Mike Cessario

Mike Cessario is the founder and CEO of Liquid Death, the fastest-growing non-alcoholic beverage brand in America, which he built from a punk rock-inspired concept into a company valued at over one billion dollars. A former Netflix creative director, Cessario has become one of the most sought-after speakers on disruptive branding, marketing innovation, and the power of bold ideas.

Killing the Boring Beverage Industry

Cessario founded Liquid Death in 2019 with a radical premise — sell mountain water in tallboy cans with heavy metal branding and an irreverent attitude. The idea was widely dismissed, but Cessario’s genius for viral marketing and brand storytelling turned it into a cultural phenomenon. The brand’s comedic commercials, celebrity partnerships, and unconventional campaigns have generated billions of social media impressions and built a following that rivals established beverage giants. Liquid Death is now available in over 113,000 retail locations.

A Masterclass in Building a Brand People Actually Love

Before Liquid Death, Cessario spent years in advertising and at Netflix, developing an understanding of what makes content capture attention in an oversaturated marketplace. His keynotes deliver actionable lessons on building a brand that breaks through the noise, why entertainment-first marketing outperforms traditional advertising, and how embracing an authentic, polarizing identity creates deeper customer loyalty than playing it safe. His story proves that the most powerful business ideas often come from challenging every assumption in your industry.

Entertain or Die: Day Trading Attention for the 21st Century

Advertising is easy. Ask the average person if they could come up with a great idea for a commercial. Most will say yes. That’s because the bar for 99% of advertising is so low. But if you ask them if they could write a hit comedy TV show or create an Instagram account with three million followers, almost none of them will say yes. Entertaining is hard. But people actually care about entertainment. No one cares about marketing. We easily tune it out or skip it. In this session, Mike Cessario, the CEO and Founder of Liquid Death, will discuss the ability to generate outsized returns in the modern media landscape with an entertainment-first approach to brand-awareness and brand-loyalty.