Carlsbad native and skateboarding icon Tony Hawk, or rather, one-tenth of him, is promoting beverage maker Liquid Death’s line of soda-flavored sparkling water drinks that offers 1/10th the sugar of regular soda.
The new ad campaign features a quirky, 30-second, macabre video spot featuring “1/10th of Tony Hawk” consisting of Hawk’s severed head. Media placements reportedly include social media and streaming TV. Media advertising expenditures were not disclosed.
In the commercial, the announcer says, “Liquid Death soda flavored sparkling waters have one-tenth of sugar of top sodas. So, we hired one-tenth of Tony Hawk to tell you about it.” The spot continues with the voice of Hawk: “Hi, I’m one-tenth of Tony Hawk and I just love these products. One-tenth sugar is crazy. But you know what else is crazy. Other sodas have 10 times the sugar.”
The spot was created in-house by Los Angeles-based Liquid Death. A company statement said, “Liquid Death will not kill you. But make no mistake, our infinitely recyclable cans of premium low-calorie beverages will absolutely murder your thirst.”
The brand’s flavored drinks include cola, orange, cherry, root beer and lime.
The prosthetic of Hawk’s head was created by Hollywood special effects legend Tony Gardner, known for his work on “Chucky” and “Bad Grandpa” movies.
Muse by Clio, an advertising industry trade publication, said about the campaign, “Don’t take our word for it. Tony’s detached head doesn’t lie. His head hypes canned sparkling water real good.”
The campaign also includes a sweepstakes where one lucky fan will win a “headshot” photo of Hawk’s severed head, signed by Hawk himself. Deadline is Tuesday, May 27 to enter the sweepstakes. For details, visit www.liquiddeath.com/pages/tonyhawk.
Health Care Communicators Presented Marketing and Advertising Awards
The Health Care Communicators of Southern California, a professional networking group, said it presented 104 awards in 38 categories to 17 different organizations at its Finest Awards ceremony, held May 16 at the El Adobe restaurant in San Juan Capistrano.
A record 137 entries were submitted from entrants in San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange counties and the Inland Empire. HCCSC said its annual award program, which recognizes excellence in healthcare marketing and advertising, began in the 1990s.
Top winners included Maricich Health with 17 awards and Loma Linda University with 13 awards. Other multiple award winners included AMN Healthcare with 11 awards and CalOptima Health, City of Hope Orange County, Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego and UC San Diego Health, all with 10 awards.
Four entrants received Best of Show awards based on receiving perfect scores. They included Loma Linda University, Maricich Health, Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego and Planned Parenthood.
The 2025 Communicator of the Year Award went to Lisa O’Neill Hill, director of external communications, City of Hope Orange County. HCCSC said O’Neill Hill played a pivotal role in City of Hope’s $1.5 billion expansion. Also, when she saw a troubling rise in cancer among adults under age 50, O’Neill Hill launched “The Younger Face of Cancer,” a data-driven initiative that has become one of the most successful media campaigns in City of Hope Orange County’s history. She also introduced a campaign that promoted screenings.
“It is such a privilege to help advance City of Hope’s mission and work alongside people who always put our patients first,” said O’Neill Hill.
The award program included two students receiving $3,000 scholarship checks apiece from AMN Healthcare. They included Linh Troung, University of Southern California, and Rene Pena, University of California, San Diego.
Members of the HCCSC group include communications professionals who work in the health care, wellness, biotech, medical device, health information technology and pharmaceutical industries in San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange counties, as well as the Inland Empire. Formed in 1977, HCCSC serves as the Southern California chapter of the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD), a membership trade group that provides resources for healthcare-provider planners, marketers and communications practitioners nationwide. SHSMD is affiliated with the American Hospital Association. For more information, visit www.hccsc.org.
Veteran journalist Gary Warth joins homeless task force
Journalist Gary Warth, who has been covering news in San Diego since 1984 and is known for his coverage about homelessness, has joined the Regional Task Force on Homelessness as director of government relations, policy and communications.
“Writing stories about people experiencing homelessness has always been a passion of mine,” said Warth. “It was a subject I even wrote about as a journalism student at San Diego State University. Over the years I’ve also written many stories about the Regional Task Force on Homelessness, and I’m excited for the opportunities to continue telling those stories in my new role.”
During his journalism career, Warth has covered a variety of beats, including politics, education, features and local government. But, his favorite has been covering homelessness.
“I’ve done more point-in-time counts (of the homeless population) than I can remember,” Warth said. “I’ve also seen it evolve from the days of doing a simple head-count to the more advanced method today, which captures the demographics of people experiencing homelessness, along with related information, to better understand who is living on our streets, why, and what their needs are.”
Prior to joining the task force, Warth was a community news reporter with The San Diego Union-Tribune and a staff reporter at the San Diego Business Journal, a weekly business publication.
“As you can imagine, interviewing CEOs and writing about emerging technologies, advances in the medical field and finance is very different from covering homelessness,” Warth told Times of San Diego when he joined the Business Journal in April 2024. “The subjects can be very challenging and out of my comfort zone, but it’s been great having new experiences.
After graduating in 1984 from San Diego State University with a journalism degree, Warth worked as a reporter and editor for several community newspapers, including the Lemon Grove Review, Poway News Chieftain and Rancho Santa Fe Review.
In 1989, Warth joined the Oceanside Blade-Citizen, a daily newspaper which merged with the Escondido Times-Advocate in 1995 to become the North County Times. Warth became part of the Union-Tribune staff with the 2012 purchase of the North County Times by U-T owner Doug Manchester. He accepted the U-T’s buyout offer in July 2023 when Los Angeles billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong sold the U-T to Alden Global Capital, which owns roughly 200 publications, including the Chicago Tribune.
“We are absolutely thrilled to have Gary on the team,” said Tamera Kohler, task force CEO. “Too often the narratives surrounding homelessness are incorrect or incomplete. Bringing on Gary, a gifted, award-winning and trusted writer, will bring these stories to life. Gary also has a deep understanding of government relations and public policy, all areas where he will be able to strengthen and support RTFH and our partners.”
Rick Griffin is a San Diego-based public relations and marketing consultant. His MarketInk column appears weekly on Mondays in Times of San Diego.
