TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome to the Investment Topics by Gssima podcast. Today, host Matt Yu speaks with Marissa Bertha, senior VP of Strategy at Liquid Death, a hyper-growth beverage company known for its unique products and clever marketing. Please note that Gasima is an investor in Liquid Death. Now, here’s your host, Matt Yu. Hello, Marissa. Thank you so much for being a part of our podcast. Welcome. Thank you. Happy to be here. Well, I wanted to start off with giving the audience a sense of, you know, your professional background and how you got, you know, what’s what’s the path that led you to Liquid Death? It’s a great question, Matt. I, I have a different background, if you will. And I think that’s unique to Liquid Death. Many of us have unique backgrounds, including our founder, who has a marketing and advertising and creative background. But for me, how I ended up at Liquid Death was actually having a retail background, specifically in the convenience channel. So I spent 10 years, almost 10 years before joining Liquid Death at 7-Eleven, the largest convenience, well, the largest retailer by door count worldwide, and at 7-Eleven held multiple roles. I worked in strategy, I worked in business development, I led our corporate venture arm for many years, I built out the emerging brands program there, and by the time I left, I was vice president of growth. So that was leading the venture arm as well as non-C-Store acquisitions.
So had multiple roles while at 7-Eleven, and because I built out the venture arm to make investments in food and beverage businesses and built out the emerging brands team, really found a passion for beverage, for consumer trends, what was driving purchase behavior and really felt like the convenience store channel was such a great place for new brands to come if they knew single serve immediate consumption was going to be part of their broader channel strategy. And that’s how I met Liquid Death many years ago in 2018, 2019, forged a relationship with the founder, Mike Cesario, ended up meeting many of their investors. And, you know, the can is so iconic. It’s so unique looking that, you know, for me, holding and feeling and looking at the can and knowing our franchisee community and knowing the 7-Eleven customer and C-Store customer, I had, I knew Liquid Death would be a home run. So it, you know, really for me, it was always something special from the moment I got to get familiar with the brand. At 7-Eleven, you all had an opportunity to invest in the company, right?
Well, 7-Eleven doesn’t disclose any of their individual investments, but I will say Liquid Death was the top performer in any emerging brands, pilots, and programs that I ran, uh, there’s a special relationship with the company. And, and even most recently when Liquid Death entered into the ice tea category, 7-Eleven has always been a great partner for launching new innovation. And, and so, yeah, we have a special relationship. I mean, what, at first plus when you, when you saw this, uh, product back in, it was a 2019, I mean, what did you think? Did you think is this is peculiar or this is going to work or this is going to work? I see this happening. No, I, I, I had very, I mean, the can is a walking billboard. The brand name was so strategic to be able to, you know, you know, catch people in the aisle.
And yeah, so I knew early on that the C-Store consumer that purchased, you know, energy drinks, single-serve beer, it looked like a beer, the branding acted like a beer, I knew it would be successful in the convenience channel, and I had already invested in successful energy drink companies, water companies. I will say what was different about Liquid Death that made me just like the brand so much more was the humorous and entertainment angle to the branding, the sustainability mission, and the infinitely recyclable can. At the time that we launched at 7-Eleven, it was the only and still is the only canned still water nationally sold. That’s very common even with other retailers. So there were so many brand and product attributes that, you know, as you really got to learn the brand and, honestly, read the side of the can, you could see that this was approaching, you know, the water category from such a different perspective and different angle. And, you know, still water, which was the first category liquid death entered, is such a, you know, big mainstream, massive non-alcohol beverage category. And so, disrupting, you know, very large addressable market is done with a can that looks very different from the C, single-use plastic bottles, and the brand name same, very different. And that’s what was intentional from day one to be able to compete in a very competitive landscape. It’s interesting you say that. I just want to take a step back and talk about the landscape. I mean, you’ve been there 10 years prior to a liquid death. You’ve been at 7-Eleven for about 10 years, you said.
