Who is Liquid Death owner Mike Cessario? Net worth, controversies, and all we know about viral canned water

A new “drink on the job” Liquid Death commercial debuted during Super Bowl LIX. The latest advertisement adds to the brand’s history of parodying alcoholic beverages with edgy humor.

Over the last few years, the canned water company has garnered much attention in the U.S. for its marketing. A lot of credit for Liquid Death’s popularity goes to Mike Cessario, founder and CEO of the Los Angeles-based firm. Cessario was a full-time advertising creative for over 10 years, between 2008 and 2019.

According to his LinkedIn, Mike is an alumnus of ArtCenter College of Design, where he got his BFA in Advertising. He graduated in 2008 and got the idea of Liquid Death in 2009 while attending the Vans Warped Tour music festival. In a 2022 interview with CNBC, Cessario saw musicians drinking water from Monster Energy-branded cans. He recalled:

“It started making me think about: Why aren’t there more healthy products that still have funny, cool, irreverent branding? Because most of the funniest, most memorable, irreverent branding marketing is all for junk food.”

In 2017, Mike Cessario and his partners trademarked the name of their brand. Ultimately, they started a Facebook page without a product in 2018. However, once their FB post went viral, they launched the product in the US in early 2019.

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Liquid Death reached a net worth of over $1.4 billion within five years of launch

Starting with the tagline “murder you thirst,” Cessario and his team chose the “dumbest” name for their brand, the CEO told CNBC in 2022. The ironic spin on the name of the canned water brand worked like a charm, as the company reached a net worth of $700 million in 2022 and doubled it to $1.4 billion in 2024.

Cessario also told CNBC that he used a “3D rendering of his can design” to create their brand’s Facebook page in 2018. Although the brand didn’t reach the market until January 2019, the team behind the FB page shot a two-minute commercial starring Cessario’s wife’s actress friend.

The commercial cost $1,500, while subsequent social media promotions cost a few thousand extra. However, the video soon garnered traction with over three million views in the next four months, while the FB page had gained around 80,000 followers. Ultimately, Liquid Death got seed funding of $1.6 million from Science Ventures, CNBC reports.

Over the years, the ironic humor featured in Liquid Death’s commercial has also received applause from the fans. However, the company courted controversy when it announced its three iced tea flavors in 2023 – Grim Leafer, Rest in Peach, and Armless Palmer.

Armless Palmer was the company’s pun on the popular beverage Arnold Palmer, which combines iced tea and lemonade. After getting backlash and a lawsuit threat from Arizona Beverage Company, which markets and sells Arnold Palmer, Liquid Death changed the name to Dead Billionaire, according to Wikipedia.

Besides that, the brand has been criticized by some for its use of aluminum cans, which many believe have environmental hazards (due to its mining). The company has a “Death to Plastic” motto, and it relies on aluminum cans. Despite the company’s claims about using recycled cans, its critics feel that a fraction of them are still single-use.

Apart from its criticisms, the viral canned water company collaborated with The Boys and issued a fake public apology in 2024. In another humorous marketing campaign, the company got The Deep (played by Chace Crawford) to advertise their product. However, in the video, The Deep is seen smoking a cigarette around children, forcing the company to apologize.

According to CNBC, the company packages "mountain water." It sells beverages including still water, flavored sparkling water, and iced tea alternatives. The company claims its sparkling water range has no sweeteners, preservatives, or additives. However, Wikipedia states that the brand has confirmed using agave nectar in its flavored sparkling waters.