Death To Your Ears
Merch: Death To Your Ears Speaker
There’s Quiet Time and There’s Metal Time
Copy: Quiet time sucks. Being loud doesn't. That’s why this school year, Liquid Death is bringing metal time to elementary school classrooms. Teachers can kick off metal time by 'cracking open the can' (speaker), which only plays heavy metal music. As the music blares, students can go crazy. A healthy beverage... and a healthy emotional release. Play it loud. It's Death to Your Ears.
Activation: Video Storyboard
Death To Your Ears
Copy: Gone are the days when the sound of bells ruled school grounds. It's time for students to take control. This year, transport to a world of chaos and death metal. When you crack open a can of Liquid Death at school, you'll rock out in your own world. It’s Death to Your Ears.
Stunt: Rage Room Pop-Up
Rage Against the Classroom
What’s better than the start of a new school year? Everything. Want your high school students to start the year off killing it in the classroom? Rent out a Liquid Death pop-up rage room trailer for your school. Students may not like sitting in class, but they sure will enjoy going crazy smashing objects to heavy metal music. This stunt/social execution will give students the opportunity to let out all their emotions. They'll post about it too—nothing's more Instagram-worthy than a rage room. It's Death to Your Ears. (And ours!)
Client: Liquid Death
Project Title: Death To Your Ears
Year: 2023
Type: Collaborative project (spec work) for a brief created by Liquid Death’s Creative Director, Andy Pearson
Role: Lead Copy Developer and Creative
Copy Writing: I led the creation of the campaign copy, ensuring it stayed true to Liquid Death’s unique voice. This included slogans, taglines, and the script for the primary commercial, where I emphasized the chaotic transformation of a school setting into a death metal concert. I also developed supporting copy for activations like the Rage Room Pop-Up and the Metal Time speaker.
Visual Contributions: I contributed to the conceptual visual development, collaborating with my partner to define the look and feel of the campaign. This included brainstorming the transformation of classical instruments into heavy metal guitars and designing a rebellious classroom environment that aligned with the brand’s aesthetic.
Brief: How can Liquid Death create buzz and engage students and parents with a humorous, rebellious back-to-school campaign?
As a rising disruptor in the beverage industry, Liquid Death aims to shift the perception of their brand from being misunderstood as an energy drink or beer to a "hilarious, healthy beverage brand" that encourages kids to drink water. The client, Creative Director Andy Pearson, tasked my Conceptual Brand Thinking class with developing three distinct campaign ideas for the back-to-school season: one activation, one merch item, and one stunt. The goal was to create a simple, press-worthy, and hilarious concept that would resonate with Liquid Death’s target audience—parents and kids with a sense of humor—while sparking conversation and driving engagement on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. The campaign had to be in line with the brand’s rebellious image without directly discussing health benefits in order to get people talking and reposition Liquid Death as the beverage that secretly makes kids drink more water.