So, you had a pretty good view on all the different types of beverage companies, especially the up and coming beverage companies, what would you say is the state of the startup beverage companies or independent beverage companies today versus just five years ago or 10 years ago? And do you see any kind of signs of consolidation happening over the next couple of years? There’s so much to unpack in that question. When I started investing in beverage businesses in 2015, 2016, it was right at the period where there was so much innovation, so many new brands entering the scene. Many brands launch with the intention of they want to be acquired by some of the large businesses. The reality is there’s only a handful of successful M&A transactions in the last, certainly, five years, 10 years, if you look at it at, you know, some of those very successful acquisitions, but, you know, Liquid Death has always been wanting to be an independent beverage business for the long haul and build a business with sound fundamentals, uh, where a multi-category brand under a single brand name. And that’s not common. When you ask, what was I seeing in the marketplace? Many, you know, there was a new, there were so many new water brands, so many new energy drinks.
This was the era of the performance energy category. So energy drinks over 200 milligrams per can, which is kind of mind blowing the amount of caffeine in, in a, in a single can. There were functional and still are functional beverages entering the scene, but those were, you know, often trying to tackle maybe certain niche criteria. And so when I think about what makes, you know, what was the landscape or what were the trends, you know, of course, yes, the energy drink category continued to expand performance energy was essentially a new subcategory created. But where I think their success, at least when I look back to, you know, who are the players that are still seen, you know, very few, I can’t think of one that is a multi-category brand under a single brand name. And plus, Liquid Death is bringing differentiation, yes, from packaging, you know, we’re in an infinitely recyclable can that’s very different, you know, for still water, but we’re a premium mountain water.
We are flavored sparkling water that is, you know, low-calorie, low-sugar, often consumed as a soda replacement. And we’re a healthy iced tea, you know, relative to the super high-sugar artificial ingredients products in the iced tea category. So we bring differentiation in so many dimensions. Package, healthy beverage platform, multi-category brand under a single brand name, and those are the factors that are driving that success formula. And I felt, if I were to reflect back on what my portfolio looked like at 7-Eleven, we were looking for differentiation, of course. Liquid Death hit all the criteria, but there was a lot of a sea of sameness in terms of the brands that were pitching. And I think that’s what, at the core, I do worry about of all of these brands out there, like what makes them different? What problem are they solving? Are they in big mainstream categories like we are, or are they in niche categories, or are they trying to be category creators and educate a consumer? Those are much harder problems to tackle.
You know, being in multiple mainstream categories and being so disruptive with brand, using humor and entertainment, we’re using tried and true playbooks, but with a twist, meaning doing it for healthy beverages, entering categories with disruption. And I think that it’s a long-winded answer to say, like, I don’t think all brands are that intentional from the initial product and branding inception that makes us so different, that we’re building a brand. We’re not just, you know, launching a product. That’s great. That really, I think, helps to differentiate and distinguish who this company is and what this company is about. So that’s a great answer. Thank you. Wow. Just listening to all the different roles that you had at your company, we just say that it primes you pretty well for this current seat. And kind of what’s it been like going from a multi-billion dollar beverage company, a retail company, to, you know so it’s essentially a startup still, I guess.
So certainly, yes, it’s a big transition to move from a large corporate environment to a startup scene. I do pride myself that I ran a very entrepreneurial team. I loved our mission. I loved our speed to execution. We were extremely active in investing during COVID when most corporate venture teams were nervous about the unknowns. We doubled down on making investments during that time. But I’ll pause there and say, I certainly was naive in many of the transitions moving from a large infrastructure to a small business. And also my role was very different. I invested off of the cap table, excuse me, off of the 7-Elevens balance sheet, at 7-Eleven, whereas now at Liquid Deaths, I help lead fundraising. And fundraising is, I’ve actually found myself and have really enjoyed in my two years at Liquid Deaths, but fundraising is always going to be hard. And I’ve had multiple rounds of funding, and I think that’s a testament to the growth and the results, and also, I say this all the time, this is a once-in-generation brand led by a once-in-generation founder. And I mean that wholeheartedly, but it wouldn’t sound true if we didn’t have the business results to back that up. But certainly, fundraising is part of my role. Investor relations is part of my role. Corporate strategy, uses of capital. Long-term planning, and for us, big long-term planning, for example, was go-to-market strategy, channel strategy.
