What Liquid Death Asked For
In 96 hours, position Liquid Death Flavored Sparkling Water as the antidote to soda and win the Internet for a day.
The Unexpected Problem We Identified
Big Soda owned the movie market, practically forcing their sugary drinks onto moviegoers.
The Work It Led To
A decapitated baby that helped you sneak your Liquid Death Flavored Sparkling Water into movie theaters.
Client: Liquid Death
Brandcenter Sprint
Real Client
Liquid Death excelled at conquering new ground.
Liquid Death had long disrupted spaces dominated by other drinks. As part of a four-day sprint, we showed Andy Pearson, VP of Creative at Liquid Death, where the brand needed to head next on their path to world domination.
Enter a new enemy.
The Big Three movie theater chains—AMC, Regal, and Cinemark—have had exclusive partnerships with Coca-Cola and Pepsi for years, some of these agreements dating back to 1920.
These theaters advertised diverse drink options, but in actuality, customers were limited to only the sugary sodas covered by their contracts. Their choice was made for them long before they stepped up to order.
The pricing was just as deceptive. We did the math and found that a single large Coke set you back by a startling $9.49. That was a 943% markup. That same drink came with almost 140 g of sugar, 4197% more than what a tall can of Liquid Death Flavored Sparkling Water contained.
In spite of strict theater policies, moviegoers had found creative ways to sneak in their own snacks. In fact, we found that 64% admitted to bringing in outside food or drinks anyway.
The Big Three loved their oppressive rules.
While other teams saw soda as a voluntary choice by those who drank it, we knew this wasn't always the case.
Every theater chain across the country enforced a “no outside drink” policy. The message was clear: either buy from their sugary selection or go without.
Unsurprisingly, “no outside food or drink” remained the most unpopular rule at the movies, with 43% finding it unacceptable for theaters to enforce this ban in the first place.
However, these rebels risked getting caught and suffering the consequences. In some cases, rule-breakers had even been searched and arrested.
This injustice couldn’t go on any longer. Moviegoers should be free to drink Liquid Death Flavored Sparkling Water at the theater— so we started a movement.
Our Strategy: Join the Soda Resistance.
The only way to win against big is to go small.
Liquid Death doesn’t have their own exclusive soda contracts at the movies. So how could we circumvent contracts to stage a takeover? To outsmart the theaters, we had to be just as wily as they were.
That got us thinking — who are the most unassuming customers? People with babies.
The Big Three movie theater chains—AMC, Regal, and Cinemark—have had exclusive partnerships with Coca-Cola and Pepsi for years, some of these agreements dating back to 1920.
Our Creative: The Liquid Death Bundle of Death.
What Came Out of This?
Awarded “Most Disturbing Idea.” Andy Pearson was so shocked by our soda stats that he double-checked if they were real. Our Bundle of Death was the life of the Brandcenter Sprint afterparty. And of course, everyone asked to hold our baby.
“What you were able to do in four days is truly impressive. I will say that some of your brains scare me a little bit; but if you’re nervous about entering the “real world,” don’t be. If this work is any indication, you are ready!”
- Ashley Sommardahl, Associate Director of the Brandcenter
The Team: Me, Boyan Zlatarski (CW), Callum Leitenberg (CW), Emma Kerencheva (CBM), Smera Dhal (AD), Yanna Nguyen (XD),
