‘We all hate ads’: How Liquid Death is keeping social marketers on their toes

Nothing’s being watered down here.

Liquid Death, which began as a canned-water company in 2017, has amassed more than 14 million followers across TikTok and Instagram, which Dan Murphy, the brand’s SVP of marketing, attributes to a commitment to making people laugh. In recent years, the brand has put out memorable campaigns like “Kegs for Pregs” and casket coolers in an effort that goes beyond standing out from other brands.

“We’re competing with the feed,” Murphy told us. “We’re trying to be the funniest thing in your feed that day.”

For Liquid Death, it’s comedy at all costs—often quite literally—with stunts that toe the line of realism and often make fun of the exact industry they’re participating in: advertising. Last year, the brand gave away a $400,000 fighter jet in a stunt inspired by the now-infamous Pepsi campaign that resulted in a lawsuit against the beverage company. The brand has also sold skateboards infused with Tony Hawk’s blood, as well as pit diapers” for concertgoers headed into a mosh pit—moments that have been geared toward social and have amassed millions of views across platforms.

“Everything we do is try to satirize advertising because we all hate ads,” Murphy said. “But those tropes, those jingles, the setups are so embedded in our consciousness, so when you can take this familiar thing and twist it and make it funny or unexpected, there’s tremendous bang for the buck.”

Despite the brand’s pricey stunts, its growing product lines, and a recent $1.4 billion valuation, Murphy said his in-house team remains intentionally lean, with only enough members to “fit in an SUV, legally.” We spoke with him about the ways in which his small team is pulling off mighty feats online.

Big risk, big reward

When Liquid Death moved beyond its signature tall boys and created a smaller can of water last year, Murphy said it became clear early on that the news wasn’t cutting through to its intended audience. So, his team came up with the “Small Cans” campaign, which played heavily on innuendo regarding the importance of size. That campaign had generated 30 million views on Instagram and TikTok as of December and had a 3:1 ratio of shares to likes in its first 48 hours, Murphy said.

Shares are the brand’s key metric, he said, because it indicates that something is funny enough to be worth sending to a friend.

“The North Star, the tip of the spear, is [to] always put out something that wins the feed, that’s super funny, that’s very shareable,” he said. When that’s done, he added, “good things happen.”

Because Murphy’s team knows what works, Liquid Death handles everything from concept to execution in-house. Murphy said that also allows the brand to work quickly and efficiently by eliminating the “too many cooks problem” that agencies and strategists can possibly present.

“It is sometimes rare that a ton of different opinions make for great creative,” he said.

There is some sign off involved, as CEO Mike Cessario attends the brand’s weekly creative meetings. Murphy compared the environment to a TV writers’ room, and he has made a point to hire professional comedians to help formulate the brand’s next moves. Check-ins with the legal department, he said, often happen “later on down the line.”

In the case of its fighter-jet campaign, Murphy said Liquid Death was willing to assume some legal risks around operating the plane and potentially offending Pepsi in the name of comedy.

“We knew the scrutiny on all fronts was going to be high,” he said. “But it wound up being this great thing where to enter, people had to buy Liquid Death. It drove a tremendous amount of sales, [and] it got a ton of press.”

Murphy stands ten toes down on all of Liquid Death’s campaigns, even those that may have flown more under the radar. To promote its iced tea earlier this year, the brand became the official iced tea of the town of Arizona, Nebraska, so that it could call itself “the official iced tea of Arizona” and poke fun at another canned-tea brand.

“It wasn’t the most viewed thing in the world, but we still use it in paid channels…and we target different parts of the country where it’s more resonant,” he said. “On the content front, it’s very successful, even though, for whatever reason, didn’t become a multimillion-view piece of social.”

When it comes to bigger campaigns, Murphy emphasized the importance of messaging scarcity, though he acknowledged that an always-on strategy can work for other brands. His team’s focus is on creating notable content “a handful of times a month” while keeping the bar high.

“We’re not doing volume play,” he said. “We’re really trying to make sure there’s something out there.”

Room for experimentation

Between bigger campaigns, Liquid Death has turned to brand collabs with partners like e.l.f. Cosmetics and Van Leeuwen to reach new audiences online, in addition to getting more involved in the world of sports. Murphy’s team has also seen recent success in identifying “unpaid, unprompted, unbriefed” UGC posts featuring Liquid Death and reaching out to the creators to put paid media behind the posts.

“The content they’ve made, it’s unvarnished,” Murphy said. “It’s certainly what can cut through on the feed.”

This year, Liquid Death plans to experiment in the affiliate space, as well as with TikTok Shop, Murphy said. More immediately, though, it’s gearing up for its second Super Bowl campaign, which he said will look much like last year’s, particularly on social. Murphy said the brand plans to utilize creators and test different types of content across platforms, like last year when it showed a polished version of the ad on Instagram and a filmed version on TikTok to appear more organic.

One thing seems certain: Liquid Death is going to continue to take risks, and Murphy recommends other brands interested in doing the same shouldn’t let the potential for haters hold them back.

“There’s going to be some people booing in a stadium,” he said. “But if the majority are cheering, you will understand that is the sentiment.”