It’s all the building blocks of building a large, you know, a successful beverage business. So certainly, yes, wear multiple hats, work cross-functionally with our management team, you know, do a lot with board relations, management material, but I don’t, I certainly wouldn’t change it. And people often say, you know, once you have that first moving to the operator side or going to a startup, it’s very hard to go back. And I fully believe that in my, you know, two years at Liquid Death, which really feel like a decade worth of experience in a short period. Mm-hmm. Okay. Great. And so what do you think are the factors, you know, sort of the necessary factors to drive a startup to a successful, you know, multi-billion dollar, you know, valued company down the road? Any company particular to the business? Yeah. No, there’s so many. So for in the food and beverage space.
Obviously, I was an investor before I came to the startup side. Big addressable markets, established categories, I’ve already alluded to that when I mentioned why I felt maybe some of the emerging brands would struggle to be successful, but Liquid Death certainly is playing in very large, established, mainstream, global categories. Water, flavored, sparkling water, iced tea, there’s no education required in these categories, and I think sometimes emerging brands underestimated the brand education that they were having to do, and that also translates into dollars when you’re trying to educate a customer based on your product attributes or why you should consume X product over Y product.
I’d say my number one criteria, well, first, my number one criteria is incredibly focused, strong, founder and management team. And then second, as a consumer investor, large addressable markets that are well-established. And I can’t overemphasize my first point of strong founder, in our case, visionary founder, using a playbook that existed. So using humor and entertainment to market is not a new concept. What Mike Cesario is doing is applying that playbook that has been used in beer or soda or junk food, he’s applying it to healthy brands, to better for you brands or brands with a sustainability mission. That is what is so differentiated.
I go back to, but it’s a tried and true playbook. We know it works in, in marketing, advertising. And, and so I, him being such a visionary focused founder and building out a management team, and that is so paramount for a company, you know, to be successful and then specific to consumer brands. But I also think whether, you know, large addressable market is an important component, um, regardless of, of category. And I’d say those two are the two biggest. Um, I’d also say the third piece is like, what makes you, you know, special? What makes you differentiated? Like if you’re giving an investor pitches, like why believe in this investment opportunity versus other and others, and why will it be successful in liquid death, liquid death marketing is our superpower and branding and bringing that as so embedded in brand name, in packaging, in the can, in the case art, in all the ads that we do, that is what will be the distinguishing factor in conjunction with those first two points, obviously team and large categories. So that what makes you different, what will be your reason to be successful, those are, I’d say those would be my three main criteria for, you know, why we believe we will be successful. Got it. Okay.
I mean, one of those factors actually brings up to my next question has to do with management and within the past 12 months or so, I think you’ve, the company has brought in two big hires into the C-suite, Chief Commercial Officer Steve Ballard, who I’ve met, as well as the Chief Financial Officer right? His name is Kareem Sadiq Khan, I think his name is, right? That’s correct. So Steve Ballard joined Liquid Death in October of 2023, long career in beverage, most recently joined us from Mark Anthony Brands. He was head of sales that was really one of the leader in White Claws expansion, which we know was the leader in the hard seltzer growth. Steve is a phenomenal sales leader, knows how to manage distributors, know how to manage retailers, know how to manage internal teams, knows how to scale brands.
Obviously, White Claw went through hyper growth under his leadership. So a great addition to the Liquid Death management team at the stage that we’re in and already doing so many things in driving, not just top-line revenue growth, but creating the right team and infrastructure, retailer relationships, distributor relationships that are foundational as we think about this next phase of our growth. And then, yes, you mentioned our new CFO. We made that announcement in this month, in June of 2024. Also a veteran in the beverage world, has 20 years of experience at Dr. Pepper Snapple, obviously now called Keurig Dr. Pepper, but at the time a different organization name. Worked at Pepsi, worked most recently at Beam Centauri, but it was Jim Beam at the time that he joined. And these are both Steve Ballard and Kareem Sadiq Khan are just you know, beverage veterans, and they’ve seen it all. They have multi-decade-long careers in the categories that we’re in. And when we think about who needs to be in role on our management team as we look to continue to scale, these are certainly the right leaders to join our management team and already making, you know, a great impact to our business, which is exactly, you know, what we need.
