$700 million dumb name

  • 27.11.2022
  • CNBC

Let’s face it: Water is boring.

Sure, it’s essential to your health and few beverages can be more crisp or refreshing, but most bottled water brands are fairly bland and uninspiring — featuring the same interchangeable references to mountains, springs or both.

Over a decade ago, Mike Cessario started wondering if he could change that. What if he could actually make water cool?

That’s the relatively simple origin story behind Liquid Death, the ironically named canned water brand that Cessario trademarked in 2017 and officially launched two years later. It might sound like a joke at first — and it kind of was — but there’s nothing funny, or boring, about how quickly Liquid Death has become a dominant force in a bottled water market that’s worth up to $350 billion globally, according to Pitchbook.

From its viral social media posts to its Super Bowl commercial, Liquid Death suddenly seemed to be everywhere — along with its cheeky tagline, “Murder your thirst.” That social cachet is reflected in the jump in its sales, which were $2.8 million in 2019 and are on track to be $130 million in 2022.