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

“Do the Dew!” This was a long time tag line for the Mountain Dew brand. In 1995 marketing managers for Mountain Dew realized the tag line had lost consumer interests, understanding this they changed the direction of the creative. Though the creative changed, the target market for Mountain Dew remained in line. Mountain Dew’s ad campaign between 1995 and 1999 did not fare extremely well. PepsiCo decided that in 2000 Mountain Dew would be featured during the Super Bowl rather than Pepsi. This was an enormous feat, as the Super Bowl had been an influential event for advertisers for decades. It was already October 1999 for the marketing executives and decisions had to be made to get the

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 targets only a particular segment of market and therefore makes its product only available at those places where the target can be reached. The energy drink can be bought at colleges, supermarkets and is mainly associated to extreme sports. In particular, the energy drink has also known a tremendous success in India, where the segment is the fastest growing in the category, due to India’s youth centric population and fast urbanization. Red Bull was actually the brand that created energy drink category in India (Docstoc, April 2012).

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

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.

Initially the Red Bull’s slogan was “Red Bull gives you wings”. Later on as the taste changed with the change of its ingredients. Earlier it was an energy drink and later it was functional energy drink. Mateschitz devised the brand positioning that Red Bull “Revitalizes Body and Mind” This phrase conveyed the tangible benefit of the product in an easy grasping manner. It meant that Red Bull can be drunk any time whether it was morning, noon, or night. Thus Red Bulls consumption was not limited to any occasion or activities.

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 been able to create and sustain a competitive advantage in the sports drink industry by setting a goal and expanding from it. Red Bull was launched in hopes of capitalizing on extreme sports such as snowboarding and

Red Bull can be called as a pioneer in the energy drink category worldwide. In India too, Red Bull was the brand that created the energy drink category.

Their slogans, “Red Bull Gives You Wings” and “No Red Bull, No Wings” have also proven to be a staple in their brand presentation for many years (Red Bull). While Red Bull is still dominating the industry, they may have some untapped resources in their marketing strategy and product presentation. While the brand is known throughout society they have the ability to reach a larger audience without losing the identity that the brand was built on. In the United States specifically, Red Bull could appeal to American athletes and consumers by sponsoring well-known athletes outside the extreme sports industry.