So, couldn’t, couldn’t speak more highly of both of them. I was curious, is this what you expected when you joined the company, having been there now for, you know, some time, or are there plenty of surprises or surprises that came along the way, or, you know, working at a startup, can you talk to that? Certainly. Was it what I expected? You know, I had invested in so many beverage businesses in my time at 7-Eleven. And I now jokingly say I thought I was like in the trenches with them, you know, I was a corporate investor. So, you know, I had this retailer network and we were building out these, you know, execution playbooks and helping be, you know, a catalyst for growth. That is all true. But certainly I was naive to think that I had, I was, you know, in the trenches with, you know, the management team. There is so much that I’ve learned in the two years at Liquid Death about, you know, my own management style, about my own, you know, fundraising approaches, you know, how to think about, you know, strategy.
So is it what I expected? In some respects, yes, because I had worked, you know, with beverage companies for years as a corporate investor. But in many respects, no, it’s I’ve been learning so much from my peer group, learning so much as I researched, you know, other, you know, successful companies. And I think the pace for decision-making, the pace for change is so different in a smaller business versus, you know, large companies, large corporations can be bureaucratic at times. And that’s not, you know, anything specific to 7-Eleven, that’s just, you know, large multi-billion dollar companies with thousands of employees. So there, I love that we have a very collaborative management team. We have a very collaborative, you know, workforce employee base. Everyone is, it’s a great company culture. We all work cross-functionally. In my role specifically, I touch so many parts of the business, and I did have that at 7-Eleven, but not to the debt that I have at Liquid Death. It’s a hard direct answer to say, is it what I thought it would be?
Because there were so many things that have unfolded in these two years at Liquid Death that I couldn’t have anticipated. And I will say, being able to bring my skill sets of strategy, bring my skill sets of fundraising, as being an investor, of advising beverages for years, of having relationships, whether that’s with co-packers or ingredient suppliers or other investors. It’s like everything in my buildup of my career has allowed me to be successful in this role. And that’s unique because I don’t think that many people would have had the building blocks that I had to date and then being able to apply them in the role that I have at Liquid Death. Liquid Death is a very marketing-oriented company and its latest marketing efforts, such as NASCAR and ELF, as well as a jet raffle. Could you speak to that and just how that’s impact, those kind of campaigns have impacted the company on a short-term basis and or a long-term basis? It’s a great question and certainly I’ve already said on the podcast that marketing is our superpower.
Let’s, you know, if we rewind a little bit, Liquid Death’s first foray into the world was a video posted on Facebook that went viral that ended up getting more followers than, you know, Awkwafina and Dasani in a very short period. That was what Mike used initially to get, you know, seed funding. This was before he even put water in a can. And it’s a story that I use because day one, we knew we would always have to drive marketing to punch outside of its weight class. If you look at the global beverage, you know, soda brands or water brands or energy drinks, I mean, their marketing budgets are in the billions. That would never be, you know, how Liquid Death could never win dollar for dollar. And so there was such an intentionality in using the can as the billboard. That’s a marketing tool. The brand name to be able to be, you know, so stop you in your tracks. The case, everything about brand building and marketing is so core to who we are. I think that also speaks to even some additions to the cap table and strategic relationships. Live Nation is an example, the exclusive water sold at concert venues, amphitheaters, music festivals. That was a huge brand awareness builder and allowed us to get not just brand awareness, but sales.
Like we sell liquid, all of these, you know, venues and, and that’s differentiated, uh, and then layer on top of that, you know, the, the, the humor and entertainment factor of, of how we market and how that is not common for a healthy beverage or a, a brand with a sustainability mission. And we’re not building ads that are, you know, like drink this water because it’s more hydrating. We’re entertaining consumers and, and it, and it works and it works because, you know, look at, you know, let’s say our, our followers were the third most followed beverage brand globally on social media, only behind Red Bull and Monster, well, you know, that means we’ve surpassed Coke, we’ve surpassed Pepsi.
