Why Liquid Death failed to ‘murder the thirst’ of UK shoppers

Liquid Death is beating a hasty retreat from the UK. The trendy canned water brand has pressed pause on international expansion after shutting down European production last summer, joining the likes of Chobani Yogurt, Kellogg’s RX Bar and Dasani on the list of US imports to have failed to make a mark on these shores.

The decision is something of a climbdown for CEO Mike Cessario, who less than 18 months ago was touting the possibility of sourcing water for Liquid Death’s drinks in-market in the future.

So, what’s behind Liquid Death’s limp UK exit after less than two years, and why, despite considerable hype and listings across major multiples and convenience, was it unable to successfully disrupt the £1.8bn bottled water category?

Meagre sales

Bolstered by distribution gains in Tesco, Co-op, Nisa and Iceland, Liquid Death grew sales by 761% to £2.0m last year [NIQ 52 w/e 7 September 2024]. It may not seem a disastrous return for its first full year in UK grocery, but it remained a drop in the ocean compared with category leaders Evian and Volvic, which brought in £207m and £203m respectively.

Granted, these giants have had something of a head-start, plus the backing of Danone and near universal penetration. But Liquid Death is also some way behind newer startups like Dash Water (£11.0m) and Aqua Carpatica (£10.5m), and sits outside the top 30 brands by sales value.

The meagre sales are also nothing to Liquid Death’s dramatic ascent back home. In 2019, the year the brand launched in earnest, revenues were $2.8m. Two years later, fuelled by successive fundraising rounds, this shot up to $45m. It hit $130m by 2022 and flew past $250m in 2023. Since Liquid Death didn’t launch overseas until 2023, the bulk of these sales will have come in its US heartland.

Lost in translation

Liquid Death succeeded domestically because its bold, brash and sometimes shocking marketing played directly to the mindset of the US consumer, says Mark McCulloch, founder and CEO of marketing agency Supersonic Inc. Americans are “a lot more excitable” and “open to irreverence and rebellion” than Brits, who are “quite reserved and pessimistic”, he says.

Outlandish celebrity tie-ups with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and pro-skater Tony Hawk, and in-your-face straplines like “murder your thirst” and “death to plastic” may have landed in the US but been lost in translation across the pond, McCulloch suggests. In fact, “I think it will have switched an awful lot of people off”, he says.

What’s more, the brand’s anarchic packaging, while intended as disruptive, no doubt led to confusion in store. “There was a lot of misconception at the start that it was an energy drink,” says McCulloch. When intrigued shoppers did choose to purchase a can, there was “almost an anticlimax” when they discovered the product was just water.

The incongruity of branding and product would have felt “like having a Lamborghini with the engine of a Nissan Micra”, McCulloch says. “It’s just water. What’s so rebellious about that?”

Lack of health messaging

The timing may also have been wrong, with Liquid Death entering a less mature packaged water category in the UK than it had found success in at home. US consumers guzzled 210 litres per capita in 2023, compared with just 40 litres per capita consumed in the UK [Statista].

“The category in the UK is at a slightly different stage compared to in the US where seltzer has been around for longer,” says Jack Scott, co-founder of Dash Water. “That allowed Liquid Death to come in and be a bit more disruptive and avant-garde. Our approach at Dash has been to focus heavily on the health benefits and sustainability to build the category, whereas in the US that was – to a degree – already formed.”

It meant that in order to succeed, Liquid Death needed “more time and money invested into consumer education”, says Tom Khan-Lavin, CEO of drinks marketing agency YesMore. “They had a good off-trade start with distribution, but that isn’t enough for a brand with this sort of positioning.” 

It’s also possible Liquid Death missed a trick by failing to understand why more UK consumers were opting for water (the wider category has added £197.4m on volumes up 7.1%, according to NIQ). “There’s a big shift away from traditional soft drinks starting to happen, with people understanding about artificial sweeteners and sugar,” notes Scott.

Liquid Death’s marketing, which makes few references to health or sustainability, is “part of the genius of the brand”, but may have contributed to its failure to resonate with the UK shopper, he adds.

Pricing pain

Then there is the fact that, with an rsp of £5.50 per 4x500ml pack in Tesco, Liquid Death’s Mountain Still Water is almost seven times as expensive as the retailer’s own-label Ashbeck Still Water, which costs just 80p for a two-litre bottle. Flavoured Liquid Death SKUs like Mango Chainsaw (rsp: £6/4x500ml) are similarly priced per litre to other flavoured waters like Dash, but Dash’s seltzers are in smaller 4x330ml packs, meaning they sit at a lower price of £4.50 on shelf.

“Most people are pretty price-conscious about commoditised things,” says McCullough. “At that price point, you have to build a brand people are willing to have a value exchange with. You need to earn the right to be able to charge that.”

Liquid Death’s limited UK footprint (just six employees were impacted by the decision to exit international markets) meant it had not yet generated sufficient groundswell to justify the premium it charged, he adds.

The price point comes into even sharper focus because of the format – a non-resealable 500ml can – says Scott. “For a larger format still or sparkling water, people tend to want to re-seal. In certain occasions it’s quite a lot of liquid in something that can’t be resealed.” Dash has recently added a 500ml SKU, but this is a flavoured water sold as part of the meal deal fixture, he adds.

Reasons to be positive

Despite retreating home (for now) with its tail between its legs, Liquid Death’s first foray overseas need not be viewed as an unmitigated failure.

“It might be more of a strategic decision to focus on where they have seen the most momentum and engagement and are likely to see the best ROI,” says McCulloch. “If it’s a case of being in the market here [rather than] growing in America by taking another territory that they’re not in yet, I think that’s a smart move.”

So, is it the last the UK will see of the brand?

A return would require a shift in strategy to more closely mirror its approach in its early years in the US, Khan-Lavin believes. “Liquid Death could have cracked the UK; they just needed a more considered, less ‘big bang’ approach,” he says.

“Stripping things back to startup mode, securing key on-trade listings… and investing in UK-focused advertising creative that resonates tonally and culturally” would be crucial for a successful re-entry.