Red Bull 1

BS0964 New Media Marketing

Professor Steven Northam

Assignment 1: A look at Red Bull’s new media usability and their overall effectiveness over

recent years.

By: Tyler Loomis

ID: 1309125

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Contents

Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 3

Terms of Reference ...................................................................................................................... 3

Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 4

Use of Social Media ...................................................................................................................... 5

Use of Viral and Word of Mouth Marketing.................................................................................... 6

Use of Sport Marketing ................................................................................................................. 8

Recommendations........................................................................................................................ 9

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 10

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Executive Summary

The purpose of this report is to explain Red Bull’s many usages of new media in their

marketing schemes as well as evaluate if they are effective in reaching their goals. Red Bull

is a company that has been known for their unique and unorthodox approach to marketing.

These unorthodox methods include creating new sports and events by scratch, focusing on

“sport marketing”, as well as not even showing their product that they sell. These are only a

few of the many techniques that they use and combine to create their one of a kind

marketing style. To get the word out Red Bull uses a wide variety of new media ranging from

social media such as Facebook and Twitter while also mastering the viral video on their

Youtube channel. Less traditional methods include creating new events to promote their

product (ex. Red Bull Air Race and Red Bull Crashed Ice) , sponsoring professional athletes

from all types of sports, and even creating their own media headquarters featuring a record

label, online radio channel, and film studio.

Terms of Reference

This report’s goal will be to analyse Red Bull’s new media marketing strategies and methods

as well as evaluate how effective they are. Looking at the methods in the past and

comparing to their current day attempts. The analyses will focus on their social media, viral

and word of mouth marketing, as well as their sport marketing. Next, recommendations will

be given on how they can improve on their current methods as well as concluding with the

overall effectiveness of Red Bull’s new media marketing methods and their ability to assist

them to reach their overall goal of increased sales and awareness.

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Introduction

“"[Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz] knew that success would be in how you market the

product as much as the product itself."” (IEZZI, T 2012) This philosophy by Red Bull has

proven to be quite successful. “Red Bull did $471 million in U.S. sales in 2011, which was an

increase of 11.9% from 2010 and with a 44% market share of energy drinks, according to

SymphonyIRl.” (IEZZI, T 2012) These impressive statistics show that Red Bull is doing

something right with their marketing of their product based on the philosophy by Dietrich

Mateschitz. Their work styles and philosophies such as letting each company operation to

pursue their own strategies (Forbes Staff, 2013, online) and having skateboard ramps in

their offices, suits the company’s image: new age, unique, and a not afraid to take risks.

“Through its sponsorship of youth culture and extreme sports events, Red Bull developed a

cult following among marketing-wary Generation Y-ers, (18- to 29-year olds) who perceived

it as an anti-brand.” (Kumar, Linguri, Tavossoli, 2004) With its sleek, European styled

container, premium pricing, and unique lifestyle that is promoted, Red Bull has created the

ideal drink for the younger generation. They quickly learned that one of their biggest target

markets, Gen-Y (which makes up for almost 25% of the U.S. population), had a large interest

in alternative, risky, and non-traditional sports. These lead to a large interest and

participation in extreme sports, or sometimes called the “Gen-Y sport”. (Bennett, G., Henson,

R., & Zhang, J, 2002) Red Bull quickly took advantage of this realization and created a

marketing scheme and brand that thrived on this extreme lifestyle that the younger

generations had a huge interest in.

The unusual aspect of the marketing is that their product is rarely and almost never seen

nor mentioned. Instead they focus on creating new and creative events as well as creating a

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Red Bull “lifestyle” by sponsoring different athletes and expressing their extreme

philosophies. This is not the only thing that Red Bull does that differs from most companies

methods of marketing and they have become known for their great usage of new media.

