When contemplating who to study from within the advertising area, one model stands out: Liquid Demise.
They’ve mastered the artwork of turning wholesome drinks right into a sought-after model, making them excellent advertising mentors.
However they’ve achieved 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 Study from Them
1. Do not overcomplicate your audience.
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 about 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 explanation why somebody may join together with your model.
As an illustration, Fass believes his audience could possibly be any of the next:
- Somebody who likes leisure and humor
- Somebody who appreciates the sustainability angle (i.e. “bringing loss of life to plastic”)
- Somebody who acknowledges that Liquid Demise is the rationale their youngster 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 increase your ‘goal persona’ and you can be lacking out on all of the completely different causes somebody may join together with your model first – and your product second.
2. Folks aren’t brainless shoppers.
Here is a enjoyable reality: At Liquid Demise, they do not use the phrase shopper. Ever.
As a substitute, they’ve a crew known as “human insights”.
Fass is proud to work towards the mindset that persons are simply “brainless shoppers” whose sole function on Earth is to eat 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 once you consider them as people, you perceive they’re going to get a chunk 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 think about the business the place Martha Stewart is a serial killer chopping off palms to make candles — not precisely one thing that might go over properly in a regular advertising pitch.
Liquid Demise has achieved greater than reinvent the better-for-you beverage class — they’ve reinvented advertising, as properly.
Embracing their anti-marketing method can assist you uncover recent and novel methods of connecting higher with, properly, different people.
3. Folks will purchase your product if you may make them snicker.
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 isn’t straightforward to create a hilarious advert for water or iced tea. However it works as a result of Liquid Demise’s content material is not actually concerning the product. The product is an apart to grandiosity and playfulness. That is what they’re promoting.
Like their latest marketing campaign the place a fan might win a $400K fighter jet together with six months of free hangar area (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 snicker, they’re extra seemingly to offer your product a attempt.”
4. Do not put up if you do not have something worthwhile to say.
Fass hates the traditional knowledge that you need to “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 put up 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 could be very excessive. So you have to be competing at that highest stage with all the things you do.”
He additionally tells me he cannot imagine when massive manufacturers push apart social as a “nice-to-have” or one thing for the interns to steer.
“You need to be placing your prime brains in inventive on social,” he fervently believes. “There is a feeling like, ‘Nicely, it is simply social.’ At Liquid Demise, social is a serious precedence for our complete 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: Stress.
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 steel 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 now we have these concepts that different folks would by no means attempt,” Fass says. “They’d suppose, ‘no means a shopper 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 ,“ he provides with a smile, ”Generally we find yourself profitable the web that day.”