We’ve surpassed so many other brands and they have hundreds of millions of dollars in their budget. And so, marketing is our superpower. You mentioned some recent examples and, you know, if you look at just the three that you named from this calendar year, Elf, Kits, you know, I don’t think anyone would have thought a non-Alf beverage brand and a beauty brand would be able to do something that, you know, sold out in like 30 minutes. People were posting them on eBay to resell, you know, well more than double the price, garnered so many, not just, you know, press and impressions, but expanded to a customer base that was very different than, you know, our core demo, Gen Z young females, you know, now we’re loving Liquid Death. If you look at the NASCAR collab, yes, we are the official iced tea of NASCAR, you know, I love that for so many reasons, you know, the core.
Our strategist in me says that’s great for, you know, retail partnerships, that great for activations at, you know, their races. That’s great for, you know, for demo that, you know, loves that, that, you know, I already mentioned the 7-Eleven and C-Store consumer and how, you know, Liquid Death is a top seller in that channel. And there’s a lot of overlap in the NASCAR, you know, customer. So there is such intentionality, you know, with what we’re bringing to market on the marketing side, but we’re always going to be, you know, entertainment, funny, somewhat unexpected like the Elf collab, like the Martha Stewart candle collab, and that’s intentional. And when we can make people laugh and entertain and not just push traditional marketing, you know, one way to consumers, that’s then what creates the, you know, fandom. And I think the last piece that I’ll say about marketing is, you know, we have a merchant apparel business.
We have people that love wearing things that say, you know, t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, you name it, you know, that are branded liquid death. Those are walking billboards too. And there is so much, you know, love for the brand and fandom, call it cult following, that you don’t often see for, you know, a water brand, a flavored sparkling water brand or an iced tea brand. And that has staying power. That has long-term power. And that has always been, you know, for our founder, Mike Cesario, at the core of like what he wanted to build. He wanted to build a brand that was authentic, that resonated, that was healthy, that was sustainable, but also know, could be, you know, over time, you know, billion dollar brand. And that’s, you know, what we’re on the path to, you know, that, that’s what our ambitions are.
By the way, I don’t, I don’t want to end this podcast with not mentioning this, but I saw my most favorite commercial of Liquid Death yesterday, Ozzy. That was hilarious. And I also learned a new word, by the way, boof. But having said that, you know, someone like Ozzy or someone like Martha Stewart or Tony Hawk, all these, you know, you know, high level celebrities that you’re able to endorse the product. How does that happen? Do they usually approach them or they approach you or is this some sort of kismet, you know, thing happening in the universe? You know, Matt, I think this is probably something that is, I could, I could speak a whole separate, you know, podcast on.
You know, we have, I would say the best cap table, the best investors, the best supporters, you know, bar none. And in almost all cases, any collaborators that we work with are investors or huge fans of the brand. And that is interesting because it’s not a traditional, well, here’s our endorsement contract, sign here and we’ll pay you millions of dollars. That’s the very traditional approach where you have a big celebrity or, you know, a big athlete, brand writes a check and they do, you know, the number of items listed in a contract that they’re obligated to deliver on. I couldn’t tell you how different it is with them. And, you know, whether it’s Tony Hawk, who was a huge fan of the brand, investor, partner, or others, that it’s just extremely organic in how the initial conversations or interactions occur. In some cases, the investment first. In other cases, it’s, hey, let’s think about a brand collab opportunity, and then, you know, let’s think about how to structure the deal. But this is where we think about wanting, Liquid Death does, it’s a two-way dialogue. Because in the example of, let’s say, Martha Stewart or Ozzy Osbourne, they also are looking for relevancy with their, you know, fans.
