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Gen Z has thrown the beverage industry for a loop. They\u2019ve turned to weed instead of alcohol for \u201cHigh January<\/a>\u201d and all months following, and have ditched sugary sodas<\/a>, too, keen on pursuing healthier lifestyles. Now a heavy metal water brand is cashing in on their prohibition vibes and healthy sensibilities.<\/p>\n Liquid Death, the water and iced tea company easily recognizable by its skeleton-stamped tallboy cans, has been around since 2017, but its recent funding round of $67 million has rocketed it to unicorn status with a $1.4 billion<\/a> valuation. It swelled to make up 10% of the entire<\/a> $13 billion<\/a> low- and no-alcohol beverage industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n CEO Mike Cessario told Fortune<\/em> that he had Gen Z\u2019s love of social media in mind\u2014specifically their proclivity for sharing shocking and meme-able content online\u2014when creating the distinctive brand.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf someone sees this on the shelf, do they have to pick it up?\u201d Cessario said. \u201cAnd then when they do pick it up, is it a high likelihood they have to take a photo of it, and then post it on social for free to all of their followers to spread the awareness of Liquid Death without us having to pay for the awareness?\u201d<\/p>\n Mimicking the colorful cans of brews preferred by concert and club goers, Liquid Death defies the packaging status quo of its \u201ccrinkly plastic bottle\u201d competitors. In a crowded market, beer has relied on novel branding<\/a> to stand out. In a growing beverage industry<\/a>, why can\u2019t water do the same?<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no reason that only beer can have that kind of cool look and feel,\u201d Cessario said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like Jesus turning water into wine, Cessario is the beverage messiah for the Gen Z masses, turning water into beer\u2014creating a beverage for a party but without the hangover\u2014with the help of the TikTok generation\u2019s love of internet absurdity.<\/p>\n Fed up on booze, Gen Z and millennials are looking for alternatives, with three in four saying they want a drink with some sort of health benefits, and 59% reporting the need for a non-alcoholic drink for socializing, according to a Material survey<\/a> of 1,000 Americans aged 18-42. They seemed to have found what they were looking for in Liquid Death. Gen Z and millennials make up over 70%<\/a> of the company\u2019s customers.<\/p>\n Liquid Death has planted itself right where younger consumers are: It\u2019s the third most-followed beverage brand\u2014between both alcoholic and non-alcoholic brands\u2014on Instagram<\/a> and TikTok, with a combined following of almost 8 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n The brand has flirted with internet virality since its 2017 inception. Before it was a beverage company, Liquid Death was nothing more than an irreverent idea from Cessario and partners J.R. Riggins, Pat Cook, and Will Carsola. Cessario, a graphic designer for advertising agencies at the time, brainstormed the \u201cdumbest name possible\u201d for a healthy drink product and settled on Liquid Death, an ironic moniker for the elixir of life. Cessario and partners trademarked the name two years before<\/a> products hit shelves in 2019. A teaser video months before Liquid Death launched its first products got over 3 million views.\u00a0<\/p>\n Liquid Death\u2019s rise has been meteoric since then. Across 113,000 retailers in the U.S. and UK, it sold $263 million in retail sales in 2023. It expanded the product lineup to lightly-sweetened seltzers and iced tea, as well as electrolyte powders dubbed \u201cDeath Dust\u201d and enlisted a star-powered team of investors<\/a>, including Dune<\/em> actor Josh Brolin, Tennessee Titans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and Live Nation<\/a> Entertainment Inc.<\/p>\n The branding elicits millennial nostalgia, with Jackass <\/em>mainstay Steve-O promoting Liquid Death\u2019s agave-sweetened seltzers<\/a> (as well as a now sold-out doll stuffed with his real hair<\/a>). But it\u2019s also shown a knack for capturing a distinctly Gen Z flair for the absurd: A May 2023 TikTok shows someone wrapping a can of Liquid Death in ground beef and baking it into \u201can edible meat mug<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Liquid Death\u2019s marketing strategy is part of the well-established canon of the postmodern advertising<\/a> that emerged in the \u201cMad-Men\u201d era of the 1960s, in which advertisements mirrored and conversed with consumer culture, increasingly leading to campaigns that were ironic or self-referential. As Gen Z creates TikToks that embrace the chaotic and absurd<\/a>, brands are responding with equal levels of disruptive content.\u00a0<\/p>\n As Cessario explains to Fortune<\/em>, Liquid Death\u2019s entire brand identity is poking fun at self-serious brands.<\/p>\n \u201cLiquid Death is a funny brand,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t actually take ourselves seriously. We don\u2019t think we\u2019re extreme. We\u2019re kind of making fun of all that extreme marketing.\u201d<\/p>\n By breaking the branding mold, Liquid Death is able to reach beyond its obvious Gen Z audience. Its distinctly punk packaging leans masculine, confounding health food packaging\u2019s reputation of marketing towards its traditional audience of health nuts and women. Cessario envisions a future where not only Gen Z club-goers are drinking Liquid Death: He wants construction workers in a 7-Eleven to grab a Liquid Death off shelves instead of a Monster Energy or Red Bull<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re making healthy products for people that no one really makes healthy products for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nGen Z loves irony, not beer<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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