How Liquid Death is tackling the soda wars

The company says it wants to differentiate its iced tea and soda lines through packaging, clean ingredients, classic flavors and names that adhere to the brand’s “murder your thirst” motto. The new soda line, which was first announced in January, consists of products like Killer Cola, Severed Lime and Doctor Death. To differentiate itself in a crowded category, Liquid Death is marrying the health benefits of its new product lines with the off-the-wall marketing it’s become known for.

According to the company, Liquid Death generated an all-time high of $333 million in retail sales last year. 

Marisa Bertha, chief strategy officer at Liquid Death, told Modern Retail that, from the beginning, the brand’s long-term goal was to build a full portfolio of healthy beverages. “Once the fandom started — not just from consumers, but also retailers and distributors — that gave us the license to expand into flavored sparkling in 2022 and then iced tea in 2023,” Bertha said.

“Of course, we’re also seeing the trends of the modern soda brands,” Bertha said. Unlike many emerging functional soda brands, she said Liquid Death is focused on tried-and-true flavors. “We’re not going to come to market with a niche flavor, that’s just not our core competency.”

However, Bertha said, “We want to be disruptive with things like packaging and branding.” Despite the dark and loud branding, she said the company emphasizes the health claims and clean ingredients on the front of the can. 

That means the cans call out features like “90% less sugar than the leading soda” and “75% less sugar than leading iced teas.” Liquid Death’s teas and soda alternatives are lightly-sweetened with agave nectar and stevia. “Agave has a low glycaemic index, so it’s considered healthier than some of the other sugar alternatives out there,” she said, while also pairing well with Liquid Death’s flavors. The entire soda line is clear colored and not the brown most people associate with colas. “But, we also want to make sure they’re great tasting for the mass consumer,” Bertha said.

So far, the response has been positive. “In 2024, 70% of our sales on the syndicated side [referring to aggregate data from firms like Spins and Circana] came from flavored sparkling and tea combined,” Bertha said.

“Being the third most followed beverage brand on social media, we’re monitoring people’s comments about these flavors,” Bertha said. While the SKUs are still rolling out nationally, she said anecdotally, a number of people are switching from traditional soda to Liquid Death’s version.

According to data insights from Tastewise, healthy soda has officially gone mainstream, with a 42% year-over-year growth in consumer interest. Most recently, PepsiCo announced that it would acquire prebiotic soda brand Poppi in a nearly $2 billion deal.

Tastewise’s data shows the growth in the healthy soda category is driven by increased consumer interest in a number of better-for-you claims, like a 38% increase in search for sodas that are free of artificial sweeteners.

Anastasia Kaliga, a nutritionist and biologist at Luvly, said “in the sea of better-for-you sodas,” people are now spoiled for choice. Many are comparing and choosing brands based on factors like natural ingredients, nutritional content like sugar and calories, and overall impact on health.

Kaliga said other claims like gut-friendly benefits can also sway some wellness-focused customers. “Ultimately, the healthiest choice depends on your goals — whether you’re reducing sugar and looking for low-calorie options without artificial additives, or gut health is your priority,” she said.

For the past few years, Bertha said Liquid Death worked on awareness around its water. “People mistake us all the time for a beer or a hard seltzer or an energy drink,” she explained. 

Those marketing efforts continue as the company expands its products beyond water.

“The whole purpose of our first Super Bowl ad this year was to show that we are not alcohol,” Bertha said. “And to show that you can drink Liquid Death day or night, no matter what your job is.” The soda-flavored line was featured in the recent Super Bowl commercial, and Liquid Death is promoting it across its own social media channels. More marketing campaigns to promote it are expected to come this summer, according to Bertha.

Earlier this month, the brand also launched a campaign called “Kegs for Pregs,” starring Kylie Kelce along with other pregnant moms as they binge the brand’s water.

Mass market ambitions 

As Liquid Death juggles three lines — water, sweet tea and now soda — the company is also expanding into more retailers, including grocery and mass chains. Last October, Liquid Death brought on former PepsiCo executive Mike Fine as its chief retail officer.

About 75% of the brand’s customer base is made up of Gen Z and millennials, Bertha explained. But that means 25% are over the age of 45. That includes moms who may be buying it for their kids, who also need to be catered to.

So after years of focusing on selling tall single cans, Bertha said 2025 is “the year of the multi-pack” for Liquid Death. This spring, the company is rolling out six-packs of smaller, 12-ounce cans in brick-and-mortar and a 12-pack of 12-ounce cans on Amazon. “We were one of the highest priced multi-packs when we had our eight packs of the tall boy 19.2-ounce cans,” which isn’t always a fit for at-home consumption, Bertha said. The new format and lower price point also fit better among grocery chains as Liquid Death tackles this new channel. 

Customer insights also led to new retail moves, including more placements in the water aisle, the flavored sparkling aisle and the tea aisle, to grab the attention of shoppers who may not be familiar with the brand’s online antics. “We’ve also made some really important changes to our packaging,” Bertha said. “The mountain waters now have actual trees and mountain backgrounds.” The iced tea cans feature an iced tea glass on the case. “That’s the power of millions of online comments that you can mine for feedback, along with our own research,” Bertha said.

Still, Bertha was careful to note, “We have a shoestring marketing budget relative to the beverage giants of the world.”

“People gravitate toward our branding, the entertainment and outsized earned media,” she added.