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We killed outdated “sugar bad” messaging in one week.


Background: Liquid Death has a simple ideology; create hilarious and shareable content, not ads. Each post’s goal is to win the internet for the day. The Ask:Win the internet for the day by making their new soda-flavored sparkling water the antidote to “Big Soda”. Insight:Low sugar marketing is always about less.Strategy:Make low sugar about more by showing the ridiculous difference in sugar between Liquid Death Soda Flavored Sparkling Water and “Big Soda”.


Sprint Explained:


Brandcenter Sprint is an annual one week competition where live clients are brought in and amazing work gets made as fast as possible. 

This year’s clients were Liquid Death and Lululemon. Only top teams present their work to the client at the end of the 5 day project cycle. 



Getting Warmed Up:Liquid Death has released a new line of Soda Flavored Sparkling Waters to enter the Soft Drink segment. They made the assigment clear: Win the internet for the day by making LDSFSW the antidote to Big Soda.

Reflecting Liquid Death’s content, we created success criteria for our creative that would ensure our work fit Liquid Death’s voice and energy.


Consumers have been bombarded with 'Sugar Bad' messaging and endless diet alternatives for decades, yet consumption hasn’t budged. Sugar intake remains 2-3 times higher than recommended, proving people have grown numb to this narrative.
That works great for Big Soda, they can keep saving face with ‘Sugar Bad’ messaging because consumers think giving up sugar is impossible.


To position LDSFSW as the antidote to Big Soda, we first had to understand what makes Big Soda a poison. It’s not just the sugar, it’s the insane amount crammed into a single can. 

One serving blows past the daily recommended intake, and bigger portions get truly ridiculous. LDSFSW, on the other hand, has just 2.5g of sugar per serving. Way less ridiculous. And that’s an issue for a brand that lives to push everything over the top.

So how can Liquid Death enter the soda game, dodge the tired ‘Sugar bad’ narrative, and maintain a ridiculous rep?

By making low sugar about more.


Since LDSFSW contains 90% less sugar than leading sodas, how much Liquid Death would you have to drink to consume the same amount of sugar as a Big Gulp of Coke? The answer: nearly 5 gallons.

Introducing Glugzilla. A pioneer in liquid containment.



So if you absolutely need to have 102 grams of sugar in a drink (nearly four times your daily recommended value), how would you like to enjoy it?

We’d choose 21.5 cans of Liquid Death over 2.5 cans of Coke any day.


But Glugzilla wasn’t always an only child, it absorbed its twin concept in the creative womb.
In addition to Glugzilla, and to fulfill the client’s request for a suite of ideas, we also created a subscription package that restores the negative side effects of Big Soda consumers would otherwise miss when drinking Liquid Death Soda Flavored Sparkling Water. This was our primary idea, we shot a spot for it and saved Glugzilla as a second idea to create social content with. Ultimately, client needs changed, and we found ourselves presenting one idea, Glugzilla. We adapted by writing, filming, and editing our Glugzilla spot 14 hours before the presentation. 


Grave Consequences walked so Glugzilla could stomp.Subscribe to Grave Consequences today! 


Results:
The team at Liquid Death we’re big fans of Glugzilla, receiving praise from Creative VP Andy Pearson, who said it was “Most likely to be a real Liquid Death idea.” We later got to show Grave Consequences, and he loved that concept as well, giving a shoutout to the Willem DaFoe cameo (see for yourself above).  
Takeaways:Sprint created an opportunity for us to thrive under pressure in a situation I hadn’t encountered before. Having an idea you feel strongly about get killed right before a pitch sucks, but I know now that I am able to remain resilient, jump in as a catalyst for problem-solving and maintain a growth mindset in any scenario. I’m proud of our team’s resourcefulness, time management skills, and how in-tune we were with eachother’s creativity throughout this one week project.

Team: Alicia Rydel (XD), Max King (ST), Harper Lock (CBM), Caleb Mayer (CBM), Elijah Huston (CW), Bailey Wood (AD), Elio Conroy (AD)


Want to learn more about this project? 
Let’s talk.

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