Red Bull Stratos Abstract
Title:
Red Bull Stratos: PR Stunt Savvy
Author:
Corey Greenwood
Abstract
This research paper examines how Red Bull exemplified their consumer relations,
primarily through social media, for their Red Bull Stratos campaign. This research, along
with the research I found, will provide insight on how companies could use "guerrilla
public relations" instead of, or with marketing tactics to really gain the interest and
loyalty of their consumers and surrounding publics. For example, in this research, it
shows that the Red Bull Stratos mission reached 8 million concurrent views on Youtube.
Now, not necessarily do those 8 million people drink Red Bull, but now they are aware of
the Red Bull brand, and their mission.
Some findings were how vital social media can be in today's marketplace. Social media is
becoming a key factor in public relations, especially in community and consumer
relations. Red Bull has really adopted this concept, and they rely on social media as a
reliable medium for communication with their publics, rather than flashy traditional
advertising.
Even though social media begs for short, quick information, Red Bull still used this
medium to provide in-depth, informational posts. They provided enough information to
keep the publics knowledgeable, yet short enough to keep these same publics satisfied.
Through this campaign, Red Bull aligned their values with the PRSA Code of Ethics,
consisting of fairness, independence, loyalty, advocacy, honesty, and expertise.
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Red Bull is an energy drink under the company Red Bull GmbH. It was created in
1987 in Thailand by and Austrian entrepreneur, Dietrich Mateschitz. Red Bull is the most
popular energy drink in the world. Red Bull also markets their slogan "Red Bull gives you
wings" through multiple mediums and venues, including the Red Bull Crashed Ice
tournament, and the Red Bull Air Race, along with sports team ownerships, such as Red
Bull Brasil, Scuderia Toro Rosso, and Red Bull New York. The case that will be focused on
is their Red Bull Stratos campaign, and how the successfully incorporated social media to
invite and inform publics of this historical event were used, and how that social media
really ties into their consumer relations.
The Red Bull Stratos mission was a project on October 14, 2012, that involved
Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner free falling from the stratosphere. Baumgartner
traveled in a pressurized, helium-lifted capsule to a height of 128,097 feet over New
Mexico. Once Baumgartner reach this record-breaking height, he would then leave the
capsule and free fall to Earth, while eventually reaching the speed of Mach 1.24 (833.9
mph), breaking the sound barrier.
First I will start off by explaining how Red Bull used social media for the Red Bull
Stratos mission, which is a function of their community relations, but ties into consumer
relations for this campaign. I believe Red Bull implemented good consumer relations
with their two-way communication with social media. The Red Bull Stratos mission
involved several avenues as to how they were going to present this campaign to their
publics. Red Bull generally targets "young males" ("Red Bull", n.d.). However, for this
social media campaign, they generalized their targeted audiences and invited all publics
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to watch this record-breaking feat. Red Bull did a stellar job at promoting this campaign
and reaching their goals they set forth. Clearly, some of the goals they wanted to
accomplish physically was to break Joe Kittinger's records. Joe Kittinger was the capsule
communicator and mentor through Baumgartner's mission to the edge of space.
Kittinger held the highest altitude jump which he set in 1960. Yet, the goals behind this
campaign itself were quite simple. They also wanted to promote this mission, inform the
publics, and then involve the community. Ultimately, they would also come away with a
larger fan base in the social media world.
Red Bull Stratos started off this media campaign by promoting what Baumgartner
was trying to accomplish. There were videos, information about the technology that was
being used in this mission, and even a website dedicated to any and all information
about this mission. Throughout the earlier phases of the mission, there was
documentation of Felix's preparation. Before the actual mission, there were two test
flights and free falls, and the Stratos team was there to capture every important moment.
Through this promotion, they were also informing all publics involved. Red Bull Stratos
wanted to make sure that all publics knew the reason behind this mission. The informed
the publics of Joseph Kittinger's jump prior to this mission that set all the bars that Felix
was going to attempt to reach, and shatter.
