It’s just water in a can. How did Liquid Death become a billion-dollar brand?
It’s just water in a can. How did Liquid Death become a billion-dollar brand?
For an increasing number of consumers, the brand represents a fun way to enjoy nonalcoholic beverages.
Is it marketing? I bet it’s marketing.
In other words, the branding is one of the main selling points
Basically
There is a How I Built This podcast that interviews the founder. He was in marketing/advertising as a creative his entire career before he started the company. Actually, he didn’t even have enough money to make the first batch, so he created a video and Facebook page that went viral and got him enough interest and actual orders to prove to investors that they should fund him.
I just went to a festival that had only this brand for even regular still water, no water bottles with a cap. It was insanely irritating to not be able to just hang on to a bottle of water in my bag and pull it out whenever to take a sip, you have to just sit there and drink the whole water at once. Or toss it and spend another $6 to buy another can of water when you’re thirsty again. A small problem as problems go but frustrating at the time!
I work as a bartender in a live music venue in the Netherlands.
We, just like most festivals, used to always remove the caps from the water bottles, citing safety concerns (people would drop the bottle when empty but put the cap on, which is a nasty tripping hazard).
So a company started to make bottlecaps that clip to your pants, and most water vendors used a single size opening, which made this feasible. People held on to their cap, and could pause drinking.
Then water companies started to attach the cap to the bottle, to prevent litter, and the government issuing a mandate requiring us to charge per plastic unit.
So now we leave the caps on, but as guests return about 95% of bottles and cups to the bar (buying a drink without having a cup adds a 1 eur plastic surcharge), the safety hazard is basically gone.
As a bartender, I'd very much prefer bottles of water to cans. It allows guests to drink at their leasure, they're easier to transport and can't cause as much harm as a can (either by throwing or when squeezing it).
They are slightly visually less appealing than a cool can though, I'll give them that.
If you know you're going to a festival why not bring your own reusable bottle of water and use the cans to top it up?
Or.. Bring an empty reusable bottle with you.
The festival specifically didn’t allow this either, they want you to spend your money inside the festival. I actually did bring my own water bottle anyway because I carry an electrolyte drink with me everywhere to help with a medical condition. The guy checking bags gave me a hard time but I stood my ground and brought it in. But they don’t make it easy
Sounds like a feature, not a bug.
This is a kind of problems that would be solved instantly if people just didn't consent to being abused.
Because the average person is stupid and will pay $4 for fucking water because it looks like an energy drink.
Or because it's the only water available at most concerts.
This exactly. Unless you're willing to drink from a communal jug that you can't guarantee no one has opened or spiked it with anything. Don't get me wrong, I don't buy Liquid Death either. I just drink water before entering the venue. Also, this applies to smaller venues that only have a bar, not arenas that sell bottled water.
I just want portable water not in a plastic container. Also they're like a buck fifty.
Liquid death is legit the best carbonated water though, the texture is more like beer rather than pop
It's embarrassing how stupid you have to be to pay this for some water. Sure if you're in a pinch and there's no other option. But regularly? Turnip brains
it's a testament to how so many people just simply shouldn't exist and how society will probably never change until they don't.
9-5 all the way
Having Live Nation as a prime investor kind of helps.
1: Take one of the basic necessities for life to exist
2: Put it in a can
3: Call it death while pointing out that it's neither solid, gas, nor plasma
4: ???
5: Profit
I miss the times when this kind of bullshit only existed as parody
Every time I see that scene I'm reminded of "This is The Life" by Weird Al, specifically where he says "my bathtub's filled with Perrier"
I really like their lime flavor but I don’t get them very often. Are people here mad that consumers like to buy something with fun marketing? Yeah it’s a sparkling water with a ridiculous name. Sorry for having fun.
Where I am it's about twice the price of other sparkling water. Live your life however you love but that's the reason.
Are people here mad that consumers like to buy something with fun marketing?
Judging by some of the comments here and Lemmy in general. Yes.
Although I think a lot of that, has to do with its popularity more than anything else.
I never knew they sold flavored water. I just thought it was still and sparkly.
The mango is pretty good. Everyone in here is attempting to dunk on still water in a can that's $4 and ignoring that this is regularly sold at venues with a captured audience who can't bring in outside drinks and that it's the best sparkling water around.
I've only ever bought their peach tea. It was pretty tasty, but not something I would get all of the time. It was a nice alternative to other teas you find in the gas station.
I didn't even know they sold water. I've only ever seen tea.
Aldi's sells little bottles of sparkling mineral water where I live. I always grab one when I go there.
People like metal cans, and they like bubbly drinks. I share in your confusion.
TIL Liquid Death is water lol. I always assumed it was one of those coffee/energy drink hybrids from the name and price.
Glad Im not the only one who went "Wait, it's just fucking water?!"
They also have some teas, their Arnold Palmer is really good.
The peach tea is really good too. Light on the sugar
Never bought it, never will. I don't understand people sometimes.
Well, it’s better than plastic bottles. If you’re at a concert or event, then it’s probably the sensible choice.
Apparently their market is recovering alcoholics that want to feel like they're holding a beer can when they're out with friends.
That's... actually pretty cool. It tells me the water itself is actually not the product, it's the can design. They're essentially selling a way of overcoming the very real social anxiety alcoholics can go through when they give up booze, but don't want to give up the social lives they've built around drinking.
I was all ready to hate on this, but if it's actually legitimately helping people stay off alcohol while maintaining a social life, then I can't really fault it.
