Liquid Death VP Andy Pearson: "Strategy is Partially Killing the Industry"

Liquid Death, the billion-dollar canned water brand known for its viral stunts and dark humour is challenging the foundations of the creative industry. Speaking to Emma Sexton on ‘The Future of In-House Creative Leadership’ podcast, Andy Pearson, VP of Creative at Liquid Death, argues that traditional strategic bloat is stifling creativity, declaring controversially that strategy is "partially killing the industry".

Drawing on his background honed at top agencies like Crispin Porter and Deutsch, Pearson asserts that Liquid Death's phenomenal success (including becoming the second most followed beverage brand in the world) stems from intentionally eschewing traditional agency processes in favour of speed, intuition, and a radically lean, in-house approach.

The Strategy Standoff

While acknowledging that strategy is 100% needed, Pearson criticises how the industry has "swung too far into the... value and time" placed on it. He views extensive strategic development as a "crutch" that slows down the work and introduces too many unnecessary voices into the room.

Pearson recounted a past agency experience where a project included a month of strategy development followed by only a week and a half for creative turnover. Liquid Death avoids this trap by focusing on creative efficiency:

Strategy is the Brand: Pearson states, "liquid death is the idea". The entire existence and framework of the brand is inherently strategic, relying on "doing the thing that we know intuitively is the right thing for us to do".

Speed as a Superpower: The company avoids formal briefs and excessive internal discussions to maintain their speed.

Real-Time Insights: Since Liquid Death functions as its own media channel, immediate feedback is available via platforms like TikTok, reducing the need for lengthy, informed strategy beforehand.

The In-House Creative Machine

Liquid Death’s creative success is rooted in its dedication to being "creative from bottom to top", a philosophy enabled by having a creative founder and CEO, Mike Cesario.

Their internal structure, despite the brand's rapid growth, remains "very small". The team operates via an in-house production arm called Death Machine, which has been producing and directing all their work internally for over three years.

This vertical integration allows the team to operate with speed and total control, producing work for a "fraction" of the cost of industry competitors, including two Super Bowl spots.

Principles for Fearless Creativity

Pearson encourages the creative industry to adopt several key Liquid Death principles:

Sell the Smallest Idea: Instead of striving for big, integrated campaigns, Pearson advises: "sell the smallest idea you can". Liquid Death’s successful work is often "insane, but... really small".

Embrace Disposable Work: They approach all output as "super disposable". The emphasis is on high volume and speed, putting out a new campaign nearly every week.

Hustle and High Volume: Success comes from continually testing and learning, comparable to a stand-up comedian testing material at an open mic night.

Harness Humour: Pearson feels that humour is "so underutilised" in marketing, noting that people are often scared of it. Liquid Death uses dark humour and gallows humour to turn industry self-loathing into something positive.

The AI Test and the Future of In-House

Regarding the rising conversation around AI and creativity, Pearson views AI as an "amazing tool" but highlights its limitations in generating genuinely new ideas. He shared that when he prompted ChatGPT for new Liquid Death flavour names, the results were names the brand had "already named ourselves". The AI was simply feeding the company's own data back to them, confirming that "the only inputs were from you directly".

Pearson stresses that the "human side of the equation" is essential, emphasising the value of on-set improv and the "weird missteps" that lead to genuine comedy.

Ultimately, Pearson believes the shift to in-house creative leadership is inevitable because it enables leaders to have more "true impact that you can really make on a business".

His final takeaway for the industry is to embrace the unknown: "just because it's the way that things have been done, doesn't mean it still has to be that way". He believes more companies will continue to follow Liquid Death's path, breeding "much stronger brands into the future".

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