MKTG 2101 Consumer Behaviour
Case Study - Red Bull: Rampaging through Global Markets
1. What segmentation base has Red Bull adopted to target customers? How should Red Bull further segment the market in the future?
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
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It is for this reason that the company aligns itself with the young male - fast paced and energetic, interested in extreme sports, risky behaviour and never satisfied with the last thrill. The company too, is never satisfied, continuing sponsorship of extreme sports, owning Formula 1 racing teams and even developing its own sports such as BMX bike riding, Kite Boarding, Freeskiing, paragliding and more!
The company is able to continually satisfy the needs of the market, arousing the customer with exciting new promotions and events which challenge the limits of human belief. For example, the Red Bull sponsored BMX events where the riders are attempting and completing unseen tricks and ‘death defying’ acts on a weekly basis.
The company has also attempted a viral marketing strategy, in order to get the product to the consumer in a cheap and effective way. However, these efforts are also well calculated, for example, the drivers of the Red Bull VW Beetle are generally extremely good looking females aged 19 – 28 years, attractive and corresponding for the targeted young male.
3. Describe the brand personality of Red Bull. Why do you think the concept of brand personality is so important to Red Bull?
Brand personality allows the consumer to develop a meaningful attachment to the product. People do not develop meaningful, long lasting relationships with the thing itself, it is when the consumer is able see the product with a certain persona, with
• Red Bull has made an art of creating and sponsoring events, all of which are designed to enhance its brand image and build brand equity.
Red Bull’s founder, Dietrich Mateschitz, knew from the beginning that there was a need for a unique marketing strategy because it was designed for so many occasions and a wide range of
The target market that Red Bull heavily depends is growing and becoming older, hence there is a belief that the target market is stating physically, mentally and
Red Bull’s marketing mix seems to harmonize based on its success. Especially the use of sponsorship marketing was taken to the next level by the Red Bull marketing team. Today it is almost hard to think of a sport that Red Bull does not sponsor. Their logo appears on motorbikes, wakeboards, snowboards, formula1 cars, soccer jerseys and even high-tech space suits designed for jumping from the edge of the stratosphere. They even organize a quirky competition of homemade flying machines to support their proposition “Red Bull gives you
“Image”: The brand image is the factor that influences the consumer’s behavior regarding the new category of product under the evaluation of the core brand image. We’re talking here about the global perception of brand personality.
Red Bull has strong brand personality to make customers remember it and separate it from its competitors. Red Bull’s brand image is a red bull with the blue cans. The design is unique and link to the brand name and its product. All these factors create a image of Red Bull to customers. As consumers subconsciously exercise selectivity about which aspects of the environment they perceive (Schiffman et al., 2014), Red Bull could enter the evoked set of consumers as long as it could catch customers’ insights. Besides the unique brand, Red Bull handing out free samples of the product and sales teams driving Minis with a Red Bull can strapped on top of the car. These actions catch consumers’ insight and attract them to purchase.
Red Bull is a unique company with a niche that dominates the energy drink market, competing against large companies such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. Red Bull was created in 1987 in Australia by Dietrich Mateschitz, who created a new drink category of beverages with no early competition. While Coca-Cola and PepsiCo spend hundreds of millions of dollars in prestigious marketing and advertising strategies, Red Bull employs their exceptional brand positioning to sell their products. The brand begins with the company’s slogan: “Red Bull gives you wings” and from there all the marketing strategies begin. Red Bull hosts extreme sport events such as car racing, cliff diving, mountain biking, sky diving, and much more similar activities. These are examples of event marketing which is “creating a brand-marketing event or serving as a sole or participating sponsor of events created by others” (Kolter 498). The sponsored events are just not about the event, but about creating engagements between the customers and brand. When a person attends an event, they are living in what the brand truly
Another way to employ this marketing technique is to hire some locals to drive around in Red Bull’s special cars that have its logo with a large can. In this car there is a fridgie full of Red Bull’s cans. The task of those drivers is to find people who need energy and give them a free can.
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.”
Just like human beings, a brand soon assumes a personality. It is a set of characteristics associated with a brand. Drawing analogy with human personality, brand personality is unique, distinctive and enduring and provides the brand a differentiation from competitive offerings. It is built by the overall experience of the consumer with the brand , which inturn is affected by the expected value from the brand.
Keller, K.L. (2006), ‘The Importance of Corporate Brand Personality Traits to a Successful 21st Century Business.’ Journal of Brand Management. Vol. 14. Nos. 1/2, 74-81.
Aaker (1997) defined brand personality is the set of human characteristics associated with a brand. Aaker’s framework as figure 1 shows, and it represented “Big Five” personality model, which are the original work (Norman 1963; Tupes and Christal 1958), NEO Model (McCrae and Costa 1989), Big Five Prototypes (John 1990), ACL (Piedmont, McCrae, and Costa, 1991), and Inter-Circumples Model (McCrae and Coata 1989). The framework was divided five brand dimensions: sincerity (Down-to earth, honest, wholesome, cheerful), excitement (daring, spirited, imaginative, up-to-date), competence (reliable, intelligent, successful), sophistication (upper class, charming), and ruggedness (outdoorsy, tough).
If I am a brand, how would you get to know me? How would you get to like me? How might you develop real feelings for me? Brands today are just like human personality, it is both distinctive and enduring. Imagine a Harley- Davidson tattoo on your arm; would you perceive yourself to be more muscular or less muscular than before? In the article, the authors revealed that brand personality do “rub off” onto some consumer who hold certain beliefs about their personality- entity theorist in particular. In this paper, I will be discussing the research topic and the methods used and explore the practicability of the article.
Red Bull has built an image as a trendy energy drink, catering to young adults and young professionals between the age groups of (16-29) years. It also targets young club-goers and private parties in order to spread its picture as a stylish drink. It also believes that it is not just selling a beverage, but instead it is selling a ‘way of life’. Red Bull also uses a catchy slogan as ‘Red Bull gives you wings’. These non –traditional marketing strategies of Red Bull are not unique to any market.
the sport organization has an opportunity to market its brand to the new consumer, and they also