The social media tools used in the Red Bull Stratos campaign were diverse and used
to inform and involve the publics. The main social media tools used were Youtube,
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I'll start off by explaining how Red Bull Stratos
successfully used Youtube. During the actual mission, Red Bull Stratos streamed the
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entire operation on Youtube live. The amazing this is this live stream broke a record in
itself. According to Catherine Smith (2012), during the Red Bull Stratos mission, there
were over 8 million concurrent views before Felix jumped. That broke the previous
record for number of concurrent live streams online that was placed during the 2012
Summer Olympics, which was approximately 500,000, on Google (Smith, 2012). Along
with having an astonishing number of concurrent live views, the number of people
subscribed to Red Bull (Stratos) skyrocketed on the day of the jump from the edge of
space. On October 14, Red Bull accumulated 87, 801 more subscribers, plus an
additional almost 60,000 on October 10, the date of the canceled jump (Epic , 2012) [see
Appendix A].
The next social media tool that Red Bull Stratos used dominantly was Facebook.
During this mission, the Red Bull Stratos team was efficiently updating their Facebook
page with updates, photos, and information about the mission's progress. Red Bull's
interactions and engagements on Facebook soared on the date of Felix's jump. Since Red
Bull was consistently posting updates and pictures, fans of the Red Bull Stratos Facebook
page had multiple opportunities to interact with the Red Bull Stratos team and share
their ideas, thoughts and emotions about this historic moment. On the day of Felix's
jump, the Red Bull Stratos page received over 900,000 interactions (likes, comments)
plus 83,000 shares (Epic, 2012). Along with these astonishing numbers for the Red Bull
Stratos page, the official Red Bull page received 740,000 interactions (likes, comments,
shares (Epic, 2012). The status that set itself apart from all the others was the picture of
Felix on his knees rejoicing after he landed safely back to Earth. This specific status
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gathered over 21,000 comments, 51,000 shares and 489,000 likes (Epic, 2012). In the
study conducted by www.socialbakers.com (2012), they estimate that approximately for
every interaction on Facebook, it reaches 100x more people. For example, they estimate
that Red Bull Stratos' most engaging post where Felix lands, may have reached up to 50
million users (Epic, 2012) [see Appendix B].
Twitter also made quite an impact on how Red Bull branded their name to this epic
event. According to www.socialbakers.com (2012), although the official Red Bull page
didn't receive any type of influx of interactions on Twitter, the official Red Bull Stratos
page's interactions increased exponentially on October 14 and October 15. A
combination of 20,000 interactions were recorded on October 14 and October 15, which
would mean a user would include the Twitter handle @redbullstratos (Epic, 2012) [see
Appendix C]. Although these numbers may not seem that impressive, where Red Bull
really shined on Twitter was the amount of interactions they had involving hashtags. The
hashtag #Livejump was used in over 600,000 Tweets (Boies, 2012). Following #Livejump,
the hashtags #Stratos and #felixBaumgartner were Tweeted over 300,000 times each,
while the hashtag #redbullstratos was Tweeted over 400,000 times, which is as good as
including the actual @redbullstratos handle (Boies, 2012). Other hashtags that were
popular on Twitter were #spacejump, generating over 175,000 Tweets, and #redbull,
gathering over 75,000 Tweets (Boies, 2012) [see Appendix D]. Another way Red Bull
really shined on Twitter was how followers and/or publics could Tweet a question they
wanted asked at the press conference after Felix landed. A user could Tweet
@redbullstratos, and three questions would be answered live at the press conference.
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A few other social media sites and tools Red Bull Stratos used were Instagram and
their own website, www.redbullstratos.com. On Instagram, Red Bull posted great photos
of the preparation of the mission and the mission in progress. On Red Bull Stratos
website, they posted all possible information about the mission, including a timeline, full
gallery, and comprehensive information about all aspects of the mission. Some of these
aspects include information about the entire team involved, the technology used,
information about Felix Baumgartner, information about Joseph Kittinger, and
information about each stage of the successful jump (see Appendix E).
