We have a brand exercise we use at eatbigfish called ‘Flip.’ We ask the client to identify the conventions, practices and typical behaviours of the category and then deliberately flip them to see what that might look like for their brand. It’s a sure-fire and straightforward way to bring differentiation to a brand and interest to a category.

Liquid Death, the mountain water brand, appear to agree as it’s taken a similarly direct and contrarian approach to entering the bottled water category.

In a category that is so often about life and vitality, Liquid Death instead talks about demons, death, murdering (thirst) and killing (plastic). Where consumers might usually see mountains and the alps, we hear of Earth’s underworld. Where the water category’s conventional colours are white and sky blue, Liquid Death choose black as its primary brand colour. And if the dominant emotion in the industry is about tranquillity, health and being serious, the brand instead makes water sound exciting, dangerous, and pretty weird.

Liquid Death is typical of a challenger brand in both its mindset and behaviours. For many marketers, the approach the brand has taken may seem a little too literal and pronounced. But it’s hard to argue that in mostly uninteresting categories such as packaged water, deliberately flipping a 180 on category conventions can offer results.

Liquid Death’s debut ad, which features a man being waterboarded for the spot’s duration (it’s way funnier than it sounds), cost $1.5k to make and within three months had 3m views. “Water is not a girly drink for yoga mums” the ad says. “Water is deadly. Water is liquid death.” In the following three months after the ad’s launch, the company had amassed more Facebook followers than Pepsi-owned Aquafina.

The irreverent challenger has since followed up by releasing a 14-track album on Spotify and 12-inch vinyl called ‘Greatest Hates’ made up of comments and product reviews the company has received online. Hits include ‘I thought this was alcohol’ and ‘Your product is dumb’. Liquid’s turning sour lemons into sweet lemonade.

‘Killer Baby Namer’ is another memorable activation on its website. It’s an interactive baby name generator that provides custom baby names such as ‘Zorglom the Destroyer’ or ‘Hellface Meathammer’. Cute. And another reason for curious consumers to visit its site and engage with the brand.

Whilst clearly an irreverent brand, it’s deadly serious about one thing: killing plastic. Liquid Death’s water comes in infinitely recyclable aluminium cans, rather than the category convention of plastic bottles. The company share the shocking and depressing statistic on its site that “if plastic production isn’t curbed, plastic pollution will outweigh fish pound for pound by 2050.” Death to plastic, indeed.

In September 2020, the company raised a further $23m in Series B funding taking its total investment to over $34m. The fresh funds are to help expand the company’s footprint in the US. Liquid Death’s Mountain Water and Sparkling Water are currently sold in Walmart, Whole Foods and 7-Eleven stores nationally, a retail offer that complements its popular D2C business via its website.

I’ll leave the final word to Steve Nilsen, Liquid Death’s Vice President of Lifestyle Marketing, who we interviewed for The Challenger Project last year. He summarises the brand’s challenger strategy perfectly and explains why a bold and irreverent water company is proving such a popular concept in 2021.

“No one has done anything interesting with the branding and the messaging of water. We’re going to be the bee in the bonnet,” Nilsen says. “We’re getting cans in hands, and then following it up with out of the box marketing and having fun with an industry that has generally just chugged along. And who on this earth, especially with what’s going on right now, doesn’t want to have some fun?”

Jude Bliss is Research and Content Director at eatbigfish.