Red Bull – A Marketing Genius that Elevated a Local cold drink product to a Global Brand.

• A Back Story and the Major Challenge:

While doing business in Thailand, Dietrich Mateschitz purchased a can of Krating Daeng and it helped him get rid of his jet lag. He collaborated with Chaleo Yoovidhya, owner of Krating Daeng to launch Red Bull, (the exact translation of Krating Daeng) in 1984. At the time the cold drink and beverages market was dominated by Coca Cola and Pepsi with combined market share of around 62%. The challenge in front of Mateschitz was

The major challenge here was to sell Red Bull, a cold drink, in the global market which is already dominated by well established brands such as Coca Cola and Pepsi

• Strategies and Solutions:

He worked with the founder of the Thai product to adjust the formula to work with the western tastes, and together they created Red Bull GmbH.

To create a market for Red Bull, when there are big players such as Coca Cola and Pepsi, it is really important to have a unique and recognizable brand identity. Mateschitz from the start never marketed Red Bull as just another cold drink. He introduced a completely new product category- Energy Drinks.

To create a market for his product, Mateschitz first focused on the club scene. It’s really hard to imagine a student party without several packs of Red Bull on hand, since the company actively made use of “student brand managers”.

• Brand managers were popular university students encouraged to promote Red Bull on university campuses and to throw parties at different locations, supplied entirely by Red Bull.

Volkswagen Beetles with larger-than-life Red Bull cans strapped to their backs showed up at beaches colleges, gyms, and even office buildings with free samples.

Bartenders quickly learned that this new drink was a money machine. It is likely that an average college going student in the US have at least once tasted a Red Bull mixed with vodka or Jäger, since the mixes became two of the most popular drinks in bars everywhere.

•  Adrenaline pumping experiences

Now when it comes to target customer, Mateschitz realized that a mass marketing will hardly set his brand apart from its competitors and will only bleed the company. When it comes to advertising Red Bull, Mateschitz always branded it as an energy drink that enhances your adrenaline pumping experiences.

Red Bull’s series of commercials involved featured people drinking Red Bull before performing daring and breathtaking stunts. It showed a tagline during every commercial saying ‘Red Bull Gives You Wings’ which quickly became a catchphrase.

• The ‘Stratos’ Stunt aka Campaign:

In 2012, Red Bull sponsored a daring stunt in which Felix Baumgartner jumped from a helium balloon at the edge of space, breaking the sound barrier on his descent. They created a series of ads and videos leading up to the event. And the jump itself was broadcast live around the world.

Red Bull spent over 63 million USD on this stunt. And they got 8 million YouTube views, 52 million webcast views, 3.2 million tweets, 72000 #redbull mentions and 22000 Instagram posts in return. This in turn generated 7% growth in sales which translated into 1.6 billion USD in revenues and restated its ‘Red Bull Gives You Wings’ tagline.

•  Branding through Extreme Sport events

The company has created a number of successful branded content campaigns. These include the Red Bull Music Academy and Red Bull Soapbox Race. Sports has always been in focus when it comes to Red Bulls’ marketing strategy. But it is not possible to reach each and every sport through content marketing. Red Bull very cleverly focused on extreme sports only. It owns one of the most successful Formula 1 racing team. It focuses on creating experiences that are thrilling and exhilarating as the drink itself. This had a psychological aspect to it as well. An extreme sport events is a thrilling and breathtaking experience. Not only for the players but for the audience also.

The imageries and events that happen during these sports have deeper and long-lasting impact on the audience. The branding done during such events creates a recognizable brand image in people’s minds.

From sponsoring athletes to hosting extreme sports competitions, Red Bull has established itself as a leading player in the world of sports and has built a loyal following among sports enthusiasts all over the world. The company has a reputation of sponsoring athletes who wish to push their boundaries.

• Sponsoring Unique and Innovative sport events:

The company has a long history of hosting extreme sports competitions that are unlike anything else in the world of sports. You might have watched Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. Or, you might have engaged in the Red Bull Air Race. By creating events that are truly unique and exciting, Red Bull has been able to capture the attention of sports fans all over the world and establish a loyal fan base.

• Building a Sense of Community:

A big part of Red Bull is building a brand loyalty among its customers who are adventurous youth withing 18-25 age group. To target this age group, Red Bull very cleverly ran social media campaigns such as #PutACanIt challenge.

This challenge wherein one has to stage Red Bull can in front of some object to recreate an experience and share it on social media with # PutACanIt. This kind of campaign uses micro influencers to share their own experiences that provides brand with authentic content that can be further used to generate more users.

Important lessons I learned from this Case Study

 1. Product vision and understanding of the market:

It is very important to have a clear vision for our product and 2 Ws - Who & Where about the market before preparing for marketing and branding. It is important to identify a segmented customer base for your product instead of running a more generalized ad campaigns, especially when there are already big players present in the market.

2. Content marketing is the key:

Once the product is finalized, it is really important to have a strong content to support the product. Instead of selling the product, it is more important to sell the experience a customer will get after consuming your product. Throughout its journey, Red Bull has tried through its commercials, extreme sports and athletes’ sponsorships to focus on the interests of its target customers. Do not try to market the product, instead try marketing experience and lifestyle.

3. Build a community:

Utilizing social media campaigns and challenges with hashtags is an effective method for creating a sense of a community and a feeling of attachment to the brand among our customers. By organizing brief, achievable, and imaginative challenges on social media platforms in collaboration with micro influencers, it fosters a feeling of unity with the brand. This community, in turn, generates a sense of FOMO among those who have not yet engaged. This approach aids in reinforcing and maintaining the loyalty of current users while also attracting new customers.

In this way Red Bull implemented a simple strategy of focusing on only the Energy Drink aspect of Red Bull and execute each and every marketing and branding action around a single vision: Red Bull – An Energy Drink for Adventurers!