Dive Brief:

• Liquid Death, a water brand packaged in recyclable aluminum cans,​ launched a new marketing campaign that embraces its online haters, according to details shared with Marketing Dive.
• The tongue-in-cheek campaign includes an original album of songs, called "Greatest Hates," that were inspired by negative comments the brand has received online for its heavy metal aesthetics. Songs on the 10-track album, which debuts today on Spotify and YouTube, include titles such as "Fire Your Marketing Guy" and "Get Slaughtered On Shark Tank." The company worked with artists Gus Rios, Matt Laplant, Seth Ringler, Torin Ridgeway and Jim Malone on the album.
• The album will also be available on a limited-edition pressing of 12-inch vinyl via pre-order on the brand's online shop. Liquid Death is working with a separate initiative, Death Peddlers United, to share profits with bars and bands that have been out of work because of the coronavirus. Bars and bands can participate by signing up to promote Liquid Death to their fans with a unique code, in exchange for 50% of the profits they bring in.

Dive Insight:

Liquid Death's latest effort is on-brand for the relatively young, edgy beverage company, which uses humorous messaging to promote the canned water company's heavy metal aesthetic.

Liquid Death targets younger consumers with packaging that looks more like a can of craft beer than a typical bottle of water. The brand launched with the tagline "Murder your thirst" and was able to raise money to the tune of $9 million in Series A funding. Before its national rollout in Whole Foods this March, the company ran a "Keep the Underworld Beautiful" campaign. The video showed hell filling up with plastic garbage coming down from Earth. The demons urged people to stop consuming and discarding plastic because it was ruining the aesthetics of the underworld.

Some consumers have criticized the brand's aesthetics for being too aggressive or too hellish, and the company is having fun with this by flipping haters' comments into real songs. The effort also taps real musicians, many of whom may be struggling without the ability to play concerts or go on tour. The affiliate marketing program allows bands to profit from Liquid Death sales they promote, and may cement the brand's allegiance to its core audience in the long-term.

This follows other brands that have worked with artists to create original audio content. Coca-Cola's Sprite line recorded unique music to support the launch of Sprite Ginger. Mastercard created a sonic audio branding — a short, melodic series of chirps — with the help of musicians and artists like Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda, and the company had plans to release a full-length album at the South By Southwest festival in March before it was canceled.