I bought some on sale once because it was cheaper than normal bubble water. I laughed every time I drank one and my wife refused to be seen with them. "Darling, don't you need to murder your thirst?!" It was the best sale purchase I've made at the grocery store in recent memory.
If I'm going to a party but not planning to drink, I'll always get some nonalcoholic drinks with me. If I can have a cool looking can or bottle, it's better. In general I get very much pleasure from uniquely designed drink containers
As someone else said, recovering alcoholics, but also they market towards sustainability. Infinitely recyclable aluminum instead of single use bottles and all that. I'm still just gonna drink from the tap most of the time, but I'll pick one up on a road trip or if I'm going on a picnic or something
Their flavored seltzers are absolutely repulsive, and I say this as a huge seltzer drinker
They taste more mineral water than seltzer water to me. Much more similar to a Perrier than a LaCroix. To me, at least, this means they taste fine cold, but start to go off pretty quick as it heats up and flattens. So, they have the same problem I have with Perrier, in that they're in larger containers and thus more prone to getting warm before you finish it.
Agreed. Polar or Waterloo is where it's at.
I like the idea of water in cans, this rivals one of own business ventures from a few years ago.
The issue I have with this is that this is clearly a profit based initiative, and I do not believe environmental benefits are really considered unless it adds to the profit.
Why do they not sell the cans at a reasonable price? Because it won't make them a billion dollars if they did this.I just have my doubts that this has anything to do with doing any good for the planet, it's just expensive water that exists to fill pockets with money. Any benefit seems like a side effect.
Bottles like these while being metal still contain a very thin plastic layer. But still a step in the right direction
Oh I agree. I think getting people into using reusable bottles it would be better, however cities need to adapt to this approach for it to work. My local city centres all have standing cylinders, with a space for a water bottle, that dispense filtered water for free. They're set up all along busy shopping areas, and as long as they're maintained they can be very good at reducing the frequency of even needing to recycle a product. Recycling is fantastic for reusing materials and thus cutting down on destruction for resources etc., however the elephant in the room needs to be addressed: recycling plants, in order for the machines to process materials in such ways, inevitably creates some considerable pollutants in the air.
Just my opinion that recycling, as essential as it is in many ways, should not be used as a fallback for climate change; it makes more sense to me to systematically push reusable containers and make this the norm, of materials that can be easily recycled in the event that they break.They don't contain plastic.
water in cans[.] this rivals one of own business ventures
Your own business venture? Not mine. Whose?
It's only a dollar here and I like that it comes in a can, not a plastic bottle simply because it gets colder faster and stays colder longer.
It’s only a dollar here
for... water.
This is the baffling part. I live in a country that periodically grades the taste of regional water supplies, in addition to testing for solids and the usual. And I live in a part of that country consistently known for really great-tasting tap water.
It's baffling that they'd sell water in a can. Please don't tell me it's bottled in Atlanta, where they bottle the worst-tasting coca-cola in the world, or it'll be extra-baffling.
Some people live in places where the tap water tastes like chemical asshole. Or they travel. Whatever the reason, buying water happens.
Cheaper than $2+ for water. Which is what I'd have pay for any other brand here.
I share a sink with other people. I'll take my water in sealed jugs, thanks.
That's not how thermodynamics work. It's either transferring heat more efficiently, or not. But always the same, in both directions.
I like that it comes in a can, not a plastic bottle simply because it gets colder faster and stays colder longer.
If it feels colder in your hand, it means the opposite of what you assume: It absorbs heat from your hand faster, so the stays colder shorter.
Imagine instead you hold a perfectly insulated container. You could not feel wether the inside is hot or cold, or else the insulation would be faulty.
So if you really want to have a drink that stays colder longer, grab something which does not give away how cold it is, quite literally.
Well probably because of the flavored and carbonated ones
And people feel better about driving from a can than a plastic water bottle? I dunno
The last point is always funny to me, because cans are plastic bottles inside of aluminum bottles. There is less plastic at least, I guess.
Sex appeal in a name, so to speak. That's it. That's the answer.
It's just a brand guys, they make beer too. I actually really like the beer..
It's called liquid death as a beer company name that later branched or into water. They aren't calling the water specifically liquid death.
It's like asking why they call an ice cream flavor carnation, when it's clearly strawberry.
Makes sense, brewers know water
The same way that can full of piss of a drink called prime became so popular
The stores around me always have a fucking ton of Prime but I never see anyone buying it or drinking it, it's weird. I feel like Logan Paul is gaslighting me.
well there was a period in the UK last year when it was so popular that there was a shortage of it with small convenience stores selling it for £10 a bottle. I think stores stockpiled them at the time, now they are back to being worthless.
The only reason I ever drink this stuff if it's the only brand at a place. Overpriced for what it is.
I used to get them all the time. I'm basically addicted to carbonated water and these offer tall can versions vs plastic bottles or smaller cans.
Eventually I just switched to a sodastream though, waaay cheaper
When you get one, look up adapters that let you connect it to refillable co2
if you're in this thread you should be reading Guy Debord's The Society of the Spectacle
It’s pretty obvious how it became a billion dollar brand
Tried it once. The flavor was alright, but it was barely carbonated to the point where it went completely flat before I even finished the can. I definitely don't see the appeal.
assuming you mean the carbonated one, not the still one (pictured). I like that they're less powerfully carbonated than most seltzers.
I've heard that their market is recovering alcoholics.
Not sure why you're being downvoted, Steve O for example has LD cans on his vidcast all the time when talking about addiction and such. Recovery being a big topic he touches on a lot.
Their market is everyone who drinks water at a music venue
I use it to waterboard kittens homie
