🕯️How Liquid Death reinvented marketing

Lesson 1: People aren't brainless consumers.

Here's a fun fact: At Liquid Death, employees don't use the word “consumer.” Ever. 

Instead of a consumer insights team, the company has one called "human insights."

Emphasis on human: Fass bristles at the mindset that people are just "brainless consumers" whose sole purpose on Earth is to consume products. (Yep – that's a direct quote.) 

Instead, he says, "At Liquid Death, I'm proud that we think of our audiences as people. And when you think of them as humans, you know they'll laugh at a joke other brands are afraid to make. They're intelligent and have a sense of humor." 

It's a philosophy that has served the company well. Consider the commercial where they turned Martha Stewart into a serial killer, chopping off hands to make candles — which would certainly raise eyebrows (if not hands) in a marketing pitch meeting.

Martha hacking hands 

Liquid Death has done more than reinvent the better-for-you beverage category — they've reinvented marketing. 

Embracing their anti-marketing approach can help your brand connect better with, well, other humans.

Lesson 2: People will buy your product if you make them laugh.

A Liquid Death marketing meeting sounds like the beginning of a very odd joke: The lead singer of a punk band, an ex-Onion writer, a co-creator of Adult Swim's Mr. Pickles, and a former competitive snowboarder all walk into a conference room. 

Fass says it resembles an SNL writers’ room more than a marketing department. 

"We're not just a brand that's funny," Fass tells me. "We put out true comedy." 

Their goal is to create projects that compete with real entertainment. "Because that's why most people are on the internet in the first place. Not to buy a product." 

You've got to hand it to them: It's not easy to create comical ads for water or iced tea. But it works because Liquid Death's content isn't really about just healthy beverages. The products are an aside to grandiosity and playfulness. That's what Liquid Death is selling.

Like a recent campaign, where one lucky fan can snag a $400K fighter jet plus six months of free hangar space (pilot not included). Or Ozzy Osbourne cautioning youths against snorting Liquid Death's new hydration powder.

For Fass, it's simple: "When you can make someone laugh, they're more likely to give your product a try."

Lesson 3: Don't bother with worthless chatter.