And they know through the track record that Liquid Death creates these incredible content, so cheeky, so fun, so unexpected. And yes, in many cases, you know, wins the internet. You know, that, you know that. So if you’re on their marketing and brand teams, you’re like, man, Liquid Death does bring a lot to the table. And when we can have that equitable conversation and it not be so, you know, transactional like we need you to be, you know, the, the, here’s our sponsor deal. Here’s our endorser deal. It leads to a lot more creativity. Look at Travis Barker and the Enema kits. We, we get, we get people to even go outside of their, you know, traditional roles, you know, with their fans and, and, and that’s where I feel like the magic happens. So we, we are it’s when there’s a two-way benefit, I think that creates a very different end point in these collabs with e.l.f., with NASCAR, you know, like the brand collabs, the talent collabs. And, you know, Mike always says our marketing team kind of runs like the SNL Saturday Night Live writer rooms. And when you’re constantly just always in the sphere of like pop culture and what’s popular, you’re not chasing anything. You’re just like in it and you bring people in. And so, you know, I feel like that allows us to always maintain relevancy and always be, you know, partnering with the, you know, right collaborators, you know, as time progresses, you know, for a fraction of the price, you know, versus shelling out cash just for, you know, every, you know, eel. And that is not common and certainly goes back to, you know, I’ll say it again, marketing being our superpower, that it’s just the start point and the end point are very, almost impossible to replicate if you were a different company. Yeah. Great.
Well, with this marketing behind you, pushing you along, where are you guys kind of focused on, you know, in the next year or two? Is it channel expansion? Is it products SKU expansion? Is it into the international markets? Or is it all the above? You give a little quick highlights on some or all of them. I would say in the three categories that we play in today, premium mountain water, flavored sparkling water, and iced tea there’s runway in channel expansion and SKU expansion in the three categories that exist today. And so, for example, earlier this summer we announced that we had our first rotation in Costco. It was just one SKU in not even all divisions. And that’s an example of we are just starting to think about what’s that club strategy in the future. But yes, channel strategy is a big part of it. SKU expansion, you know, yes, in Costco we introduced the world to our 12 ounce can. Obviously the listeners can’t see us but the 12 ounce can is another lever in the future up until 2024, we were a one hand size company.
And I think there’s a lot more variety and innovation that we can bring to market from a pack size and can size perspective when we have that lever as well. Um, and then you, you mentioned, you know, market, international markets. Yes, of course. I, you, you know, this, obviously you’re a fantastic investor. We did a, let’s call it like a soft launch in the UK, mid last year. We can continue to think about what are the right new countries to enter. We use a lot of our internal data to define that. So we look at web traffic, you know, for countries we look at, you know, comments on our social. You know, as I said, we’re the third most followed brand globally in the beverage space. We have a lot of data, you know that we have access to. And that informs what that expansion strategy will look like into new markets. And yes, of course, that will be a growth lever. But I think right now there’s so much runway in the existing categories that we play in, in new channels that we enter, expansion in the international markets that we are in. And that’s just what’s beyond exciting that we are still in the early inning in our current business. And that is, we have the ability to be such a strong business with sound fundamentals with where we play today.
Where do you see Liquid Death in 10 years? Liquid Death is a healthy beverage platform with a sustainability mission. What is unique to us? Is we are already a multi-category brand and we have so much runway in the existing categories that we’re in, even in, you know, into the next decade. So we will, our ambition is to be, you know, a global beverage brand, a multi-category brand, making people laugh with our entertainment first marketing approach. And we want to be a business with sound fundamentals, with great returns for our shareholders.
And the goal is to be an independent company for the decades to come. And, you know, that’s, Mike has continued to be motivated there, obviously our management team, but being able to be an independent beverage business and in multiple categories, successful in the channels that we play in, future channels that we expand to, there’s just, there’s so much runway and that’s what it keeps us, you know, motivated and excited that there’s a lot of great opportunity ahead. Okay. Great. And our time here is coming pretty close to an end. So I wanted to give you a couple of questions on a quick round, if you don’t mind. Oh, sure. Lightning round. Yeah, lightning round. Exactly. Your favorite merchandise, liquid debt merchandise. So my favorite, this is probably a very basic response.
