Takeaways From a Killer Brand
Hothouse and Vert Digital hosted an AMA Atlanta Chapter eventwith Andy Pearson, VP Marketing at Liquid Death MountainWater on the topic of bold creative. Liquid Death has seen incredible business growth through their unique packaging, productization and creative engagement approach.
While many brands may not be not able to pursue the kind of risk-taking creative that Liquid Death does, there are some key takeaways that Andy Pearson shared that have relevance to anyone looking to develop their brand:
“Don’t be precious with your creative”
Marketers take a long time to plan and develop content that must have immediate impact. Liquid Death creates a ton of content knowing some will work, some won’t. They just want to win the internet for the day. Learn from it. Also, they don’t require big budgets to do the work. They are very scrappy on shoestring budgets to generate relevant, viral moments. As Andy pointed out, “in the industry, it’s unfortunate that there is so much over thinking and so much time and energy wasted on all the bullsh*t we don’t need to be worried about.” The lesson: not overthinking it = a faster decision making process.
“Be fearless, not reckless”
While Liquid Death does take risks, it’s not “everything goes”. They too have their boundaries. Define yours.
“Messing with culture”
They think about ideas that would illicit a reaction, good and bad. Ideas that you never saw coming. As you are engaging with your audience, ask yourself if the content will draw an emotion versus just trying to sell your products.
“No Brand Book, it’s about developing a character”
Liquid Death doesn’t have brand guidelines. Just a one line manifesto to work from. Are your rules too rigid to try something different? Why not test the boundaries in small ways to see what it yields?
Most importantly, we loved Andy’s spirit of how he and his team approach work. There’s joy in his words, creativity and sentiment. It can become infectious if we all have joy in sharing bold approaches and ideas, even if our brands are not like Liquid Death. Challenge yourself to try new things,including asking these types of questions: “Are we creating content in the way our audience wants to be engaged and entertained?” “Do we need this much time,people and thought to do the work?” “Do we need a huge budget to do great work?” “Are we bringing unique value?”. Find your questions and be killer in your content approach!
