Latest / Building Brands with Fexingo: Identity, Reputation, and Long-Term Business Equity / How Liquid Death Built a Brand on Canned Water and Irony
Transcript
- Lucas: You know that moment when you see a product for the first time and you're genuinely not sure if it's a joke or not? Luna: All the time. Usually it's some absurd direct to consumer startup that seems too weird to exist. Lucas: Right. And most of those don't survive their first year. But every now and then one of them — one of the truly weird ones — somehow turns into a real business. Today I want to talk about Liquid Death. Luna: The canned water that looks like a tallboy of energy drink or cheap lager? Lucas: Exactly that. It's mountain water, sold in 16-ounce aluminum cans with a skull and crossbones logo and names like 'Murder Your Thirst.' If you'd pitched this to a venture capitalist in 2017 — canned water, heavy metal aesthetic, no flavor, no sweetness, no alcohol — most would have passed. Luna: But they didn't. The company hit a $700 million valuation last year, I think? And they're in something like 100,000 retail locations now. Lucas: Closer to 113,000 as of their latest press release in April. And they claim they're on track to hit $300 million in retail sales this year. That's tiny relative to Coke or Pepsi, but for a startup selling unflavored water in cans — which is basically the most commoditized product you can imagine — it's remarkable. Luna: So how do you build a brand around something that people can get for free from a tap? Lucas: That's the question. And the answer, I think, is that Liquid Death isn't really selling water. They're selling an attitude. The brand's entire value proposition is ironic, anti-corporate, sort of punk rock. And the founder, Mike Cessario, came from an advertising background — he worked at places like RPA and did campaigns for big consumer brands. He knew that in a saturated market, you can't win on the product. You have to win on the story. Luna: So the story is basically: water is boring, plastic bottles are evil, and death is funny. That's the brand? Lucas: Pretty much. And it works because it's consistent on every single touchpoint. The can design looks like a craft beer or a metal band's album art. The copy on the packaging says things like 'Resealable cap not included because we hate the environment less.' Their website is full of fake gore and horror-movie references. They even have a subscription service called 'The Death Club' — which sounds like a fan club for a death metal band. Nothing about it whispers, you know, hydration. Luna: But here's what I find interesting: they also have a very earnest environmental mission. They're trying to reduce plastic waste. They've funded recycling programs. So it's not all irony. Lucas: No, and that's actually the smart part. The humor gets people in the door. It makes them share the product on Instagram because it's funny. But the underlying mission — death to plastic — gives people a reason to feel good about buying it. You're not just buying a joke. You're buying into a values system. That's the brand architecture that every great brand has: a distinctive personality that also stands for something real. Luna: So how did they get that first batch of customers? Lucas: They launched on Amazon and through their own website in 2019. But really, the early growth came from a viral video. Cessario and his co-founder made a low-budget commercial starring a heavy metal guitarist smashing a vending machine and drinking Liquid Death. It cost almost nothing to produce, but it got shared millions of times. That video essentially created the brand's tone: loud, absurd, anti-establishment. Luna: And then they kept that same energy across social media. Their TikTok is essentially a meme factory. They post stuff like a guy chugging a can while headbanging, or fake product announcements for things like 'Liquid Death toilet water.' Lucas: Exactly. And this is where the business model gets interesting. Because they don't spend a lot on traditional advertising. Their marketing budget goes almost entirely to content creation and influencer partnerships. They've worked with people like Tony Hawk and Bob Menery, but they also partner with smaller creators who fit the brand's vibe. The key metric isn't impressions — it's engagement and shareability. Luna: I'm curious about the retail side, though. Because selling water in cans is a tough shelf space battle. How do you get into 113,000 stores? Lucas: That's the part that doesn't get enough attention. The brand's online presence got them attention, but retail distribution is a grind. They had to convince buyers at places like Whole Foods, 7-Eleven, and Sprouts that this weird-looking can would actually sell. One of their early breakthroughs was getting into Lollapalooza and other music festivals. That gave them on-the-ground validation. Festival-goers loved the product because it looked like beer but wasn't. Suddenly you have tens of thousands of people walking around with these cans, and retailers take notice. Luna: It also helped that they positioned the product as a healthier alternative to beer or soda. You can bring