Liquid Death and Garage Beer target AI data centres — with pee
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Liquid Death and Jason Kelce's Garage Beer have hijacked the year's hottest culture-war grievance — hatred of AI data centres — with a deliberately crude stunt campaign, a masterclass in newsjacking a policy backlash for earned media.
What the brands did
Liquid Death teamed with Jason Kelce's Garage Beer on a 90-second musical film in which the retired NFL star collects urine to 'cool' AI server farms, scored by audio company Butter and featuring Liquid Death's 'Murder Man' mascot. The push includes a tongue-in-cheek 'Coolant Collector' product.
What began as a retail co-packaging tie-up between the two challenger brands expanded into a broader gross-out stunt, created largely in-house with outside comedians.
Newsjacking a real grievance
The genius is in the target. The film cites data centres needing up to five million gallons of water a day for cooling, and references Gallup polling showing 70%-plus of Americans oppose data centres near them (nearly half strongly). The brands are surfing a genuine, rising public anger.
Attaching a brand to a live cultural grievance — done with humour rather than preachiness — is how challengers earn outsized attention on tiny budgets. The controversy is the media plan.
Why crude works for these brands
Gross-out humour only works when it's true to the brand. Liquid Death has built a fortune on transgressive, heavy-metal irreverence, so a pee joke is on-brand rather than desperate. A blander brand attempting the same would simply look like it's trying too hard.
That authenticity is the moat. Liquid Death can go places safer brands can't precisely because it has spent years earning permission to be outrageous.
Our read for marketers
The transferable idea is to look for the cultural tension your audience already feels and give it a voice — but only in a tone your brand has genuinely earned. Newsjacking a grievance is high-reward and high-risk; the risk is entirely about whether the voice is credibly yours.
And note the efficiency: a mostly in-house stunt riding a hot topic generated national coverage no media budget could buy. For challengers, earned attention beats bought reach every time.
Quick FAQ
What is the Liquid Death and Garage Beer campaign?
A 90-second musical stunt film starring Jason Kelce collecting urine to 'cool' AI data centres, plus a 'Coolant Collector' product — lampooning public hatred of data centres. It grew from a retail co-packaging tie-up between the brands.
Why target AI data centres?
The film cites data centres needing up to 5 million gallons of water a day and Gallup polling showing 70%+ of Americans oppose them nearby — a genuine, rising grievance the brands are newsjacking for earned media.
Why does the crude humour work?
It's true to Liquid Death's transgressive brand. Gross-out marketing only lands when the tone is one the brand has genuinely earned; a blander brand would look desperate.
— Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
Give voice to a cultural tension your audience already feels — but only in a tone your brand has genuinely earned, because that authenticity is the whole moat.
What cultural grievance does your audience feel that your brand could credibly give a voice to?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: Marketing Dive, Adweek, Billboard.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
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