Tone of voice comparison: Liquid Death vs Smart Water

Liquid Death is a loud-mouthed firm that started hitting the headlines in 2019.

Smart Water, meanwhile, has a more conventionally disruptive attitude which it's been honing since 1996.

Liquid Death was founded by a superstar advertising Creative Director, Mike Cessario, who wanted to stretch his legs creatively, while Smart Water was created (one imagines) because Coca Cola executives saw a gap in the market.

In this article, we'll examine how these differences play out in terms of brand tone of voice.?

The text will include a fun section that likens Liquid Death’s brand personality to Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash and Smart Water’s to Harry Styles.

Imaginary brand voice narratives

Liquid Death’s brand voice narrative is rooted in death and destruction. This combative spirit spurs on the brand in its fight against plastic waste, unhealthy living, and corporate America.

Let’s see how this story compares to Smart Water.

Smart Water’s brand voice narrative is all about youth and inspiration. This fuels the company in its search to remain a “disruptor” in the bottled water market, offering a smarter, more modern product than competitors.

Now we understand a bit more about the narratives of the two brands, let’s conceptualise some tonal values.

Tonal value #1

Liquid Death: F*ck normal

Normal companies use persuasion. Liquid Death deploys force. They browbeat customers with an aggressive tone.?

How does it work? Well, for example, they write with words that evoke fear and dismay—like “skull”, “death”, and “conquer”, and they wield imperative sentences all the time. Cast your eyes across the following phrases from the company website: “sell your soul”, “murder your thirst”, and “buy killer merch”.

Smart Water: We do things our own way

Smart Water is much more polite in its choice of language, but that doesn’t mean that the company doesn’t want to stand out.

Indeed, the brand talks directly about “challenging norms”, “delicious disruption”, and “stay[ing] ahead of the curve”. Plus—in a move that might make some writers squirm in their chairs, lower case letters are used at the start of headlines. How cheeky is that?

Tonal value #2

Liquid Death: F*ck lies

As far as Liquid Death is concerned, consumers have been duped for decades by corporations selling them plastic that pollutes the planet. With this in mind, the company wants authenticity. To get there, “we” is used a lot, as is self-deprecation.

Check out the following quote: “We’re just a funny beverage company who hates corporate marketing as much as you do.... But enough about us and our boring marketing story, tell us about you.”

Smart Water: We’re the future

A bit like Jared Leto, Smart Water is a company that never seems to get old. This isn’t an easy act to pull off in tone of voice. It requires strategic language choices. The brand searches for eternal youth with fun and informal phrases like “you gotta refresh”, “we’ve got places to go”, and “drop in on social”.

Tonal value #3

Liquid Death: F*cking funny

Being funny is a way of cutting through the marketing noise. Liquid Death goes all in on unusual word combinations. You can see this in the names of some of their drinks, such as “Mango chainsaw” and “severed lime”.

The firm also uses puns. For instance, in their shop they sell limited edition vinyl called “greatest hates vol. 3”.?

For even more comedic effect, the brand adopts the tried and tested trick of surprise endings. See here: “You've never had this much fun with a severed head!” or “Limited-Edition 12-inch vinyl (140 gram)--clear vinyl with opaque blood red swirled in.”

Smart Water: Diet sentences.

Smart Water wants to be understood by all. And when it comes to copy one of the easiest ways of being understood is being simple.

Look at the following text on the web homepage: “meet smartwater’s newest global brand ambassador, Zendaya. Together, smartwater and Zendaya are supporting community water programs.”

In these sentences, the copy team has reduced everything to what’s absolutely necessary.

Which famous person embodies the spirit of the company?

Liquid Death: Slash

Known for his shock and awe personality Slash personifies Liquid Death. His famous quotes include, “I never want to draw attention to myself, but that’s all I do” and “risk isn’t a word in my vocabulary”.

In short, he’s totally insane, reflecting Liquid Death’s values. ??

Smart Water: Harry Styles

One of the world’s biggest pop stars, Harry Styles is a smooth operator feted for his boyish good looks and simple yet cheeky lyrics.

An intelligent and multi-talented actor and musician, Harry’s fun, extroverted, and responsible. Just like Smart Water.

Agree? Disagree? Strongly disagree?

Do you agree with me about the Liquid Death and Smart Water tones of voice? Have I got it right or completely wrong?

Let me know in the comments below.?

#LiquidDeath #SmartWater #ToneofVoice?