This report will go over Red Bull’s use of social media, viral, sport and word of mouth

marketing as well as the effectiveness of their approaches to their methods of marketing

Use of Social Media

As of February 4th, 2014, Red Bull has 42,634,699 likes on Facebook (excluding their

separate pages for their events) (Facebook, online) , 1.36 million followers on Twitter

(Twitter, online), 13,155 followers on Pinterest (Pinterest, online), and 2,755,842 followers

on Google+ (Google+, online). Overall, each of these social media applications are used to

promote their sponsored athletes and events while showing no products of Red Bull.

“Instead the wall posts focus on images and videos of extreme sports and athletes

sponsored by Red Bull. It fits with the brands overall strategy of promoting itself as a

lifestyle choice rather than a simple, caffeinated drink.” (Moth, 2013, online) This would

seem strange to anyone use to typical marketing. On the companies Pinterest page there

are many categories to different extreme sports and events but none specifically for the

product of Red Bull itself. The target towards the newer and trendier generations (Gen-Y) is

obviously seen with trendy boards such as “street art”, “summer is coming”, and “amazing

places” scattered amidst the boards of extreme sports. The success of these pages is

obvious via the number of followers.

The social media pages appear to be more of a way of Red Bull to advertise and direct their

followers to their different events and works such as their film The Art of Flight. Although

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this works well at highlighting their other methods of advertising, they do not utilize the

social aspect and do very little communication with their followers. If they interacted

directly to the people commenting on their page then they could create a more

personalized relationship with their customers. A few replies by Red Bull are found

scattered amongst the comments of their followers but they are short and hard to find.

They appear to be more active with their community on Twitter however it could still be

improved fairly substantially.

Excluding this minor flaw, their social media pages are attractive to their target market and

are very active with promoting their different events and sponsored athletes. These pages

work very well as a way to promote Red Bull’s many different events and allowing an easy

way for others to be directed towards their main methods of marketing: extreme athletes

and sports.

Use of Viral and Word of Mouth Marketing

The greatest example of Red Bull’s unorthodox methods of marketing would be the Red Bull

Stratos Jump on October 14th, 2012. With more than eight million concurrent viewers

watching the event live at once (Humphrey, 2012, online) it became the most watched live

stream in YouTube and internet history. (Zmuda, 2013, online) Planning started in 2005 and

seven years later Red Bull helped sponsor an event that broke three world records (fastest

free fall, highest jump, and longest free fall without chute) (Red Bull, 2012, online). This lead

to a 13% increase in sales worldwide in 2012 compared to the previous year as well as a 7%

rise in sales in the six months that immediately followed the event (Zmuda, 2013, online).

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This instantly showed that this unusually marketing strategy that never showed the product

they sold did in fact work.

Red Bull’s Youtube channel has over three million subscribers with countless extreme videos

that have millions of views (Youtube, online). The company has mastered the viral by

creating videos with extreme and unique stunts done by sports celebrities of all types from

the famous Stratos jump to taekwondo competitions. Focusing on outrageous stunts and

breaking records, viewers can’t help but be attracted to Red Bull’s extreme stunts. The

outrageous nature of these videos create a desire for many of the viewers to share it with

others as well which eventually makes most of their videos go viral almost instantly.

Launching Media House in Europe and America, Red Bull has filmed movies, signed with

NBC for their own show, partnered with YouTube for future original content, and has a

global distribution of 4.8 million for their magazine. (IEZZT, T 2012) Branching out and

reaching nearly every entertainment media possible, Red Bull’s Media House has been a

surprising success. The Art of Flight, Red Bull’s first film had over half a million views on their

trailer within three days (Fox, 2012, online) and as February 14th, 2014, it has over 13 million

views. Red Bull has also claimed that The Art of Flight is “The Art of Flight ranks amongst the

largest and most successful projects they’ve ever done, globally.” (Fox, 2012, online)

Red Bull does an outstanding job of using every possible media outlet to create many ways

for their customers to share and promote their product for them. Ranging from traditional

magazines and television and branching all the way out to YouTube and even their own

record label, Red Bull does not leave any areas untouched as a way to use viral marketing

among their customers.

