RED BULL: IT WAS NEVER ABOUT THE DRINK

An Austrian toothpaste salesman, a Thai entrepreneur and an energy tonic.

An unusual combination.

Nevertheless, a combination that birthed the Billion dollar brand that is Red Bull.

In 1987, Dietrich Mateschitz, an Austrian toothpaste salesman by the name of Dietrich Mateschitz was on his travels in Thailand when he came across ‘Krating Daeng’ - an “energy tonic” created by Chaleo Yoovidhya. The tonic was made to keep the drinkers “awake and alert”. Mateschitz was intrigued with the concept to say the least.

This is how Red Bull as we know it today was spawned.

After discovering Krating Daeng in Thailand Mateschitz wasted no time at all. Before the years end, Mateschitz had partnered up with Yoovidhya, made some modifications to satisfy western taste, and together had founded Red Bull GmbH.

If you take anything from this brief timeline, let it be that Red Bull was not an original idea and Red Bull was never about the drink.

But if it wasn’t about the drink, what was - and still is - so revolutionary about Red Bull?

You guessed it… their marketing.

Red Bull’s marketing is not only exceptional, but it is also so unique to the drink industry. Most drink brands, market their products for their taste and some even for the health benefits. Red Bull on the other hand does not. Instead, Red Bull sells a brand. When I think of Red Bull, I think extreme. I think of cliff diving, mountain biking, rally driving, etc. The drink is merely an afterthought.

So, how did Red Bull become a globally renowned billion dollar company? How did they place themselves as the face of extreme sports? Let’s break it down.

Red Bull’s Unorthodox Marketing

When Red Bull first came to the western world their marketing strategy was plain and simple - to get Red Bull in front of their target audience (18-35 year old males). Their first move was a guerilla marketing campaign. They brought together groups of attractive young girls - “Red Bull Girls” - and simply had them hand out free drinks to college students at parties, events, bars, etc.

Notice this isn’t just handing out free products, this is a well thought out and thoroughly structured campaign. Red Bull clearly identified their target audience and more importantly their target audiences wants - attractive girls are of course very high on their list of wants for their target audience.

This strategy was wildly successful, resulting in a rapid increase in sales. Red Bull had a winning formula. Although, they didn’t get to a $15 billion dollar valuation just from handing out free Red Bulls. Instead, they used this winning formula - bringing Red Bull (the brand) to the audience - to get in front of even more people and expand the brand further.

Notice I say “Red Bull (the brand)”, not the drink.

Over a number of years Red Bull began identifying the interests of their target audience and slowly began slapping their name all over the markets that those interests fell. One of the biggest sectors they identified were extreme sports. What did Red Bull do? They began not only sponsoring and acquiring extreme sports teams, but also extreme sports events and leagues. To name a few today, there is:

• Red Bull Racing - a Formula 1 team

• Red Bull Cliff Diving - fairly self explanatory

• Red Bull Big Wave - a surfing competition

• Red Bull Soap Box Racing - you have to watch to understand

• Red Bull BMX - a team of BMX riders

As you can see, it’s fairly extreme.

As time went on Red Bull decided it was time to expand their exposure even further. So what did they do? They began buying football teams and renaming them under the Red Bull name. Yes, Red Bull own football teams - 4 to be exact:

• Red Bull Salzburg - play in Austrian Bundesliga

• Red Bull Leipzig - play in the Bundesliga

• New York Red Bulls - play in the MLS

• Red Bull Brazil - play in Campeonato Paulista Série A2

When you hear about all of the crazy events, teams and leagues that Red Bull own within the sporting industry you quickly realise how big of a Brand Red Bull is.

It’s Impossible to talk about Red Bull without mentioning the infamous “Red Bull gives you wing’s” slogan. The Red Bull slogan fits right in with everything mentioned previously, it represents the whole Red Bull brand and drink in one sentence. Of course, Red Bull doesn’t give you physical wings. However, whether it’s Red Bull cliff diving or the Red Bull drink, it’s almost guaranteed that Red Bull will get your heart pumping, adrenaline flowing and have you feeling as if you could fly.

