WWTT? Liquid Death Knows What Its Target Audience Wants

What’s more “metal” than water? In this episode of “What Were They Thinking?” Melissa shares how direct-to-consumer canned water startup Liquid Death is shaking things up in the CPG market, thanks to its ability to easily appeal to its target audience. While the company — co-founded by former Netflix creative director Mike Cessario — has been around since 2018, it hit the news again this week after securing $1.6M in seed funding.

According to Cessario, Liquid Death has a perfect target audience of heavy metal and punk rock music fans who immediately understand the humor behind the brand and its campaigns. When speaking to Business Insider, he said: “If you think about it, it makes sense, everything metal and punk is extreme. Being vegan is extreme, protesting the deforestation is extreme. There are more vegans at a heavy metal show than Taylor Swift show. We are by far the most sustainable option for packaged water, which is a big driver for why people want to buy from us.”

You can watch the latest ad here, but be forewarned: it’s full of gore and violence, in a weird, cartoony way. It may not be your cup of tea … er, water.