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Use of Sport Marketing

When it comes to Red Bull’s front line of marketing, it would be their sports advertising.

“Red Bull has been ever-present in adventure and 'new-age' sports, spending an estimated

US$300m per year on sports marketing, including sponsoring and heavily branding over 500

action sports events and athletes” (Burton, Chadwick, & Gorse, 2010). Ranging from new

age, extreme sports such as BMX, free running, and snowboarding to more tradional sports

such as American football and triathlon running are all covered by Red Bull in some way.

They also have created their own teams in different football leagues around the world and

even own their own well-respected F1 racing team. “Mateschitz invested 35% of turnover in

marketing and sponsorship in events. In his words, ‘we don’t bring the product to the

people, we bring people to the product. We make it available and those who love our style

come to us,” adding, “Red Bull isn’t a drink, it’s a way of life.’” (Kumar, Linguri, Tavossoli,

2004) This quote helps illustrate the way of thinking that Red Bull is known for.

They also use different mobile apps to help promote their different sports and athletes. The

‘Red Bull F1TM Spy’ app allows users to get information of all types for the Red Bull F1

racing team. “From lap times to driver facts and figures, from who's talking to whom, to

which celebrity's wearing what... it's all about what you know and it's all here.” (Red Bull

Media House, online) Also there is the ‘Red Bull TV’ app that allows users to stream the Red

Bull TV programs as well as have access to an archive of different extreme videos of Red

Bull’s events and athletes. (Red Bull Media House, online) This apps help supplement as well

as compliment their different sports and marketing by keeping their followers well informed

as easily direct them towards their many different aspects.

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This new method of marketing was extremely effective as it was very new and original. Red

Bull’s competitors have begun to jump on to these ideas after seeing their success.

“Monster has also become synonymous with extreme and alternative events such as Moto

GP and the Isle of Man TT.” They also have been known to sponsor well known celebrities

amoung the younger generation such as Rob Dryzek and Ken Block. (Marketline, 2012) This

has led to Red Bull losing their distinctiveness over time but Red Bull has continued to lead

in this style of marketing by continuing to do what they have mastered as well as constantly

taking risks with new and unique ideas.

Recommendations

Red Bull’s methods of marketing are obviously a success as their numbers of followers and

sales show. They could improve on a few areas to help strengthen their image even more.

One way to do this would be to simply be more personable with their customers and

followers. This would be very simple to do over their social media pages and would help

allow Red Bull to be less of an intimidating super giant in the business world and appear to

be easier to relate to and feel connected with.

The viral marketing that Red Bull does is nothing but excellent. It is more used as a way to

complement their other areas of marketing, such as sports and word of mouth marketing.

They are constantly coming up with new and unique ideas and their YouTube channel shows

this. For now, little can be done to improve Red Bull’s viral marketing. Their biggest

challenge in this department is not with their competitors, but instead on how they are

going to top their latest, epic event: the Red Bull Stratos Jump.

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Red Bull still dominates the unique and new approach of sport marketing. They just have to

be careful of their competitors and new upcoming companies using their successful ideas

and thriving off of them. As long as Red Bull continues to create new and exciting ideas as

they always have, they will continue to thrive and lead this area of marketing. They will have

to change their strategies as they will not be the only company using these new types of

marketing and will have to find ways to differentiate from business like Monster that are

beginning to be noticed amongst Red Bull.

Conclusion

Red Bull has done something very unique. Not only did they create the market for energy

drinks but they have also mastered and created unique ways of new age marketing. When it

comes to the marketing mix, product, price, and placement are almost completely in the

shadow of promotion. Neither the product, price, nor placement are ever mentioned by Red

Bull’s marketing techniques. Instead they use different methods of new media to deliver

their ‘lifestyle’ to their audience through different social media outlets and viral, word of

mouth, and sport marketing. Although there are a few things that Red Bull could do to

strengthen their brand overall they have a very solid marketing plan that nearly fully utilizes

the new methods of marketing and technology. With events like the Stratos Jump, they

have raised the bar of what can be done by extreme measures. It is exciting to imagine what

Red Bull will do next and if they will continue to change the way marketing is looked at in

the future.

