of tea (water?), the marketing campaign is doing exactly what the textbooks suggest. They are finding the right niche and reaching out to them the right way. Most noteworthy, this means with a message, offer and creative that is specifically targeted to them.
In the case of Liquid Death, the drink is the brainchild of CEO Mike Cessario, a former creative director at Netflix. Mike is also a drummer in bands including Twitching Tongues, Forced Order, Disgrace, and Creatures. Mike said that he was inspired by his straight-edge friends and their love to take things to the extreme. “If you think about it, it makes sense, everything metal and punk is extreme,” Cessario told Business Insider . “Being vegan is extreme, protesting deforestation is extreme. also, there are more vegans at a heavy metal show than a Taylor Swift show. Therefore, we are by far the most sustainable option for packaged water. This is a big driver for why people want to buy from us.”
Target Market
Straight-edge punks, heavy metal and punk rock aficionados.
Tag Line
Murder your thirst
The message
We salute you as an outsider. You may be extreme but you have standards and a focus on sustainability
The creative is full of gore and violence. The website explains “Our proprietary Thirst Murdering process begins with Liquid Death forming a rope of veins that will wrap around your Thirst’s head and strangle it. Once Liquid Death reaches your Thirst’s brain, all of your Thirst’s memories will be replaced with repeating loops of its own head imploding.”
While it is directed to a heavy metal and punk rock market, the ads are going viral. As a result, this is helping the company brand this new canned water product.
BTW – Liquid Death can only be purchased online here. Cost is $1.83 per tallboy can. The water is sourced from Austrian mountains. No flavoring but with a slightly alkaline pH of 8.2. Five cents from every can sold is donated to help remove plastic from the ocean.
Here’s one of the ads: (watch at your own discretion)
July 2019 NOTE – a new canned water product just hit the market. Pepsi is releasing Aquafina in a can. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6550446956081147904/
This is not your mother’s water