Red Bull used the same tools to monitor the publics' interaction that they used the
inform and involve those same publics. On Youtube, they were able to see how many live
streams were going on at one time and could calculate how many eyes were on Felix and
the Red Bull Stratos team. On Facebook, they could see specifically how many people
interacted on the page, through likes, comments and shares. They could also estimate
how many people even viewed their page. On Twitter they could monitor how many
people would ReTweet, share, quote their Tweets and follow their Red Bull Stratos
account.
The final results and statistics I found about this case study were referenced in the
Analysis section above, pertaining to Appendices A-D. The statistics that were provided
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were how followers and fans grew in all aspects of Red Bull's social media platforms
through this Red Bull Stratos campaign.
I found this campaign to be extremely successful. Some say it was just a publicity
stunt, but I disagree. It sparked and interest in many of Red Bull's fans, and created
platforms for publics to interact and be involved during this historic event. Their
pre-promotion was successful because I know many people were anticipating this jump
since the first canceled date up until the actual jump. They really invested well since
NASA didn't take the reigns on this one. Overall, this was a very successful and intuitive
campaign, especially if you look at the statistics.
One of the key concepts Red Bull really harnessed was maintaining their personality
in respect to the public. Their tagline is "Red Bull gives you wings." Now, if sending a man
to the edge of space to skydive for 10 minutes isn't giving someone "wings", I don't
know what is. This really ties into how Red Bull develops and maintains relationships
with their publics, or more specifically, their consumers. Red Bull is the number one
selling energy drink in the world for a reason. They don't have the best tasting energy
drink out there, but they are the first one that comes to people's minds when prompted
to name one. This is due to their "guerrilla public relations." Red Bull sets itself apart
from its competitors through their consumer relations, which is directly tied to their
marketing strategies. Red Bull took their Stratos campaign and separated it from
everyone else, especially competitors.
By creating an event that was so singular and creative, Red Bull tapped
the potential to bypass the other gold standards of traditional
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marketing dominated by large corporations. "When you're in the Super
Bowl, you're one of 70 ads or so. When you go around the NASCAR
track, you're one of 44 teams," Sturner said. "This is about owning
something that will leave an impression."
To break down their public relations efforts even further down, even past the
consumer relations aspect, we see that Red Bull really understands and does a good job
with their core public relations. They began by planning early, and the successfully
planned well. The Red Bull Stratos mission was a plan set in motion back in 2005, and 7
years later it became reality. So even though a lot of the planning was so in-depth and
some of the tasks were mundane, this tactic applies to public relations because a lot of
our campaigns and tasks require extensive research, which can be directly correlated to
early planning (Blog 2.0, 2012). Also, Red Bull provided content-driven public relations.
The Red Bull Stratos team did a fantastic job supplying their publics and consumers with
content worth sharing, either by individuals, social media or even the press
(Warren-Payne, 2012). Red Bull provides consumers with slick content that is led by
legends and values. In today's society, we as consumers need content to satisfy multiple
functions, and Red Bull provides this. In this light, Red Bull is the "aspirational brand of
excellence" (Henry, 2012). They even promoted a consumer promotion to have
individuals guess where Felix would land. Through all of these tactics, Red Bull develops
their own personality, and they "brand" themselves. Through their Twitter account,
live-stream on Youtube, and Facebook, throughout this entire campaign and stunt, the
Red Bull logo was plastered everywhere your eyes could see. Even if you weren't
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focusing on the logo, it then became a subliminal message. You couldn't talk about the
Stratos mission without bringing up Red Bull.
During my research for this campaign, one other social media related campaign
popped up, from Red Bull's top competitor; Monster Energy. The campaign was
"Monster Energy's Ultimate Intern Search" where Monster Energy set up an online social
media campaign that was essentially a job application and interview process. The
candidates would apply on Monster Energy's Facebook page from May 14, 2012 through
June 10, 2012. The application process was also promoted on Twitter through the
hashtag #UltimateIntern. The two winners would receive a compensation package that
was valued at about $15,000 each. The candidates had to submit a two-minute long
video explaining why they should be considered for these new internship positions. The
actual internship would start June 25, 2012 and end August 24, 2012. What Monster
Energy did pretty well is pre-promotion. They started posting advertisements for the
internship position since March, and they frequently posted more advertisements
several times throughout the month featuring an extreme sport or celebrity with catchy
slogans about how Monster Energy will require these interns to have certain qualities.
