Liquid Death Founder's Journey

A story about how Mike Cessario's background led to creating Liquid Death water.

"This was really just a culmination of all my passions and experience converging into one. I grew up in high school playing in punk rock and metal bands and skateboarding. I would do all the show flyers and album art for our bands, which got me into the entrepreneurial side because we were booking shows, selling merch, and pressing records.

Then I got into graphic design which led into advertising. I became an advertising creative director and worked on big brands like Nestle, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Naked Juice. Through that experience, I got a good sense of where big companies screw up. I can't tell you how many boardrooms I've been in trying to convince people that social media isn't some niche little thing - it is the internet. When you say you're going on the internet, 9 times out of 10 you're going on social media.

A lot of brands are way behind understanding what it takes to be successful in the social environment. Your social posts aren't just competing against other beverages - you're competing against influencers who are uncensored and can do great off-the-wall stuff. You're competing against everything awesome on the internet when someone's scrolling through their feed. That's what your marketing is competing against. The bar for what content needs to be is way higher, and that's what I built Liquid Death around. We think about marketing like entertainment - I never want to put something in your feed that feels like marketing. It should feel like actual entertainment that made you laugh or was the funniest thing you saw that morning."