It may be making a killing in the U.S., but Liquid Death turned up DOA across the pond.
Questions arose as soon as the chaos-loving canned water said it would exit the U.K. market last week: How did the brand – currently inescapable in the U.S. – flop overseas? Certainly the country that gave us Black Sabbath and Judas Priest can’t be too afraid of some heavy metal packaging.
The company claimed the pullback was due to limited production capabilities, but U.K. publication The Grocer noted that while the product didn’t make a big splash, with just £2 million ($2.48 million) in retail dollar sales in the 52 week period ending September 7, 2024 and discount retailers offering cans at 3-for-£1 steals, per NielsenIQ data.
Everyone’s got a theory, of course. While supply certainly played a role, some food and beverage industry stalwarts mused this weekend about what got lost in translation.
Food scientist Harpreet Sangha argued that Liquid Death’s “loud branding” doesn’t resonate with U.K. consumers the way it does with Americans, while Ross Allmark, founder of advisory firm Creative Grid, suggested that U.K. supermarkets are “an unforgiving landscape” with a tendency to “put the newer niche brands in the big out-of-town stores in provincial markets”.
U.K.-based marketer Harry Lang told International Business Times that some of the faults do appear to be struggles navigating the terrain: “They missed out on prime real estate like Tesco Meal Deals or Boots, which could have boosted sales.”
It also didn’t help that some consumers apparently thought it was an energy drink.
But it wouldn’t be the first time a U.S. business has run into a wall elsewhere. The Harvard Business Review notes that when going overseas, brands must take care to adapt to local culture and forge close relationships with local partners.
We don’t have an exact count on how Liquid Death made those moves in the U.K., but nevertheless something appears to have been lost in translation.