This week we're bringing you an episode from the archives, our most popular episode of all time that played this January of 2023 and was with Liquid Death. I got so many comments about this episode; I had so much fun during this episode, so I wanted to bring it back and give those of you who hadn't had a chance to listen to this one to give it a listen now and I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think and we'll see you next week.

I figured it was worth putting my soul on the line to bring you some behind the scenes content from one of the hottest brands in CPG. Just a few months ago in October 2022, Liquid Death Mountain Water closed a $70 million Series D round that valued the company at $700 million, their products are in over 60,000 retailers nationwide, they have over 160 employees, and they were only founded in 2018, so things are just getting started. Hamid Saify, Liquid Death’s SVP of Digital Retail, one of the company’s first hires and a long-time Slack community member, joins us today to dig into how he and the team at Liquid Death creates such incredible marketing and branding.

Listen in as Hamid shares about:

• Liquid Death’s early days testing paid social ads, video content, copywriting, community-building, and choosing to focus on niches like action sports and heavy metal
• Why their marketing is entertainment-led rather than product/feature-led - including some of Hamid’s favorite campaigns like one that included drawing Tony Hawk’s blood!?
• How starting with a focus on ecommerce helped their eventual retail expansion
• How they’ve used Amazon DSP and why they’ve 10xed their investment in Amazon in the last year and a half
• The importance of bridging the physical and digital worlds and their work on Instacart, a new rewards program, and frequent merch drops
• The details behind joining their Country Club and how some people want their souls back
• How Hamid and team noticed something magical happening in their reviews and used it as a community-building moment
• And so much more!

This episode was sponsored by Graphite Financial. Go to graphitefinancial.com/cpg
This episode was sponsored by Settle. Go to https://www.settle.com/gostartupcpg

Episode Links:

• Liquid Death’s website & IG & TikTok @liquiddeath
• Hamid’s LinkedIn
• The Liquid Death Country Club
• The Time-Waster 5000
• Fastest-Growing Emerging Brands on Instacart 2022
• Companies mentioned: Pear Commerce, Tinuiti, Okendo

Graphite Financial Links

• Graphite Financial website
• Download a free financial model template, chart of accounts template, and more here
• Listen to our episode with Graphite founder, Paul Bianco, episode #96 here.

Settle Links:

• Settle website
• Take the Settle Bill Pay for a spin here

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (14K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi Freitag's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at [email protected]
• Episode music by Super Fantastics