Why do we love to talk about Liquid Death so much?
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Liquid Death attracts die-hard fans through their bold marketing moves, and, not surprisingly, a Tracksuit article on data about their marketing funnel and brand perceptions ruffled some of their feathers.
- Liquid Death is a divisive brand that provides rich ground for marketers to fight about best practice and marketing theories – and, boy, have they been fighting.
- No matter where you stand on the Liquid Death argument, they’ve definitely nailed one thing pretty good: fame (AKA getting people to talk about them).
- We’ll indulge them a bit more by talking about their positioning and what category they’re truly playing in (e.g. water as a status symbol rather than purely to hydrate) and also contextualise them against another challenger brand, poppi, in a similar category.
Last week, we asked the question, are people actually drinking Liquid Death? This week, we’re asking: why do we love to talk about Liquid Death so much?
Because, as proven in the commentsOpens in new tab of a certain marketing thought leader, we can’t get enough of it. Liquid Death has served as the perfect battleground for marketers to tussle over what works and what doesn’t. Is it setting itself up to be a fad? Is it too niche? Too premium? Are you just a #boomer and, as a product targeted to Gen Z and millennials, Liquid Death isn’t made for you? Are the haters just haters for the sake of being haters? Are the haters throwing advertising back into the stone age by not encouraging innovative branding so that companies will then “pollute the planet with their ordinary products”?
As a challenger brand making waves with flashy marketing moves, it’s proven irresistible catnip for big marketing brains.
Our story on Liquid Death detailed their impressive increase in US awareness – 27% to 34% from Sep ‘23 to Aug ‘24 – in the bottled water category (which includes 216.7 million Americans). We also provided data on Liquid Death’s funnel, from awareness to consideration and consideration to preference, suggesting the below-market average conversion rates may have to do with a lack of attention to the other non-promotion Ps (product, price and packaging) – but also that as a fairly new brand, they may be directing their resources to drumming up as much awareness as they can.
The girlies (adult marketers) started fighting.
Some used the Tracksuit data as a way of supporting a theory that the hype around Liquid Death, perpetuated by a heavy advertising focus in the art of marketing, doesn’t translate outside of our LinkedIn echo chamber.
Others chimed in. Liquid Death is only four years old. Liquid Death should be compared against energy drinks like Red Bull, or sodas, or non-alcoholic drinks – those are the categories it plays in. Liquid Death just needs to get better at distribution, and then they’ll kill it. I’ve never actually seen anyone drink Liquid Death. I’m the target audience, but I don’t drink Liquid Death. Liquid Death isn’t trying to have a wide appeal, so its conversion rates will always be below mass market brands like FIJI. Liquid Death’s current marketing strategy isn’t sustainable – how many more collaborations do they have up their sleeve, before they run out of relevant ideas?
So many comments. All about Liquid Death!
No matter where you land on the spectrum, Liquid Death is the agent of the chaos at the centre – and, ultimately, we’re falling right into their trap of getting people to talk about them.
Meanwhile, the Liquid Death team seem pretty chill about it allOpens in new tab.
In response to the haters, the team are as chill as their cold plunge shaped like a giant can of Liquid Death.
Liquid Death is for people that want to be seen drinking Liquid Death, and not just wanting to hydrate 💦
Since it’s been established that everyone, us included, love to talk about Liquid Death, let’s talk about them a little bit more.
Our take on the bottled water category, where Liquid Death falls in, is that when people want water, they just want a run-of-the-mill bottle – sans a side of heavy-metal branding.
It’s when people are thinking about a premium sparkling water they may splurge on, when consumers are choosing what to drink in a social setting (perhaps instead of alcohol or a less healthy energy drink), Liquid Death becomes top of mind.
When compared to premium sparkling water brands like Waterloo, Spindrift and Nixie, Liquid Death enjoys higher awareness, consideration, usage and preference – and much better conversion down the funnel.
All their brand health metrics have also gone up in the last year in this USA premium sparkling water category, from November ‘23 to August ‘24, with preference – the hardest metric to move – increasing from 4 points to 17%.
This makes sense considering Liquid Death’s USP is its brand. Holding a can of LD is a status symbol that could feel a bit cooler than FIJI (and more in line with a can of alcohol that other people are drinking at the concert you’re attending). It’s in these social settings where the Liquid Death price point becomes less of a barrier as it’s essentially acting as a Fancy Drink, not water.
Challenger brands focus more on making noise and increasing awareness 📣
poppiOpens in new tab is a prebiotic soda that was founded in 2015, with a similar target audience (that is, Gen Zs and millennials) and the social media marketing strategy that comes with that territory – though it’s more Paris HiltonOpens in new tab to Liquid Death’s Ozzy OsbourneOpens in new tab. Like Liquid Death, they’re disruptors, with poppi pivoting the image of soda from sugar-laden treat food to a more healthy alternative – better-for-you sodas.
In the last couple of years, poppi have leaned right into influencer partnerships (even taking a leaf out of the Tracksuit book and gifting TikTok star Alix Earle branded sweatsOpens in new tab to wear during Coachella) and playful humour (their Super Bowl spotOpens in new tab became the most watched commercial in 2024). Sound familiar?
As a result, poppi has made huge strides in the last six months, increasing from 20% to 27% from Feb ‘24 to Sep ‘24. That’s ~15M more people that are aware of their brand.
But, like Liquid Death, poppi has seen the best lift in awareness, with a smaller (2%) increase in consideration.
This again reinforces what was stated in the original article: that Liquid Death is new and awareness (and therefore promotion) may be what they’re hammering at the most right now.
We can see that, like Liquid Death in the bottled water category, both have under the competitor average conversion rates – which makes sense when your competitors are big household names like Coca-Cola and 7Up.
The verdict on Liquid Death is inconclusive (which means you can fight about it even more) 🥊
We may love their brand, but Liquid Death still has a way to go to match their marketing hype with the long-term love of consumers.
It is, admittedly, difficult to accurately measure the brand of a company defying the usual category norms – especially one like Liquid Death that can be easily slotted into non-alc drinks, sodas or sparkling water categories.
So, does Liquid Death’s brand health live up to the loud noise of its brand? Like most polarising subjects, the truth may lie somewhere in the middle.
