Every time Liquid Dying makes content material, its staff asks the identical query: Will this get shared on social media?
Likes and feedback are positive, however shares are what it actually craves. “As a result of if it is not compelling sufficient for individuals to share,” says Dan Murphy, the model’s SVP of selling, “then it is in all probability not good tip-of-the-spear, top-of-the-funnel advertising and marketing.”
The proof is within the numbers: Sharable advertising and marketing propelled Liquid Dying into being a $1.4 billion juggernaut, with 7 million followers on each Instagram and TikTok — despite the fact that, at its coronary heart, it is only a model that sells canned water and iced tea. However it’s marketed and offered like an excessively aggressive beer, which will get loads of consideration.
So, how do they do it? Murphy says that their formulation is well replicable — and he is joyful to share it. This is how Liquid Dying creates viral gold, in 5 steps.
Step 1: Construct an “entertainment-first” model
“The web has utterly shattered the eye economic system,” Murphy says. Shoppers can skip something they dislike, which implies it’s essential to earn each second of their consideration .
That is why your advertising and marketing should be conceived of, produced, and offered as leisure — and your model should function as an always-on content material machine. Or as Murphy calls it: “You should be entertainment-first.”
Liquid Dying did not invent this concept, he admits. Crimson Bull proved the mannequin a long time earlier, by changing into a number one producer of maximum sports activities content material. Liquid Dying thinks of itself as a comedy producer. And your model? It may produce something — as long as it is entertaining, and appeals to your audience.
Step 2: Prioritize high of funnel
Early-stage manufacturers typically get slowed down in optimization, Murphy says. They spend an excessive amount of time on bottom-of-funnel parts like manufacturing and distribution — which is comprehensible, however leaves them weak.
“If no one is aware of in regards to the product, and if no one’s stopping on the shelf or trying to find it on Amazon, then your different efforts had been for naught,” he says.
As a substitute, he says, manufacturers ought to lean closely on social media. It is the one software that may attain hundreds of thousands of individuals without spending a dime — and should you get it proper, your different operational items will fall into place.
Step 3: Spend money on your leisure
Picture Credit score: Liquid Dying
When you select your lane, he says, it’s essential to lean into it closely and totally.
For instance, Liquid Dying would not simply rent entrepreneurs; they rent comedy writers who’ve written for the likes of Grownup Swim. Then they preserve these writers “hermetically sealed” from the remainder of the enterprise — in order that they will give attention to the funniest concepts, and never be watered down by gross sales or advertising and marketing considerations.
The outcome: They’ve offered kegs of water for pregnant girls, known as Kegs For Pregs. They a toilet-water style check. They gave away an actual jet. They usually typically accomplice with sudden manufacturers, like co-creating the Pit Diaper (for individuals who drink rather a lot within the mosh pit) with the adult-diaper firm Rely.
“We have been dropping at the least one banger a month since our origin,” Murphy says. “It could possibly’t simply be, ‘Oh, we did this, after which it is gone.’ As an early firm, it’s a must to have that repetition and keep on the market in tradition.”
Step 4: Be nimble and take dangers
On social media, Murphy says, small manufacturers have a bonus over massive manufacturers: “You may get stuff to market in a short time, you’ll be able to check it, you’ll be able to study, you’ll be able to react,” he says — whereas bigger opponents will transfer slowly and be risk-averse.
Positive, small manufacturers have small budgets. However Murphy says that may be a superpower — as a result of small budgets drive artistic constraints, which he likes to name “price range haiku.” Generally, the most effective content material can be the most cost effective, scrappiest, and most intelligent.
He affords a problem: Create concepts which you can articulate in a single sentence. If it takes longer than that, the concept could be too sophisticated. For instance, he says, the Pit Diaper began like this: “What if we made grownup diaper for the mosh pit?” he says. It is a clear, humorous, immediately shareable thought.
Step 5: Issues? Entertain the answer
Being “entertainment-first” doesn’t suggest abandoning all advertising and marketing ideas, Murphy says. You will need to nonetheless be alert to the market and your customers’ perceptions. However your options should even be entertaining.
This is an instance:
Liquid Dying recognized an issue: Though the model is parodying beer promoting, too many customers suppose that Liquid Dying really is a beer… or possibly an power drink.
To deal with that, Liquid Dying purchased its first Tremendous Bowl advert in 2025. It featured pilots, cops, and medical doctors chugging a can on the job, whereas a jingle sings, “Drink on the job. Everyone’s drinkin’ on the job.”
“You could not watch that and go, ‘It was a beer,’ proper?” Murphy says. It was humorous, but it surely was additionally strategically responding to market analysis.
Step 6: Flip your followers into content material
When you begin a dialog on-line, your followers will preserve that dialog going — which creates a brand new wave of alternative.
“Lots of what we’re doing proper now could be combing social media, in search of individuals’s posts about Liquid Dying,” Murphy says. “We go to them and say, ‘Hey, love that content material. We’ll put media behind your put up and do some subtle focusing on at completely different individuals. Then you’re going to get publicity. And you’re going to get followers.”
Generally, Liquid Dying additionally pays these individuals a small amount of cash — possibly $100 or so. However largely it is not vital. They’re simply psyched to assist their favourite model.
In brief: The very best advertising and marketing would not really feel like advertising and marketing.
It seems like one thing individuals select to look at — as a result of it was made to entertain them, to not promote product to them. When that turns into your model’s ethos, your viewers (and their loyalty) will comply with.
