Red Bull: A Different Kind of Integrated Campaign
Promotional Efforts
With Red Bull energy drinks being such a mainstream product, it would be expected to have the
promotional efforts be the same. Surprisingly this is where it differs. Red Bull does not advertise
and promote their product the mainstream way. Instead they promote a brand and lifestyle
through different forms of promotion.
When a new product comes out, a company normally gravitates towards the aggressive and
excessive advertising to gain a consumer group to increase sales. When Red Bull first came out
they ditched this approach and had young attractive people give out free samples from cars with
the Red Bull logo all over it (Kotler & Armstrong, 2013). With this form of promotion came
word of mouth. Red Bull relied on good word of mouth to get its name and product out there
rather than advertising. To this day, Red Bull still hires college students to promote Red Bull
sponsored events and hand out samples of its products.
Another way Red Bull’s promotional efforts are unique is the way it promotes the high energy,
extreme lifestyle affiliated with it product. Deietrich Mateschitz, owner of Red Bull, “wanted the
brand to hit young people right in the face in a way that they experienced Red Bull to the fullest.
He wanted to engage customers through activities so meaningful to them that deep relationships
would form quickly” (Kotler & Armstrong, 2013). He did so by sponsoring extreme sport events.
At the high energy events, the Red Bull logo would be placed all around the already televised
event and would be showing that logo multiple times. These events go hand and hand with Red
Bull’s slogan, “Red Bull Gives you Wings”.
Lastly, Red Bull did not stop there. Along with word of mouth and sponsoring high energy,
extreme sport events, Red bull sponsors more than 500 athletes in 97 sports categories, mostly
“extreme”. Again, with these sponsorships advertising for the exact energy drink does not
happen, but the promotion of the name and lifestyle does. Red Bull now has its name on dozens
of major events and the cameras at these events capture the action as competitors race by Red
Bull banners (Kotler & Armstrong, 2013). Red Bull paid attention to its consumers and realized
they were not always extreme sport goers and decided to extend its endorsements to the music
and entertainment world. They now sponsor artists, teams, dance events, video games, films, and
music.
Red Bull stays far away from traditional aggressive and excessive product advertising and sticks
with word of mouth, brand recognition, and the emotions that go along with their product.
Promotional Mix Elements
Red Bull takes pride in its personal selling and public relations. They do a lot to get their brand
and its name and lifestyle out there. They protect their brand so much that they even have a page
on their website dedicated to brand protection. This website states that, “Red Bull takes the
protection of its Brand very seriously. We like to think it stands for something, and hope that
consumers know that anything carrying our trademark can be relied on” (Red Bull, 2013).
Red Bull wants to engage customers through activities so meaningful to them that deep
relationship form quickly (Kotler & Armstrong, 2013). I think Red Bull does and amazing job
with this. Red Bull wants to communicate a high energy and extreme lifestyles. By sponsoring
extreme sports events and athletes that participate in extreme events, they are getting that image
out there. To gain personal relationships Red Bull sticks to using younger attractive people to
give out samples and promote their name. By using personal selling and public relations Red
Bull gets its message and brand out there to the people who can fulfill that lifestyle the most.
Future Promotional Efforts
The way Red Bull promotes its image and lifestyle they will not need to embrace more
traditional media marketing techniques. The way Red Bull promotes itself is what their product
is about. Red Bull embraces the extreme high-energy lifestyle and traditional marketing does not
fulfill that image.
Red Bull can grow in its own category. They have already grown so much and it is not all about
their energy drink. They promote a lifestyle not a product. They gain their followers through
their ways of promotional tools. They are already on the right track to grow larger than
“extreme” life style by going into the entertainment industry. Red Bull can conquer any industry
they way just but putting their logo all over it. They have worked so hard for their brand
reputation that they will not need to conform to the traditional marketing to promote themselves
any further.
Target Market and Branching Out
Red Bull’s target audience is young males (Kotler & Armstrong, 2013). Younger males tend to
be reckless, live on the extreme side, and live on the edge with no concerns. By Red Bull
sponsoring sports, and mostly younger males participating in extreme activities, they are being
very consistent with their target audience.
Although Red Bull’s specific target market is a younger male, Red Bull’s use of promotion has
reached beyond it market. If Red Bull continues with their sponsorships and promotes a diverse
range of activities and events, they can continue with their promotional strategy to branch out.
The only think Red Bull will need to keep in mind is the corporate world and gear more things
towards women. With this in mind they can sponsor corporate conventions and more women
sports events. If Red Bull stick true to its pride in its brand, they will be perfectly fine branching
out.
References
Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2013). Applications and Cases. In P. Kotler, & G. Armstrong,
Principles of Marketing (Vol. 15, p. 219). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Red Bull. (2013). Red Bull. Retrieved November 5, 2013, from Bran protection (and what
everyone should know about it):
http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Generic/Brand-Protection--andwhat-everyone-should-know-021243021727391