When it comes to their marketing strategy, the brand takes everything it does to the extreme. However, their marketing efforts always put the audience first. In fact, selling their product comes second. By connecting to extreme sports, Red Bull gives off an exciting image to customers.

It is one of the most unique brands in the industry and has done an exponentially great job of not limiting themselves to the product. They have effectively created a media company that happens to sell an energy drink, rather than the other way around. Their content focuses solely on the enjoyment of the audience, not selling Red Bull. In turn, their audience begins to associate their product with content that they love to consume.

For example, even their company’s website focuses entirely on articles and in-depth discussions about exercise, sport, and inspiring people. There’s no mention of energy drinks, and no brazen advertising encouraging people to commit to a purchase. Attention-grabbing stories are the chief focus, and establishing credibility – while also cementing Red Bull as a brand committed to pioneering mind-blowing, exciting events as their website’s objective.

Mateschitz once made his view on marketing very clear when he was quoted saying

Mateschitz clearly has a genius outlook on marketing. He and Red Bull’s method’s are so unorthodox but yet so effective. They made it so, that Red Bull is no longer just a drink. Red Bull is a brand, Red Bull is a lifestyle.

Why you should sell a brand, not just a product

If you look down the Fortune 500 list you will find many companies who sell products and services, take Apple for example. Apple, of course, has some amazing products, but that doesn’t account for the cult following Apple has.

Yes, people like apple products. But they love the Apple brand.

What I am trying to explain is that the biggest companies in the world have developed a brand around their products and have made it clear that, establishing a brand is clearly the way forward.

Some of the benefits of selling a brand:

1. Die hard followers - if you’ve ever see an argument between a Samsung user and an Apple user you’ll completely understand this. Apple have people that are willing to market and sell their products to other people. Why? Because they have bought into Apple as a brand.

2. Scalability - when you are simply selling a product there is a good chance that at some point sales will plateau and inevitably fall off. With a brand your followers will be happy to buy any new products you put out. Think about how well Apple’s AirPods took off!

3. Longevity - a product may go viral. You may get millions of sales, but as I said in #2 at some point sales will inevitably plateau and fall off. But an established brand, that can last for centuries. Take Ford for example, established in 1903 - yep 118 years ago.

How you can be the next Red Bull

It’s important to remember that Red Bull didn’t go from a energy tonic in Thailand to a multi-billion dollar company over night. It took years and years of awesome branding and marketing. My point is, it will take time to establish your brand, so be patient. Here’s a step by step of how to start:

1. Establish character - before thinking about any marketing you should establish your brand’s “character”. Answer the questions: what does the brand stand for? How do you want people to see your brand? How does your brand relate to it’s target audience?Try: creating a spider diagram with you brands name in the middle and answer these questions around it.

2. Begin expressing this character - this is much much harder than it sounds. Once you have your brands character established you must have all your marketing fall in line with this. If you’ve decided you want your branding to be funny and relatable to common folk; you must make sure all your marketing falls in line with this. Try: writing down some key terms around your brand character prior to planning out your social media posts to ensure it’s fresh in your mind.

3. Identify your target audience’s interest - this is so important if you want to follow in Red Bull’s footsteps. What sectors interest them? What content do they consume? What platforms are they on? Try: simply putting out a poll to your current audience or even go to a location you think your audience would reside and simply ask them their interests.

4. Stamp your name on it - once you have your audiences interests nailed down, it’s time to bring your brand to where your audience is. Try: promoting your brand at events your audience may attend. You don’t have to buy or sponsor the whole event to associate yourself with the event. Something as simple renting a stall at a festival your target audience would attend is enough.

Note: remember it is much harder to build a brand than sell a product - BE PATIENT!

This has been a breakdown of Red Bull’s marketing strategy. I hope you have learned something and are able to implement a similar strategy into your business.

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I’ll see you next Sunday!