In a new campaign from Liquid Death, geriatric women act like the stereotypical agro-bros who often star in energy drink ads: They rock out in a heavy metal band, do donuts in a car and grind down handrails on skateboards.
And that’s just the tame stuff.
When they get really saucy, they fistfight in an octagon, flip off the camera and launch fireworks from their private parts. Granny, please!
There’s no pearl clutching required though, which is immediately obvious by some terrible prosthetics in the brand’s latest video. These are Liquid Death ambassadors and employees—including co-founder and CEO Mike Cessario—dressed as the elderly gals gone wild.
‘Grandma Energy’
It’s all in service of hyping Liquid Death’s first push beyond its still and sparkling waters in cans. For its line of low-calorie, low-sugar iced teas, the brand is making a statement about the sedate reputation of an old-school beverage category while flipping some well-worn ad tropes on their heads.
Liquid Death’s in-house marketers are also leaning into the notion that their target audience will find the over-the-top shenanigans in “Grandma Energy” to be hilarious. And they’re probably right.
“The stunts came out of the places that energy drink marketing has always tried to own—metal, extreme sports, MMA—but tea is the original energy drink,” Andy Pearson, vp of creative, told Adweek. “Your grandma was drinking it before you were even born. It only made sense to make an amped-up energy drink video starring grandmas.”
Jackass pedigree
In keeping with its outrageous persona—honed in campaigns built around porn stars, witch doctors and horror flicks—the brand hired Jackass co-creator and director Jeff Tremaine to shoot the video. The creative dismisses iced tea as “my grandma’s energy drink,” according to a spokesman in the ad’s first frame.
Viewers immediately know they’re in for a classic Liquid Death experience when the next scene drags that same guy into a port-a-potty massacre engineered by a couple of rowdy octogenarians.
The new products put Liquid Death into a space already overflowing with legacy and emerging brands such as Lipton, Snapple, Arizona, Gold Peak, Bai and Tazo.
Rest in Peach
And though they have over-the-top names like Grim Leafer, Armless Palmer and Rest in Peach, Liquid Death’s black tea-based drinks contain “a microdose of caffeine, a small amount of agave” and just 30 calories, per the brand, staking out a better-for-you positioning.
“We are building a healthy beverage platform that makes health and sustainability just as fun and entertaining as junk food and alcohol,” Cessario told Adweek. “Low-sugar iced tea was a way for us to add some functionality into our healthy beverage offering through a well-established category. And much like water, tea is a huge category with a lot of stale brands.”
Liquid Death has brought “new customers like men and Gen Z” into premium still and sparkling water, Cessario said, with the new product expected to continue expanding the brand’s demographic.
“In terms of function, our tea has a microdose of naturally occurring caffeine to give a healthier little bump of energy in a beverage world that has become over-energized with crazy levels of caffeine,” Cessario said. “Not sure how many people think that what the world needs right now is to get even more amped up.”
CREDITS:
Co-Founder/CEO: Mike Cessario
SVP of marketing: Dan Murphy
VP of creative: Andy Pearson
VP of marketing: Greg Fass
VP of design: Franke Dresmé
Creative director: Will Carsola
Executive producer: Johnny Eastlund
Senior producer: Tatianna Rodriguez
Senior campaign manager: Tia Sherwood
Director of program management: Lia Alberti
Associate creative director: Stu Golley
Editor: Tyler Beasley
Senior nihilist: Brendan Kelly
Production coordinator: Emily Draznik
Production manager: Cookie Walukas
Director: Jeff Tremaine
Director of photography: Wyatt Troll
Executive producer: Shanna Zablow
Camera operator: Dimitri Elyashkevich
Camera operator: Jackson Montemayor
Prosthetics: Alterian
Prosthetics lead: Tony Gardner
Production company: Gorilla Flicks
