Dan Murphy, Liquid Death | Modern Retail Vanguard 2024
This is part of the Modern Retail Vanguard, a series highlighting the behind-the-scenes talent powering the world’s top retail brands. More from the series →
Many marketers love to use highfalutin buzzwords to describe their craft, but not Liquid Death’s Dan Murphy.
“We are doing entertainment marketing,” Murphy says while describing his core ethos.
He’s not wrong — the beverage brand knows how to entertain people. The company has partnered with everyone, from Martha Stewart to Tony Hawk, to make the most meme-able moments. Most recently, it launched a giveaway for a fighter jet.
Murphy, whose title is svp of marketing, is leading the charge of all of these campaigns. Before joining Liquid Death in 2021, he worked at agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi and Deutsch. He was an early investor in the water brand when it launched in 2017 and ultimately decided to join the team in 2021.
“I saw and fell in love with this brand at truly day zero,” he says.
It’s the marketing moments that have made Liquid Death become the leader of the new beverage giants. In May of this year, it was given a $1.4 billion valuation and reported $263 million in sales in 2023.
Murphy’s strategy has always been to treat the brand like an entertainment company. It hired comedians to devise its campaigns and partners with the most unexpected people in the cultural zeitgeist. A few weeks ago, for example, the company partnered with the adult undergarment brand Depend on a ‘Pit Diaper’ for people attending live concerts who don’t want to miss any of the action. “Things can get stale and jump the shark if you’re trying to repeat the same TV episode over and over. But if you’re a platform like ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and you’re actually just riffing on culture, you’ll last 50 years,” he says.
It’s also about making sure there’s always something new. The company launched about 25 “major moments” – anywhere from a meme-able event to a celebrity partnership – this year, nearly double what it did last year. Murphy has plans to do even more in 2025. While he won’t let on what’s to come, culture will be the driving force. New concepts are in the pipeline, and “that’s going to have a huge celeb to help announce that for us,” he says.
Murphy believes his in-house team has really found its groove. “We’re getting pretty good at this,” he says. “We have just truly awesome staff, people that will give everything to have fun with this brand and love to come to work.”