When contemplating who to be taught from within the advertising and marketing area, one model stands out: Liquid Loss of life.
They’ve mastered the artwork of turning wholesome drinks right into a most well-liked model, making them ultimate advertising and marketing consultants.
However they did greater than reclaim water—in some ways, additionally they reinvented advertising and marketing.
I spoke with Liquid Loss of life’s VP of Advertising, Greg Fuss, about how he is cultivated an anti-marketing strategy, why a few of his favourite campaigns contain Tony Hawk and Martha Stewart, and his perception that Liquid Loss of life’s success comes all the way down to understanding individuals aren’t senseless customers of the product. “.
How liquid dying wins over anti-marketing – and what you’ll be able to be taught from them
1. Do not overcomplicate your target market.
Most goal personas are terribly particular: “Advertising Melvin likes lengthy walks on the seashore, likes studying true-crime thrillers, likes watching movies on TikTok, and is concerned about budget-friendly methods to develop his e-commerce startup.”
And you’ve got the flexibility to establish a few of the key traits of your purchaser – however it’s additionally inherently restricted.
Fass believes there are a lot of the explanation why somebody would possibly join together with your model.
For instance, Fass believes that his target market might be any of the next:
- Somebody who loves leisure and humor
- Somebody who appreciates the sustainability angle (ie “bringing in regards to the dying of plastic”)
- Anybody who acknowledges that fluids are the reason for dying is more likely to encourage their baby to drink water finally
- A cool-headed one who likes to have a enjoyable drink whereas at a celebration
- Individuals who like skulls
I will add one only for enjoyable: thirsty individuals.
Granted, water arguably has the biggest inhabitants of any commodity. However his level nonetheless rings true: focus an excessive amount of on creating your ‘goal persona’ and you’ll lose sight of all of the totally different causes somebody would possibly join together with your model first – and your product second.
2. People usually are not brainless customers.
This is a enjoyable truth: in Liquid Loss of life, they do not use the phrase shopper. ever
As a substitute, they’ve a staff referred to as “Human Insights.”
Fass prides itself on working towards the mindset that persons are merely “senseless customers” whose solely objective on the earth is to eat merchandise. (Sure – that is a direct quote.)
As a substitute, he says, “At Liquid Loss of life, I am proud that we consider our viewers as individuals. And if you consider them as individuals, you understand they’re going to get copy that is not simple, or that different manufacturers are afraid to mock. They’re clever, and have a humorousness.”
It is a philosophy that has served them properly. Simply think about the business the place Martha Stewart is a serial killer who cuts off her hand to make candles – not precisely one thing that might go over properly in a typical advertising and marketing pitch.
Liquid Loss of life did greater than reinvent the better-for-you beverage class—they reinvented advertising and marketing, too.
Taking their anti-marketing strategy may also help you uncover new and revolutionary methods to higher join with different individuals.
3. Folks will purchase your product if you can also make them snigger.
A Liquid Loss of life advertising and marketing assembly feels like the beginning of a really unusual joke: the lead singer of a punk band, a former Onion author, a co-creator of the grownup cartoon Mr. Pickles, and a former aggressive snowboarder all enter a convention room.
Fuss says it resembles an SNL writers’ room greater than a advertising and marketing division.
“We’re not only a model that is a enjoyable model,” Fuss tells me. “We publish actual comedy. That is the bar for us. I am proud to work on initiatives that compete with the precise leisure that exists on the Web, as a result of that is why most individuals are on the Web within the first place. Not for purchasing merchandise.”
You have to hand it to them: Making a humorous advert for water or iced tea is not simple Nevertheless it works as a result of Liquid Loss of life’s content material is not actually in regards to the product. The product is an apart of grandeur and playfulness. that What are they promoting?
Like their latest marketing campaign the place a fan might win a $400K fighter jet with six months of free hangar area (pilot not included); Or Ozzy Ozbourne reminding kids to not pierce Liquid Loss of life’s new hydration powder.
For Fass, it is easy: “When you can also make somebody snigger, they’re extra more likely to attempt your product.”
4. Do not submit except you’ve gotten one thing to say.
Fuss despises the traditional knowledge that it’s best to “at all times submit.” For Fass, an obsession with amount can shortly erode good content material.
At Liquid Loss of life, they will not submit for 2 weeks if they do not assume they’ve one thing to say.
“Social media has celebrities and humorous meme accounts – that is why persons are there,” he says, including, “The bar could be very excessive on social. So you need to compete on the highest stage with the whole lot you do.”
He additionally tells me that he cannot imagine when massive manufacturers brush apart social as a “good factor” or one thing like main interns.
“You must put your prime mind to social inventive work,” he believes fervently. “There is a sense of, ‘Nicely, it is simply social.’ At Liquid Loss of life, social is a prime precedence for our whole model and artistic staff.”
5. Humor comes all the way down to rigidity.
Fuss believes there is a sure magic science behind Liquid Loss of life’s success, and it is comparatively easy: rigidity.
In different phrases – two issues that should not go collectively, however ought to.
Case-in-point: a well being drink with a cranium in it; Elf cosmetics and black metallic physique paint; Plus sea animal stuffed animals which have been closely degraded by single-use plastics
You get my drift.
“What it comes all the way down to is we’ve these concepts that different individuals would by no means attempt,” says Fuss. “They will assume, ‘There isn’t any method a shopper would approve of this,’ or ‘Our CEO would shut this down.’ and proceed with them.”
And you recognize,” he provides with fun, “typically we win the Web that day.”