Our top selling item is this dusty rose sweatshirt. It’s I wear the instant death sweatshirt just has the liquid death logo on front and a giant skull on back. But I probably have that in my like weekly rotation. And I often travel in it. And I have yet to be at an airport without someone say, Oh my gosh, I love liquid death. And so it’s, it’s, that’s my favorite item because I have so many great interactions like out just, you know, you say in the wild, but just in my you know, day-to-day life, whether I’m traveling to L.A. or really anywhere, that it’s always a conversation starter. And I think that would be the case with any of our items, but, like, that’s super unique. Like, I can’t imagine, you know, that happens with really any other beverage brands. Mm-hmm. And your favorite liquid death commercial? You know mine.
Ooh. I have a soft spot for the Martha Stewart severed, dismembered moment. I just, I have always been a fan of Martha Stewart. I think she has such a decorated career, and she has had so many pivots. And to be able to, with her in 2022, so early on in the liquid death journey, I feel like that was a really incredible moment, not just for us, but for her. And that’s why I’d say that’s my favorite commercial. And lastly, what are the beverage, you know, beverages, beverage brands out there that you see kind of ready for takeoff, whether it’s soda or water or iced tea?
Other beverages. I’d actually answer your question in a different way. You know, in my mind, like what brands are like beloved? You know, like I feel like Liquid Death, and that is a proxy for like, you know, will they be successful? Will they be? Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think there’s something, like for us, I’ve talked about like the fandom, the following, the differentiated factors. So those are, you know, attributes that I think are important, you know, to us. But the fandom, I think, also exists, like, in my mind, you know, Mike uses this example, so I’m sharing it from him, but like Trader Joe’s, you know, there’s something, you know, with their private label, they exist in so many different categories. They have a little quirkiness, often, you know, when you see their brand.
You know, they’re, they’re, they’re hoppy on packaging and they also bring to markets so like really like delicious snacks or delicious food or great tasting, you know, drinks. And so, you know, for us, our criteria is, we’ll always be in a can, we’ll always be, you know, a premium offering, we’ll be healthier and, and, and, and a better alternative to, you know, the competitive set. And so I feel like those similar, you know, attributes for Trader Joe’s, you know, big categories, they can enter the scene and then they bring that like quirkiness factor, I think is, and I think that leads me to like the final point is like, there’s like, why, why do I think we will be successful? Because yes, marketing is a huge, you know, part of, you know, what makes us who we are, but I think brands out there have to know who they are at their core and have that be embedded in everything they do.
Product innovation, you know, obviously, you know, product launches, packaging, win a sale, marketing, like everything about us is, is so on brand. And I think that, like, there’s a lot of intentionality to that. And I would say, you know, I, I, I admire just like, you know, Mike admired Trader Joe’s because there’s a lot of intentionality to, you know, who they are, their employee base, same with us. Like the culture behind the brand, the people behind the company is a huge part of, of that, you know, success. So I know I didn’t answer your question, but I think those are, those are such important factors for me in, in, in when I think of like, you know, companies that I admire.
That’s interesting. Yeah, it’s a very comparable example you gave, that’s for sure. You know, crossed multiple categories with the same brand name. So I get that. Well, I think we’ve come to an end here, Marissa. I want to thank you here for being a part of our podcast and enlightening our audience at a level deeper into the Liquid Death story. Well, I want to thank you. I want to thank Tony. We are so grateful for all of our investors. Thank you, you know, for believing in us and for investing in us. I know y’all are, you know, fans before you became investors, but we are just, we’re, you know, thank you for the time today and grateful to have you as part of the team. Sure. Thank you. I would just want to say to the audience to see more of these wonderful videos that we just talked about in commercials. You can go on Liquid Death’s website, which is www.liquiddeath.com. And obviously their products, amazon.com and all the.
Yes, subscribe and save on Amazon. Instagram is a great place to check out all of our content. TikTok, yes, our website as well. I definitely would love to get some feedback from your listeners after they do their own liquid death research. Sure. Happy to share already. Thanks, Marissa. Thank you. Take care. To learn more about startup investing with Gasima, please reach out to us at our website, www.gasimaglobal.com, G-A-S-I-M-A global.com. Thank you.