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References

Bennett, G., Henson, R., & Zhang, J,(2002), Action Sports Sponsorship Recognition, Sport Marketing

Quartely, 11, p. 186-196.

Burton, N, Chadwick, S, & Gorse, S 2010, 'Entrepreneurship through sports marketing: A case

analysis of Red Bull in sport', Journal Of Sponsorship, 3, 4, pp. 348-357, Business Source Complete,

EBSCOhost, [29/01/14]

Forbes Staff, 2013, The Wind Behind Red Bull’s Wings,Forbes, June 24, 2013, [Online], Accessed:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesasia/2013/06/24/the-wind-behind-red-bulls-wings/,

[13/02/14]

Fox, Jesse, 2012, The Art of Flight, Making Dollars and Sense ,SBC Business,Janurary 5, 2012, [Online],

Accessed:http://www.sbcbusiness.com/exclusives-detail?news_id=1931, [14/02/2014]

Humphrey, Michael, (2012) Updated: Red Bull Stratos On YouTube Live Topped 8 Million

Concurrent Views, Forbes, 10/14/2012, [Online], Accessed:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelhumphrey/2012/10/14/red-bull-stratos-live-topped-

8-million-concurrent-views-on-youtube/, [10/02/2014]

- IEZZI, T 2012, 'Red Bull Media House', Fast Company, 163, pp. 118-121, Business Source Complete,

EBSCOhost, [28/01/2014]

Image Source, [Online], Accessed: http://hdwallres.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/logo-

red-bull-wallpaper-2014.jpg, [27/01/2014]

Kumar, N, Linguri, S, & Tavassoli, N, 2004, Red Bull: The Anti-Brand Brand, London Business School,

July 2004

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Marketline (2012) 'Red Bull: A trailblazer in marketing strategy' 2012, Red Bull: A Trailblazer In

Marketing Strategy, pp. 1-20, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, [29/01/2014]

Moth, David (2013), How Red Bull Uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+, Econsultancy,

February 21, 2013, [Online], Accessed: http://econsultancy.com/blog/62178-how-red-bull-

uses-facebook-twitter-pinterest-and-google, [27/01/2014]

Red Bull Facebook Page, [Online], Available: https://www.facebook.com/redbull [28/01/2014]

Red Bull Google+ Page, [Online], Available: https://plus.google.com/+RedBull/about,

[28/01/2014]

Red Bull Media House, Apps, Red Bull, [Online], Accessed:

http://www.redbullmediahouse.com/products/mobile/apps.html [15/02/2014]

Red Bull Pinterest Page, [Online], Available: http://www.pinterest.com/redbull/ , [28/01/2014]

Red Bull Stratos: History Made- 3 World Records Broken!, Red Bull, Oct 14, 2012, [Online], Accessed:

http://www.redbull.co.uk/cs/Satellite/en_UK/Article/Red-Bull-Stratos-History-Made-3-

World-Records-Broken-021243269995858, [10/02/2014]

Red Bull Twitter Page, [Online], Available: https://twitter.com/redbull, [28/01/2014]

Red Bull Youtube Page, [Online], Available: http://www.youtube.com/user/redbull [28/01/2014]

Zmuda, Natalie, (2013), Red Bull's Stratos 'Space Jump' Wowed the World -- While Selling a Lot of

Product, Advertising Age, Sept 02, 2013, [Online], Accessed:

http://adage.com/article/special-report-marketer-alist-2013/red-bull-stratos-space-jump-

helped-sell-a-lot-product/243751/, [12/02/2014]