A look at Taylor Morrison’s eye-catching marketing campaign

In an industry that is not known for bold marketing, Taylor Morrison is looking to set itself apart with an out-of-the-box collaboration featuring Liquid Death.

The homebuilder and popular beverage company recently announced that they are collaborating to give away a Taylor Morrison house to one lucky winner. 

To garner headlines and attention, the prize home will be equipped with a 1,000-gallon tank that will deliver Liquid Death soda-flavored sparkling water from every water fixture and faucet. It will have about a three-day supply of Liquid Death water. After that, the property’s plumbing will return to normal. 

In an interview with The Builder’s Daily, Taylor Morrison‘s Chief Marketing Officer Stephanie McCarty says that the campaign, which kicked off on March 31, generated over 3,500 leads in the first 24 hours alone. Although the announcement came out on the eve of April Fool’s Day, the campaign is real — and it’s earned Taylor Morrison exposure in places where homebuilders rarely get attention. 

A mutually beneficial partnership

The collaboration between the two companies began when McCarty and Mike Cessario, founder and CEO at Liquid Death, shared the stage at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference last summer. 

There, the two executives discussed what makes great marketing in the modern age. After the panel, they brainstormed ways that Taylor Morrison and Liquid Death could collaborate. After some back and forth, the idea for the free home giveaway was born. 

McCarty presented the concept to the executives as more than just a fun idea, but also as an investment that will yield dividends, and more importantly, leads. Contestants can earn one entry into the giveaway contest for every can of Liquid Death they purchase. Meanwhile, every participant who tours a Taylor Morrison community can earn five entries. 

“If I know I’m going to get the brand lift in awareness, how do I get the lead generation to get the organization excited? That’s where the sweepstakes came in,” McCarty explained. 

The contest will carry on until June 30. After that, one lucky winner will win a free, roughly $355,000 home in either the Indianapolis, Orlando or Houston markets. 

The collaboration is an unlikely pairing, but it works. For Taylor Morrison, the opportunity to leverage Liquid Death’s following and fan base is invaluable. They are one of the most followed beverage companies on social media, with more than 7 million followers on Instagram alone. 

“They are a premium product. They’re not the cheapest water; people seek them out. They have built a billion-dollar brand in less than five years, and their target demographic is squarely within ours,” McCarty explained. 

Exposure in unexpected places

Liquid Death sells its drinks in a variety of retailers, like Target, Walmart, convenience stores and grocery stores. The marketing initiative with Taylor Morrison is now displayed prominently in many of those locations.

“This is a lead generator. It is also going to lift our brand awareness and put us into the culture in a more relevant way. It’s going to give us brand exposure and advertising in locations that I couldn’t, regardless of how much it costs, otherwise be in,” McCarty said. “Tell me the last time you saw a homebuilder advertised in a grocery store.”

The campaign doesn’t end there. The two companies jointly created a 60-second hero commercial and a 30-second ad to run on TV. To give the initiative another boost, Taylor Morrison stocked model homes with Liquid Death and added QR code displays for entries. The team also emailed all leads who haven’t visited to encourage them to tour a community.

The timing of the announcement was intentionally aligned with the onset of the spring selling season, a pivotal selling period for homebuilders. It’s become increasingly difficult to get prospective buyers to show up, but thousands will provide their information if they think they could win a free house. 

McCarty hopes that the idea will lead to more creative marketing campaigns in the homebuilding industry, which isn’t known for out-of-the-box marketing concepts.

“People think of resale before they think of new home construction. We are trying to flip that script and be known, be culturally relevant and be part of conversations where it’s not very expected,” McCarty said. “I hope, at least for me, when we prove out the success, and we attribute future sales and all the momentum, it just leads to more disruptive, bold, innovative marketing. Because man, our industry needs it.”