At Ready State, we like to share creative work we find engaging with each other. Our art director, David Wong, pointed us to work from Liquid Death, a canned water brand, that they’ve recently launched in promotion of their newest low-calorie iced tea flavors.
Here are some key takeaways that we liked:
Campaign name: “Better than Back Sweat?”
Why it matters: The irreverent and witty brand has taken lemons and turned them into advertising lemonade. They were inspired by a negative comment on social media, “I’d rather lick sweat off a fat guy’s back than drink Liquid Death.”
Leaning into this approach shows their audience that they are listening to what’s being said about them as a brand and are ready to respond in kind.
What’s good: Their reboot of the classic taste test model is albeit a bit absurdist, but on brand and extremely memorable.
Incorporating a well-known character from Jackass, Zach ‘Zackass’ Holmes, adds to the authenticity of the stunt knowing that we’re all in on the joke together.
It also takes a “market research-driven” response to new levels of hilarity. We love this quote from Andy Pearson, VP of Creative listed in The Drum that stays in character with the brand’s voice and tone:
“The internet is so full of semi-anonymous hot takes from people just looking to do a drive-by commenting. But it’s hard to know if other people agree. As the third most-followed beverage brand on Instagram and TikTok in the world, we’re always listening very carefully. So as long as people continue to leave us genuine feedback about our products like this, we’ll be forced to continue performing more market research.”
David says: "This video was a great example of how a brand can plan for unscripted real reactions to create engaging content for a viewer. Like many of Liquid Death’s marketing videos that live up to the brand’s rebellious reputation, it’s hard to look away and not find out what another relatable person would do in an unlikely situation."
Funnel focus: Awareness and conversation
