Liquid Death is leveraging Super Bowl LVI in through an inventive, challenger campaign that combines football, sports betting and witchcraft to try and win money on the Big Game.
The drinks outfit claims it is the first brand ever to place a bet on the Big Game with a $50,000 punt on the underdogs (the Cincinnati Bengals) through Caesars Sportsbook.
Plus, to hedge its bet and improve its chances of winning big, the brand has brought a ticket to the 13 February game and is sending a real witch to the Super Bowl to cast spells at the game from LA’s SoFi Stadium to steer the game in the brand’s favour.
While the brand is currently keeping the witch’s identity a secret, the campaign PR states that the black magic practitioner has 42 years of experience and intends to use the sun, Jupiter and Mercury to direct the outcome.
If the eco-conscious canned water company wins its bet, 50% of the money will be donated to its ongoing #DeathToPlastic initiative – a sustainability initiative aimed at combatting plastic waste.
To promote its Super Bowl stunt, which also aims to show that using witchcraft can make the world a better place, Liquid Death rolled out a campaign created with agency Party Land that was led by a hero spot (which dropped on 28 January) featuring the witch with his face obscured and voice distorted in a candle-lit room surrounded by skulls and potions, including a jar labeled ‘dragon’s blood chunks’.
The lead spot was supported by a set of social content and a PR push with all content urging viewers to ‘tune in to see if it works 2.13.22.’
The self-style renegade start-up, known for marketing which wears its outrageousness on its sleeve, this approach seeks to pitch the Super Bowl as a David v Goliath battle – one which reflects the brand’s own small challenger positioning against incumbent heavyweight competitor drinks brands such as Monster and Red Bull which also target the young gamer, skater and metalhead segments.
“Sports fans are probably the most superstitious people in the entire world—you have to wear the right hat, the right jersey and sit on the right spot on the couch for your team to win,” explained Liquid Death Creative VP Andy Pearson. “And we’ve done campaigns before where we’ve tapped into people’s superstitions around witchcraft. Some people believe in it, some think it’s fake, but either way, a lot of people don’t seem too keen to mess with it. So it seemed perfect to meld the two superstitions together and see what happens.”
Pearson even believes that the campaign might even affect the way some people watch the game.
“Was that interception or fumble or Hail Mary real, or did Liquid Death and their witch have something to do with it?” he added. “Even if you don’t believe in the power of witchcraft, it does make you wonder.”
Comment
While Liquid Death is one brand that won’t be airing a Big Game commercial this year, plenty of fans will be fascinated to see whether it wins its bet in a marketing stunt that not only leverages America’s biggest annual TV event, but also leverages the huge explosion in US sports betting.
After all, Americans spent $52.7bn on sports betting last year.
The fact that the Bengals already defied the betting odds in the Playoffs by beating the top two seeds in the AFC – the Tennessee Titans and the Kansa City Chiefs – surely bodes well for the drinks brand?
The campaign not only sees the brand join a long list of Super Bowl guerrilla initiatives but it also dovetails with Liquid Death’s strategy of ‘creating entertainment not marketing’.
This left-field, creative Super Bowl initiative follows on from the brand’s previous sports-linked marketing campaign which saw it team up with skateboarding legend Tony Hawks on a limited edition set of skateboards painted with ‘Hawk’s Blood’.
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.