a Liquid Death to a party and feel like you're still in the vibe without drinking alcohol. Lucas: Right. It's a social lubricant for the sober-curious crowd. And that's a massive and growing demographic. They've leaned hard into that — they even have a 'funeral' themed marketing campaign for hangovers. The brand is basically saying: drink this instead of beer, and you'll still have fun, you just won't feel terrible tomorrow. Luna: I want to circle back to the economics for a second. They sell a 12-pack for about 18 bucks on their website. That's $1.50 per can for water. That's a huge premium over Dasani or Aquafina. Lucas: It is. And the margins on that direct to consumer business are probably thin once you factor in shipping. But in retail, the margins are much healthier because they sell in bulk to distributors. The real money, though, is in the branding. They've managed to create enough perceived value that people are willing to pay three times what they'd pay for a bottle of water. That's the power of brand equity. Luna: It reminds me of what we talked about in the Yeti episode. Yeti sold coolers at a huge premium by making them feel like a status symbol. Liquid Death is selling water as a lifestyle accessory. Lucas: Exactly. And like Yeti, they've expanded the product line. They now have iced tea — still in the same tallboy cans, still with the heavy metal branding. And they have a line of sparkling water called 'Death Dust' — no, sorry, 'Death Dust' is their electrolyte powder. But you get the idea. They're finding adjacent categories where the brand attitude travels. Luna: And I think you can make the case that the brand only works because the founder understood culture deeply. Mike Cessario didn't just create a product — he created a subculture. That's really hard to do if you're a corporate committee. Lucas: That's a great point. And it ties into something we've seen across the best brand builders we've covered this season. Whether it's Patagonia or Red Bull or Liquid Death, the founders had a clear sense of who they were and who they weren't. They weren't trying to be everything to everyone. They were willing to be polarizing. And that's actually less risky in the long run than trying to be inoffensive. Luna: You know, speaking of that — one of the things I value about shows like this is that these conversations sometimes give me a new way to think about my own work. Like, how to be more decisive about what a brand stands for, even if it means turning some people off. I think a lot of us in business could use that kind of clarity. Lucas: I'm glad you said that, because that's exactly the kind of thing that keeps us doing this show — the feeling that these ideas might actually move someone's thinking forward. And if that's been true for you as a listener, one small way to help us keep this going ad-free is to support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, but it does help us stay independent. Luna: Yeah, totally. And it's a simple way to say this kind of conversation is worth having. So thank you to anyone who's ever done that. Lucas: Alright, back to Liquid Death. One more thing I want to touch on is the role of humor. A lot of brands try to be funny, but they're too safe. Liquid Death is genuinely irreverent. They've run ads that say things like 'Our water is so pure, it can only be found in the mountains — or in this can.' They lean into the absurdity of their own existence. And that level of self-awareness is rare. Luna: It's also sustainable. Because if you can make people laugh, they'll keep paying attention. The challenge for most brands is maintaining attention over years. Liquid Death has managed to stay interesting by constantly evolving their content and finding new ways to be outrageous. Lucas: One recent example: they launched a limited-edition flavor called 'Severed Lime' for their sparkling water. It's a pun — severed lime instead of a slice of lime. And they sold it in a special can that looked like a horror movie prop. That's the kind of thing that gets shared on social media and drives repeat purchases from collectors. Luna: So what's the risk for them going forward? Can they keep growing without losing the edge? Lucas: That's the billion-dollar question. Every cult brand eventually faces the tension between growth and authenticity. If Liquid Death becomes too mainstream, the irony might start to feel hollow. If they sell to a big conglomerate like Coca-Cola — and there have been rumors — will the brand still feel like the rebellious outsider? I think the key for them is to never take themselves too seriously, even as they become a serious business. Luna: And they need to keep innovating. Because the minute they become predictable, the magic fades. Lucas: Exactly. But for now, they've built one of the most distinctive brand identities of the past decade out of something as simple as water. And that's a masterclass in branding, whether you're selling soda, software, or services. Luna: Alright, next week we're looking at a brand that took the opposite approach — understated, quiet, almost invisible. Should be fun. Lucas: Looking forward to it. Thanks for listening.