Canned water company Liquid Death is a rising brand on the internet and music scene, especially with its trendy tallboy packaging. Liquid Death founder and CEO Mike Cessario has leveraged popular aesthetics to give water a whole new look, expanding Liquid Death's catalog to include lemonade and iced tea cans. became.
Cessario joins Yahoo Finance Live anchor Josh Lipton and reporter Brooke DiPalma to talk about Liquid Death's marketing and partnership with concert promoter Live Nation (LYV).
“The fun marketing for most food and beverage brands is all about the unhealthy stuff. Anything fun or exciting is usually reserved for candy, junk food, fast food, and beer. We're trying to create a healthy brand that markets the same fun, and in a fun way for an unhealthy brand,” Cessario explains. “Beer replaces beer and soda in people's daily lives, so we're starting to source events from the beer aspect as well…”
Cessario also addressed whether the U.S. ban on TikTok will impact Liquid Death's online exposure and the brand's general pricing in the food category.
For more expert insights and the latest market trends, click here to watch the full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.
Editor's note: This article was written by luke carberry morgan.
video transcript
[AUDIO LOGO]
Josh Lipton: Liquid Death, one of the fastest growing names in non-alcoholic brands, has closed on more than $60 million in funding and is valued at more than $1 billion. Just a few years ago, the company made waves in the beverage industry with canned water that promised to quench thirst. Liquid Death has since expanded into sparkling water and iced tea products. And a new crop of high-profile investors could bring new opportunities in the year ahead.
I'm now joined by Mike Cessario, founder and CEO of Liquid Death, and of course Brooke DiPalma, owner of Yahoo Finance. Mike, we're glad to have you on the show.
So you closed on $67 million in funding, Mike. What are you going to do with that money? How are you going to go about building and growing this business?
Mike Cesario: Well, as you said, we started out as just mountain spring water in cans and eventually released sparkling. And we launched flavored sparkling. This actually contains a few grams of agave sugar, so it's like a healthy soda. Then, last year, we launched Liquid Death Iced Tea, which was a huge success.
So, in a way, we've proven that we're building a true cross-category health drinks brand. Now, we've dipped our toe into some of these categories a little bit, but with flavored sparkling he started with three flavors and with iced tea he started with three flavors. And now we're starting to add more innovation and flavor to these categories that are really starting to work.
Brooke DiPalma: Hello, Mike. This is Brook. Live Nation is a long-time investor in the company. They played in this recent round. How has this partnership helped Liquid Death’s growth story?
Mike Cesario: Well, I think the fun marketing of most food and beverage brands is that the majority of our brands are for unhealthy things. Anything that's interesting or exciting, which is usually candy, junk food, fast food, or beer. So we try to create healthy brands that market themselves in the same interesting and fun way as unhealthy brands. And since beer replaces beer and soda in many people's daily lives, we're starting to source events from the beer aspect as well. Whether it's a music festival, a bar, or any venue where you don't want to walk around drinking a glass of water, Liquid Death creates a new experience of drinking something healthy, in a way, but it's not the same as actually walking with it. It's fun.
Josh Lipton: And some of your investors here, Mike, I mean, it's an eclectic and impressive group. So I'm watching DeAndre Hopkins and comedian Jim Jeffries, which is great. Josh Brolin, we all loved him in “Sicario,” I know. I'm curious, Mike, how do you actually decide which investors invest? I mean, you meet like Josh Brolin and, listen, he just joins this company and decides where we are and where we're going?
Mike Cesario: Yes, you're pretty spot on. In other words, we have had the luxury of being able to be selective about the investors we bring into our company. And we really focus on people who really love the brand and understand what we're doing. And all these people, I mean, kind of come to us inbound and we find out that they're big fans of the brand. And if you have an investment opportunity, you can find a way to get them on board.
Brooke DiPalma: My TikTok played a huge role in Liquid Death's growth story. Of course, a ban could happen here in the US as well. How will his TikTok ban here in the US affect the company?
Mike Cesario: Well, at Liquid Death, the way we think about marketing, we like to say that we're day traders in the spotlight. We try to find out where people's attention is and what is the most cost-effective way to capture that attention. There's a TV commercial. You can reach a lot of people, but the amount you pay to get your message across can be very high.
Meanwhile, social and emerging platforms are receiving a lot of attention. The cost per eyeball is much lower. So TikTok just happened to be a hot spot. And when we take an entertainment-comedy-first marketing approach, we're not here to make ads. We're here to make real entertainment that makes people laugh.
We can enter any platform that gets people's attention and interest in what we're doing. They want to follow us because we provide value. So even if TikTok disappears, even if people's attention moves to the next platform, we'll still be there and continue to entertain people and gain followers.
Josh Lipton: And Mike, you know that your company is now worth over a billion dollars here. How about going public, Mike? Is there a possibility of an IPO? If so, what are the dependent factors and variables?
Mike Cesario: Well, I mean we're just focused on building a large and profitable business. And we know that if we stay this course, we can make any choice about the outcome we want, whether it's an IPO or a strategic partnership. So, of course, we're going to do whatever it takes to maintain optionality. And if you want to make an IPO happen in the future, you need to take all the steps to see if it's an option for you. That's how we actually think about it.
Brooke DiPalma: Mike, grocery prices have been steadily rising over the past few years. Some may say this is too expensive for water, what do you think about that?
Mike Cesario: So we're in the same price range as most other premium waters, and we're just a water bias. When it comes to premium water, like Fiji, Essentia, and Pellegrino, all these brands cost about the same. And flavored sparkling sodas and healthy sodas are actually not priced much higher than other premium brands in their respective categories.
Josh Lipton: Mike, thank you so much for joining us on the show today. appreciate. Of course, we also want to thank our very own Brooke DiPalma.
