Liquid Death Sparkling Energy Drink Can't Help You Fly

Folks learn that the hard way as brand spoofs Red Bull

Look out below!

If a character foolishly leaps off the roof at the start of a commercial, they better show up in a full body cast for a chicken-wing meal at the end.

And so it goes in Liquid Dead’s summer push for its Sparkling Energy drink. This time, the gimmick’s a daily contest for $20 DoorDash gift cards to help users buy wings (or whatever nosh they prefer).

“Energy drink brands position themselves as the beverage for extreme athletes,” LD VP of creative Andy Pearson tells Muse. “But since our easy-drinking Sparkling Energy has an un-extreme amount of caffeine and zero sugar, we can’t claim it will actually help you fly. But we can buy people chicken wings at least.”

Pearson directed the advert above, leading LD’s in-house team. They spoofed Red Bull’s vaunted “Gives You Wings” positioning, obvi.

Now, most brands would shy away from showing a human fall from a roof, even in funny (clearly faux) fashion. LD, however, had no such qualms, which gives the message some extra edge.

“Initially, I thought this was going to be a fairly easy shoot,” Pearson recalls. “But then we were shooting with our fantastic stuntwoman doing falls, rigged to the edge of a roof, and stuck in a real full-body cast. The cast was actually the worst. It took over two hours to apply while they had to sit totally motionless. We had prepped the chicken wings, which, with the doors open at the house, started to attract flies.”

“Our actor got really, really, really concerned that a fly was going to fly into her cast and get stuck inside while she was trapped in the contraption. We had to keep fans on her and only shot in the casts for about 20 minutes before we started cutting them off.”

The contest runs through Sept. 12 for folks who buy any can or case of Liquid Death Sparkling Energy. No roof-jumps required. For now.

CREDITS

Founder/CEO: Mike Cessario
SVP Marketing: Dan Murphy
VP of Creative: Andy Pearson
VP of Marketing: Greg Fass
VP of Design: Frank Dresmé
Creative Director: Will Carsola
Associate Creative Director: Stu Golley
Senior Nihilist: Brendan Kelly
Brand Manager: Jeanne Irwin
Senior Graphic Designer: Kellen Breen
Executive Producer: Zoë Andrikidis
Director: Andy Pearson
Director of Photography: Kelsey Talton
1st AD: Julian Metter
Gaffer: Eddy Scully
Key Grip: Aaron Burton
Production Designer: Justin Lieb
Color: Bryan Smaller @ Company 3
Sound Mix: Tyler Beasley
VFX: Yellow Sweater
Editor: Tyler Beasley