Gen-Z, Millennial Opps: Liquid Death teams up with Travis Barker on new product, campaign (Score 26)

Sales Lead: Liquid Death (LD) played up "the ick factor" of much 2023 marketing in its new campaign.

• The company teamed up with a new brand ambassador, Travis Barker, with whom it launched an outrageous themed "Enema of the State Collectible Kit."
• The product is funny and gross, of course, but enough so that it easily became top-of-mind.
• The corresponding campaign was made by LD's internal creative team and agency Humanaut and features Barker.
• The company will likely:
  • Pursue additional influencer partnerships
  • Return to heavier ad spend now that it has a larger budget and a new campaign out
  • Conduct agency reviews as it continues pursuing growth
• Target demographic: 
  • ​​​​​​​Gen-Z and millennials
    • The company relies heavily on social media initiatives; it's the most-followed US beverage brand on TikTok, its content having earned over 21b media impressions within the past year.
    • LD particularly appeals to better-for-you (BFY) and sustainability-oriented consumers.

Additional spending insights:

• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: So far this year, LD has spent approximately $565.1k on digital ads, down 35% from the approximately $863.2k spent within the same 2022 timeframe.
  • YTD data: The water brand has earned ~75.7m digital impressions YTD via Instagram (76%), Facebook (11%), desktop display (10%), mobile display (2%), and YouTube (1%) ads.
  • Last year: In 2022, LD spent roughly $2.1m on this channel, down 38% from the roughly $3.4m spent in 2021.
• Additional channel insights  
  • The company utilizes Google Ads along with Facebook, email, Instagram, and online video (via Youtube.com) ads.
  • It also invests in experiential activations.
  • LD sponsors podcasts such as Pack-A-Day: Your Daily Packers Podcast.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: Get on LD's radar soon to remain top-of-mind as it continues pursuing growth.
  • ​​​​​​​You'll have the best luck offering PR, media, experiential, multicultural, influencer, and/or digital analytics services.
• Current agency roster:
  • ​​​​​​​Humanaut: Creative agency partner (at least for this campaign project)
  • Party Land: Creative AOR

Insight Sources: Digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix; podcast insights by Podchaser.