Mike Cessario came up with the name for his canned water by asking an odd question: What’s the dumbest possible name for water—aka the world’s healthiest drink? The answer: Liquid Death. Keep reading to find out why those two words led to a billion-dollar company with a cult following. 💀
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Imagine this… You’re baking in the sun at the beach. And the 90-degree heat paired with 87% humidity is taking a toll on your hydration levels, so you desperately need a drink.
You lift your friend’s cooler lid and see a smorgasbord of options: bottled water, sodas, and some metallic tall cans. They immediately grab your attention. “What’s this?” you ask as you pull out one of the eccentric gold cans with a skull on it. You assume they’re an energy drink or beer. Your friend lifts up her aviators and takes a single earbud out. “Oh, that? That’s Liquid Death. It’s water, but, you know, cool,” she says as she lowers her shades back down and pops her earbud back in. Your eyes look back and forth between the metallic can in your hand and the bottled water in the cooler like a ping-pong match. The choice is obvious. You crack open the can of Liquid Death in Mango Chainsaw. Not only does it quench your thirst, but you secretly love having this bold can in your hand. You feel… cool. So it’s no surprise that an hour later, you’re reaching for the Berry It Alive flavor. What’s so magnetizing about this water? In today’s special edition of Why We Buy 🧠, we’ll explore a well-known company to see how they use buyer psychology principles in their business. This week we’re diving into Liquid Death—the brand that turned boring water into a $1.4 billion empire. Let’s get into it. 🤑 A Look Inside Liquid Death
CEO Mike Cessario noticed how musicians on the Vans Warped Tour were refilling their Monster Energy cans with water to stay hydrated. He wondered why healthy products—like water—didn’t have fun, eye-grabbing branding. So to make the most unsexy yet healthiest beverage option sellable, he had to transform it into something “insanely interesting.” Something that people would talk about on social media—especially since he didn’t have a Bezos-esque marketing budget. (Or any marketing budget.) So he created Liquid Death: canned water with the marketing built into the product.
Case in point: Each can comes stamped with the cheeky tagline “Murder your thirst.”
It worked. With the unforgettable name and scroll-stopping product design, Liquid Death spread like wildfire through social media. Before they knew it, huge chains like Publix and 7-Eleven were calling to get the cans on their shelves. Today, just six years after going to market, the canned water company is worth $1,400,000,000. That’s why Liquid Death didn’t just murder your thirst—they murdered expectations. 🧠 How Liquid Death Uses Buyer Psychology
Liquid Death got its name by asking what the dumbest possible idea was. Turns out, it was brilliant. Here are three other smart ways the company turned boring water into billions.
Identity Signaling
Liquid Death framed drinking their water as a sign of being edgy, rebellious, and cool. That’s why people aren’t drinking Liquid Death for the water, but for what it says about them. When we find a group we want to belong to, we’ll do almost anything to keep our status.
And by sipping on flavors like Convicted Melon and Rest in Peach, customers are signaling to the world, “I’m not a boring health-conscious person. I’m cool.” That’s why every can of Liquid Death leads to another, breeding fierce brand loyalty.
Humor
As the famous phrase goes, “If you build it, they will hate.” (Or something like that.) Liquid Death is a polarizing brand, and they fully expected the mountain of backlash they got. So they turned hateful comments like “go out of business” into the Greatest Hates: a heavy metal album where every “lyric” was pulled from real online comments.
When we laugh, we feel good. And we associate that good feeling with the source (aka the brand). So each volume of the Greatest Hates makes us love Liquid Death even more. (Which makes us more likely to drink a can while jamming out to “Get Slaughtered On Shark Tank.”)
Pattern Interrupt
Liquid Death’s 2025 Super Bowl ad featured pilots, surgeons, and even school bus drivers chugging their beer-looking beverage before doing their high-responsibility jobs. This stops us in our tracks. Why? Because we’re hardwired to pay attention when social norms are broken. It’s how we stay safe.
At the end of the 30-second clip, as our eyes are glued to the screen, we're hit with the tagline: “Don’t be scared. It’s just water.” Now we have to know more—like where to get some for ourselves, stat. Psst… That tagline uses one of our favorite science-backed techniques. Wanna know what it is? Click here to find out and make your copy more persuasive in minutes >
🤔 Thinking About Your Business
With marketing to die for, Liquid Death transformed the world’s most boring beverage into the one everyone’s talking about. Now you can steal some of their marketing magic, too. Ask yourself…
Q: What identity do your buyers want to signal? We buy things that reinforce who we want to be. Identify the identity (say that three times real fast) your buyers crave, then make that the core of your marketing. That way choosing your brand feels like choosing who they are—and who they want the world to see them as. So buying becomes a no-brainer.
Q: Where can you shock your market instead of blending in? Too many brands blend into the background because it feels safe. But your offer name, messaging, or copy can steal attention and make you unforgettable in the best way. Dare to cause a double-take, then tell the payoff story.
Q: How can you make buyers feel addicted to your brand? Humor isn’t just about making people laugh. It’s about creating positive emotional connections with your brand. Find ways to use wit or clever content to make your buyers enjoy your emails, ads, or product experience so they keep coming back for more.
💥 The Short of It
Liquid Death is proof you don’t need to create a new product category to be successful. You just need to make your offer insanely interesting. Because when you do, your brand becomes something people can’t stop talking about. And your customers become your best marketers—without you paying a dime. Until next time, happy selling!
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