Direct Marketing with Red Bull!

In today's world, the name Red Bull and the slogan "Red Bull Gives You Wings has been inscribed into the minds of consumers around the globe. The popular energy drink, which seems to have sky-rocketed in US as well as world-wide sales is no miracle drug, although it does seem that way by the overflowing demand. Known to many as a coffee substitute, Red Bull is able to give its buyers that extra push or burst of energy to keep their day going due to its increased amounts of caffeine, without the nasty aftertaste of coffee. No doubt its marketing strategies have made a massive impact on its increased sales, but at its start, it is no lie to call Red Bull a self-made success. In a time where everyone is

market. With Red Bull’s various ad campaigns, the corporation uses a collaboration of extreme sports videos to market the incredible effects of their product. These differ from previous commercials, that use to be cartoony and display young adults, becoming cool and getting the hot girl, after consuming a delicious and nonaddictive energy drink. The transformation of red bull’s ads has shown that they are changing with pop culture by having what is considered most exciting to their core audience. These commercials show the true purpose of Red Bull corporation, selling children on the idea of consuming large quantities of caffeine, Taurine, B group vitamins, sugar, Alpine spring water in the Red Bull energy drink; are healthy and even make you into a fun and interesting

Red Bull is the pioneer in the energy drink category worldwide. Founded in 1984 by Dietrich Mateschitz in Austria, the product was formally launched in 1987. Mateschitz originally became aware of products called “tonic drinks”, which enjoyed wide popularity in Asia. He brought this effective product in Austria and developed a unique marketing strategy. The drink mainly targets young students and urban professionals. It is exclusively produced in Austria and then distributed around the world via a network of local subsidiaries and external importers and distributors.

This document is part of the requirements of the Foundations of marketing course, the University of Newcastle. It is the first part of the marketing plan for Red Bull, the leader of energy drinks market.

Red Bull energy drink competes in the Non-alcoholic drink market which could be the overall Food and Beverage market. ‘Red Bulls target market is young, on the go, who enjoy extreme sports and live an active nightlife, anywhere from 18-35’(Swartz,Jon).

If one has to analyze the profitability scheme of Red Bull Energy Drink, perhaps it can be safely said that it is in a very uncompromising situation. First and foremost, the stiff competition have paved the way for the emergence of many small time players (Helm 2005). With every bottled drink that aims to steal the limelight nowadays, Red Bull should capitalize more on its creativity and ingenuity—this is of course, in relation to advertising and marketing. The company should never disregard that Coca Cola and Pepsi are still top competitors (Helm 2005). More so, even if the two share equally different components as with Red Bull, still, it is evident that the two continue to partake into the market share. Meanwhile, the notion that energy drinks offers no variety in taste is an important marketing aspect that the company should take into full consideration (Laing 2005). In 2001, Pepsi had already released AMP Energy Drink (“Amp Energy Drink” n.d). It is the company’s maidens venture into the energy drink arena. Evidently, AMP’s raison d’ etre is to capitalize on Mountain Dew’s established image. The concept would be to introduce something new, yet very familiar (“Amp Energy Drink” n.d).

Market share and strategy - RedBull had dominated the market of energy drinks all over the world. Its main mission is to provide an energy drink made with natural ingredients which provide energy to man, women or children in their day to day life. It provides instant energy which helps college students or working people to maintain their energy and keep doing their work with full enthusiastic way.The Red Bull brand had created a great impact on the mind of its customers by its product results and pricing strategies which make it a larger energy drink on the market.("The Top 15 Energy Drink Brands.")

Potentially there are some future threats for Red Bull. Generation Y, their target market will before long grow older. This raises some concerning questions. Will generation Y still buy Red Bull when they have out grown Red Bulls target market? Will Red Bull be able to develop marketing strategies that will persuade the upcoming generation? Or will they find something else? Another threat is that Red Bull focuses all their time and energy into the one product, whereas their main competitors (Coca Cola etc.) have many products. At present this strategy is a major part of Red Bull’s success, but if in the future Red Bull’s market

Q3. Which changes would you suggest for Red Bull's future global marketing mix, in order to meet the future challenges?

There are few brands that can offer more lessons in how to approach the next generation of marketing than Red Bull. Focusing their strategy on earned media, cultural integration and value creation, Red Bull’s approach is pioneering, and a template that many brands would love to follow.

Red Bull has every brand element covered their name is a household name, Their logo is simple and unforgettable, They have numerous easy of communication whether it is though Television, movies, and sporting events. They use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and youtube. They even have their own brand of music and magazine. All of these marketing elements allows Red Bull to reach their target audience on a mass sale and with social media make every interaction more personal. Red Bull Sponsers over 680 athletes, and host almost 1200 events a year. They have multiple slogans but the two most popular slogans are “ Red bull Gives you wings”, which was changed to “Red Bull Gives you wings” because of a class-action lawsuit, which began in January

Red Bull is not differentiated by gender, race or income, but does position itself as young, sporty and dynamic. It is also perceived as the market leader. The brand is not associated with a type of distribution channel, but does insist on usage situations – anytime, anywhere, for any situation (see advertisement A in Appendix 1).

Red Bull has various opportunities for growth within its current state. One of the leading opportunities is the production side of Red Bull. If it expanded its production on a more regional basis, such as one in a North America, Europe, and Asia it would be a larger upfront cost, but, in the long run, would cut down shipping costs leading to higher profit margins. Another opportunity is expanding to the Asian market, According to Euromonitor, Asia has surpassed the United States as the largest consumers of energy drinks, mostly due to its overwhelming population comparative to the United States, yet, Red Bull has the smallest share of the market in Asia compared to the other 6 continents. Expanding its market share in Asia could lead to a huge increase in net sales for the company. Lastly, the biggest opportunity for growth is if Red Bull can find a way to diversify its drinks into different markets, such as soft drinks, health drinks, and even possibly tap into the sports drink industry and be able to compete with brands such as Gatorade and Powerade. In order to do this, Red Bull must change its drink formulas, to allow for the needs of the consumer in each of the different markets. More often than not the main cause for a company investing in a new growth opportunity is due to a threat from competitors encroaching on the company’s current profits.

Red Bull’s marketing strategy is one of the key factors in their success, they created Mobile Energy Team

Red Bull have adopted a segmentation base strategy relating to market demographics. In particular the company has targeted young active people aged 16 – 29 years. Red Bull also use geography, identifying mainly university students and urban professionals who needed an ‘energy boost’ throughout their busy schedules and activities. Mateschitz’ strategy aimed to target opinion leaders, believing that “the authority of one alpha bee can influence the buying habits of hundreds”. The Red Bull segmentation