If you took a WAG (wild a** guess) at what “Liquid Death” was, you’d probably come up with the following answers: a cocktail that comes on fire and makes you look and feel like you’ve been cast on the Walking Dead the next morning, your ex-boyfriend’s metal band that forced you to waste hours in his stupid friend’s basement, or the most simple of the answers, blood.
Well WAG all you want, but Liquid Death isn’t booze, a band, or body horror.
It’s water. That’s it. Literally just water. Coming in still or sparkling, nothing more, nothing less.
But how do you make water of all things just a little bit more metal? You start by putting in literal metal. Unlike their competitors, Liquid Death does not come in a thin plastic bottle, rather it comes in a can. In a long white can with gold accents, Liquid Death can (and in terms of my personal experience, has) be mistaken for a can of Modelo. Underneath their logo, a liquified skull, is their tagline, “Murder Your Thirst.”
For Liquid Death, water is not calming or serene. Water is extreme. Their commercial “Liquid Death-Deadliest Stuff on Earth?” describes the concept best. “Water isn’t cute. Water is deadly. It kills innocent surfers and snowboarders and kayakers. Every year water is responsible for thousands and thousands of deaths…, and that’s why this brand needs to exist. To finally give water the ice-cold can and ice-cold name it deserves.”
But Liquid Death’s branding does not stop at just water. When shopping on their website, you can find brand apparel that resembles something of the type of merch you’d get at a rock concert. Some other products: a vinyl of hate comments they got online played in punk songs, a set of skateboard decks with Tony Hawks “real blood” in the paint, a cardboard cut out of their mascot “the executioner” a ripped man with a bloody axe, a can of Liquid Death for a head and eyes for his nipples and my personal favorite, an actual horror movie called “Dead Until Death” that you can rent on Amazon Prime.
Liquid Death’s marketing is cool as Redbull while having the sense of humor of Old Spice all while keeping their goal as simple as its product. Encourage people to drink more water while reducing plastic use by making the water selling game just a little more metal.
