When contemplating who to study from within the advertising house, one model stands out: Liquid Death.
They’ve mastered the artwork of turning wholesome drinks right into a sought-after model, making them perfect advertising mentors.
However they’ve finished greater than reinvent water — in some ways, they’ve reinvented advertising, as properly.
I spoke with Greg Fass, Liquid Demise’s VP of Advertising, to find out how he is cultivated an anti-marketing method, why a few of his favourite campaigns contain Tony Hawk and Martha Stewart, and his perception that Liquid Demise’s success comes right down to understanding folks aren’t “brainless shoppers of merchandise”.
How Liquid Demise Wins at Anti-Advertising — And What You Can Be taught from Them
1. Do not overcomplicate your target market.
Most goal personas are awfully particular: “Advertising Melvin likes lengthy walks on the seashore, studying true-crime thrillers, watching movies on TikTok, and is concerned with budget-friendly methods to develop his e-commerce startup.”
And there is energy in figuring out a number of key traits of your purchaser – but it surely’s additionally inherently limiting.
Fass believes there are many the reason why somebody may join together with your model.
As an example, Fass believes his target market could possibly be any of the next:
- Somebody who likes leisure and humor
- Somebody who appreciates the sustainability angle (i.e. “bringing dying to plastic”)
- Somebody who acknowledges that Liquid Demise is the rationale their baby is lastly excited to drink water
- A sober-curious particular person who needs to have a fun-looking drink whereas at a celebration
- Individuals who like skulls
I am going to add one only for enjoyable: Thirsty folks.
Granted, water arguably has the largest demographic of any product on the market. However his level nonetheless holds true: Get too hyper-focused on build up your ‘goal persona’ and you possibly can be lacking out on all of the completely different causes somebody may join together with your model first – and your product second.
2. Individuals aren’t brainless shoppers.
This is a enjoyable reality: At Liquid Demise, they do not use the phrase shopper. Ever.
As a substitute, they’ve a crew referred to as “human insights”.
Fass is proud to work in opposition to the mindset that persons are simply “brainless shoppers” whose sole objective on Earth is to devour merchandise. (Yep – that is a direct quote.)
As a substitute, he says, “At Liquid Demise, I am proud that we consider our audiences as folks. And whenever you consider them as people, you perceive they’re going to get a bit of copy that is not simple, or jokes different manufacturers are afraid to make. They’re clever, and have a humorousness.”
It is a philosophy that has served them properly. Simply take into account the commercial the place Martha Stewart is a serial killer chopping off fingers to make candles — not precisely one thing that may go over properly in an ordinary advertising pitch.
Liquid Demise has finished greater than reinvent the better-for-you beverage class — they’ve reinvented advertising, as properly.
Embracing their anti-marketing method may also help you uncover recent and novel methods of connecting higher with, properly, different people.
3. Individuals will purchase your product if you may make them giggle.
A Liquid Demise advertising assembly feels like the start of a really odd joke: The lead singer of a punk band, an ex-Onion author, a co-creator of grownup cartoon Mr. Pickles, and a former aggressive snowboarder all stroll right into a convention room.
Fass says it resembles an SNL writers room greater than a advertising division.
“We’re not only a model that is a humorous model,” Fass tells me. “We put out true comedy. That is the bar for us. I am proud to work on tasks that compete with actual leisure that exists on the web, as a result of that is why most individuals are on the web within the first place. To not purchase a product.”
You have to hand it to them: It is not straightforward to create a hilarious advert for water or iced tea. Nevertheless it works as a result of Liquid Demise’s content material is not actually in regards to the product. The product is an apart to grandiosity and playfulness. That is what they’re promoting.
Like their recent campaign the place a fan may win a $400K fighter jet together with six months of free hangar house (pilot not included); or Ozzy Ozbourne reminding youths to not snort Liquid Demise’s new hydration powder.
For Fass, it is easy: “When you may make somebody giggle, they’re extra probably to offer your product a attempt.”
4. Do not publish if you do not have something worthwhile to say.
Fass hates the standard knowledge that you must “at all times be posting.” For Fass, an obsession with amount can in a short time diminish good content material.
At Liquid Demise, they will not publish for 2 weeks if they do not really feel they’ve something worthwhile to say.
“There’s celebrities and hilarious meme accounts on social media — that is why persons are on there,” he says, “The bar on social may be very excessive. So you might want to be competing at that highest degree with the whole lot you do.”
He additionally tells me he cannot consider when large manufacturers push apart social as a “nice-to-have” or one thing for the interns to steer.
“You ought to be placing your prime brains in inventive on social,” he fervently believes. “There is a feeling like, ‘Effectively, it is simply social.’ At Liquid Demise, social is a significant precedence for our whole model and artistic crew.”
5. Humor comes right down to rigidity.
Fass believes there is a sure comedic science behind Liquid Demise’s success, and it is comparatively easy: Rigidity.
In different phrases — two issues that should not go collectively, however do.
Case-in-point: A wholesome beverage with a cranium on it; e.l.f. Cosmetics and black metal corpse paint; plush sea creature stuffed animals which were closely mutilated by single-use plastic.
You get my drift.
“What it comes right down to is we’ve got these concepts that different folks would by no means attempt,” Fass says. “They’d suppose, ‘no means a consumer would ever approve of this’, or ‘our CEO will shut it down’. These concepts by no means get to see the sunshine of day — however at Liquid Demise, we have created a tradition the place we have fun these concepts and go ahead with them.”
And you already know,“ he provides with a smile, ”Typically we find yourself profitable the web that day.”