The problem I have with Monster Energy's campaign is their post-promotion. Once the
interns were awarded their positions, the campaign and what these two interns did for
this energy drink company were absent. After late May into June, there were no more
Tweets with the hashtag #UltimateIntern, and no more Facebook posts about the
"Ultimate Intern Search." Granted, I understand that the actual "search" is over, but I
personally would have liked to have seen what these interns actually did for this
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company. I also think this type of post-promotion could have caught the eye of potential
employees who would have been interested from this campaign and would have seen a
hands-on version of what an employee does on a daily basis at Monster Energy. The Red
Bull Stratos campaign, like Monster Energy, had a very elaborate pre-promotion strategy.
Red Bull's, however, was much more intricate. Red Bull Stratos was a mission set in
motion since 2005, and the pre-promotion up until the actual jump was extensive. Also,
Red Bull did a great job of live-Tweeting during the event, and even well after jump day,
the Red Bull Stratos Twitter and Facebook pages were very active with how Felix
received awards, how thankful he was for all of the Stratos mission members, and any
shows he attended, along with any press coverage.
I know I already touched on how well Red Bull did with their social media in detail,
so I also wanted to explain how well Red Bull did with their consumer relations as a
whole for this campaign. I believe Red Bull did an absolute stellar job with this campaign
from a public relations perspective. They planned early, they planned well, they were
unique with this campaign which will remain in people's memories for quite some time,
they extended their coverage from more than one channel (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube),
the campaign was content-driven, and no matter where you looked for this campaign it
has Red Bull's name plastered all over it. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a customer
satisfaction page or policy that Red Bull may have adopted. Monster Energy could
probably take a few tactics that Red Bull implemented to really produce a great
campaign. Yes, Red Bull did invest a considerable amount of money to accomplish this
feat, but it has paid off exceptionally. Also, this type of public relations stunt, a jump
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from the "edge of space", you would expect NASA to fund it, who is government funded,
would budget this campaign, but Red Bull provided the necessary finances for this entire
process, which plays into their personal "branding," and it allowed them to be the sole
outlet for all of this information about this mission, and it also allowed them to promote
their name and logo on all mediums.
Alignment with PRSA Code of Ethics
The Red Bull Stratos campaign did very well with aligning their values with the PRSA
Code of Ethics. First off, they were advocates for their own company, which was proven
through their personal "branding." Throughout the campaign, you couldn't help but see
the Red Bull logo, along with how someone was not able to bring up the Stratos mission
without "Red Bull" leaving their lips.
The Red Bull Stratos mission was also an honest campaign. For this type of
campaign, there was no reason for Red Bull to hide any information from the publics,
and this provided an honest environment that publics and consumers could/can trust
the information Red Bull is providing.
I would say that Red Bull exemplifies the expertise pillar of the PRSA Code of Ethics
in the Stratos mission. The mission had a board of experts that oversaw the entire
process, and there was countless man-hours of planning and training. Not only was the
Stratos Team prepared in every way possible, but Felix Baumgartner was also an expert
skydiver coming into the mission, with Joseph Kittinger teaching and guiding Felix
through the jump with his knowledge of his previous jump.
Red Bull also put themselves on the cutting block since they had no outside funding
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or sponsorships for this mission, so if it went awry, all fingers would be pointed straight
back at them. Having said that, Red Bull was confident by taking the reigns on this
mission, but it paid off with such a successful campaign and mission.
Red Bull also showed loyalty to their publics and consumers through this campaign
because of their great consumer relations by consistently communicating with them,
primarily through social media in this campaign.
I believe Red Bull's fairness in this campaign was shown through how they
communicated to their publics, including the media.
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