How To Make Your Brand Stand Out: Lessons From Liquid Death

It’s one of the most asked questions in business: How do you make your brand stand out? It’s a simple question that requires a complex answer. After all, not all businesses are the same, and making your brand stand out above competitors requires a strategy that is tailored to your specific brand, product and industry.

However, you can look to others for inspiration, and a business that knows how to make a brand stand out more than most is Liquid Death, an American brand founded in 2017. After successfully conquering the still and sparkling water markets, the drinks brand has gone on to sell a range of other products. But what is it that made their brand stand out? We’ve put together a few lessons that you can take from Liquid Death if you’re trying to make your brand stand out in a crowded market.

Go Against The Norm

The first thing to notice about Liquid Death is that everything you’d expect from a bottled water brand, you don’t get. This begins with the fact that it doesn’t even come in a bottle; it comes in a can. Then you’ve got the name of the brand, which sounds more like a heavy metal band.

Next, the packaging resembles an alcohol brand more than a water brand, a move that CEO Mike Cessario confirmed was deliberate. The cans are dark, feature their gothic-looking skull logo and flavours such as Killer Cola and Mango Chainsaw follow a deathly undertone.

The deathly flavours are consistent with the whole tone of the brand, which plays a huge part in helping the brand stand out. Their ‘Murder Your Thirst’ slogan is used throughout promotional material for example.

Their decision to go against the norm in attempting to make the brand stand out is deliberate but at the heart of everything they do. The Liquid Death website states that the brand will “use health and humour to conquer the world”. And they're doing a pretty good job. The company has been valued at over $1bn, which perfectly highlights the power of being different when trying to make a brand stand out.

Plug A Gap In The Market

It’s clear from their branding who Liquid Death are targeting with their product. In fact, they’re not the first brand to use humour to target millennials and Gen Z, but they are the first to target them in this way with a product as simple as water. And there lies a big secret in their successful attempt to make the brand stand out: they found a gap in a $350b market.

Most marketing and brand experts would look at a product like Liquid Death and say it appeals to someone young and rebellious. They’d probably fall into the 18-34 age bracket and stereotypes would have you believe that they’d be an avid gamer who spends endless hours locked in their room consuming a diet made up of energy drinks and highly-processed water.

Considering there are an estimated 3.3 billion gamers in the world, it would be pretty crazy to assume that none of these people want to follow a healthy diet or purchase water. The lesson here is that a gap in the market doesn’t always have to be product-shaped. After all, Liquid Death did not create still or sparkling water, nor can a brand innovate too much with the product.

Instead, it’s important to consider how you can make your brand stand out by finding a branding-shaped gap in the market.

Create A Movement, Not Just A Product

Part of Liquid Death’s aggressive tone includes its “death to plastic” commitment. The brand places enormous emphasis on recycling and ending plastic pollution. While other brands view corporate social responsibility as a box-ticking exercise, brands like Liquid Death use it as a way to make their brand stand out above competitors.

By putting recycling at the heart of their brand, consumers aren’t just buying a product, they’re joining a movement. In an industry as commoditised as bottled/canned water, it makes the brand stand out by appealing to consumers beyond traditional factors such as price, taste and convenience.

If you need help making your brand stand out, BGN is a branding agency in Manchester that has vast experience when it comes to crafting visual identities that stand out and packaging that cuts through in competitive markets. Contact our team today!