Jonathan BurgettBrands and BrandingInstructor: Shanita AkintondeMidterm: Brand Audit3/19/2011

Brand Audit

1

Jonathan Burgett

Product

The Red Bull product is on brand. Red Bull is a privately held company that produces

and markets energy drinks under the brand, Red Bull. The products that are included in

Red Bulls portfolio are:

Red Bull Energy Red Bull Sugar free Red Bull Energy Shots Red Bull Cola

Red Bull also markets its non-alcoholic drink in more than 160 countries across the US,

1

Europe, Australia and Asia. It is headquartered in Austria and employs around 6,900

people.

Red Bull Energy Drink is considered a functional beverage with a combination of

ingredients. The energy drink contains the amino acid, taurine, B-complex vitamins,

caffeine, and carbohydrates. Red Bull Sugar free is a functional beverage, developed

for periods of increased mental and physical exertion. The drink contains a range of

ingredients including the following: coca leaf, kola nut, lemon/lime, clove, cinnamon,

cardamom, pine, corn mint, galangal, vanilla, ginger, mace, cocoa, liquorice, orange,

mustard seeds, and others.

The company offers the drink in 60 milliliter (ml) bottle and 250 ml can. The company

claims that these ingredients increases performance, increases concentration and reaction

speed, improves vigilance, improves the emotional status, and stimulates metabolism.

The consumption of energy drinks is rapidly increasing, which has been proven through

its large market growth. The targeted demographic group is teenagers, young adults, and

18 to 34 years old; although expansion into nontraditional markets is also occurring. It is

claimed that energy drinks can offer an increased energy boost related to their ingredient

profile of caffeine, taurine, herbal extracts, and vitamins. Research suggests that energy

drink formulations, in addition to increasing energy utilization, may also improve mood,

enhance physical endurance, reduce mental fatigue, and increase reaction time.

However, in most cases, the corresponding mechanisms of action are not clear. Red

Bull distinguishes themselves from their competitors by keeping product at a minimum.

1

By keeping their products at a minimum Red Bull is able to stay focused. Also, Red

Bulls brand identity for will not get lost among many products. For example, Monster

one of Red Bulls prime competitors has over 23 different energy drinks. Yes, Monster

is successful but there is a limited amount of connection between the brand and the

consumer. The purchaser might feel confused and frustrated when buying Monsters

products because there are so many to choose from.

Internal Branding

Owner is on brand. In 1984 Dietrich Mateschitz founded the energy drink called

Red Bull. In 1992 Mateschitz arranged distribution for Red Bull through out

Hungary and Slovenia and eventually extended to Germany and Switzerland.

Dietrich Mateschitz is known as a marketing specialist amongst his colleagues.

Mateschitz graduated from the Vienna University of Economics and Business

Administration.

Mateschitzs first job as Unilever and later on was Proctor and Gamble. During

his time at both companies worked on a variety of laundry detrgents and

Blendex toothpaste. During his traveling for Belendex toothpaste, Mateschitz

discovered Krating Daeng in which today is known as Red Bull. With the owners

background in marketing, Mateschitz knows the importance of branding. Red Bull

is well known for their advertisements.

Staff is on brand. The company Red Bull, employ6900 employees. Out of the

1

6900 employees. There are three executive members of the company and they

are:

Dietrich Mateschitz; Chief Executive Officer Erik Stover; Managing Director Adrian Newey; Chief Technical Officer

Drivers are on brand. Drivers are on brand because they are representing Red Bull

at their full capacity. The drivers wear uniforms that are navy blue jumpers. The

Red Bull name is located on front upper left side of the uniform. The Oriental bull

fighting picture is located on the back side of the uniform.

Truck- Delivery Trucks are blue with Red

Bull in red font located on the sides of the

truck. The picture of the red bulls fighting in

front of the yellow is located in the front part

of the truck located on both sides and in the rear of the truck.

Staffs families are on brand. The Red Bull company treats all employees like

family. The company considers everyone that works for them along with their

families part of their network. This gives Red Bull a advantage of Positive

reinforcements. If the employees and their families are treated as if they are

family then they will give believe in the products and give Red Bull a positive

reputation.

1

Marketing Materials

Packaging- Red Bull comes in a single packet or

a pack of four. The can itself is a slim silver blue

can that has the name of the products name Red

Bull in bold red font located in the center of the

can.

Ads Print advertisements are on brand. This advertisement is

of a skateboarder flying in the air with a tagline that states

the claim that Red Bull gives you energy. The Red Bull

advertisements are aimed to strengthen brand identity

rather than create brand awareness.

Red Bull recently rolled out a new marketing strategy that

does not use television commercials as its main tool for

advertising. They are successfully penetrating the market by using word of mouth

advertising which is called word-of-mouth or Buzz-Marketing. Word-of-

mouth advertising is a key promotional strategy that makes Red Bulls brands

successful. This means that Red Bull is strongly depending on its consumers to pass

through conversation about the quality and satisfaction of Red Bulls products.

TV ads are on brand. Red Bull designed a series of cartoon/pencil sketched television

commercials because they felt as though all women saw the energy drink as a male

1

beverage.. So they established advertising as a cartoon to mimic oneself. Another

added benefit is that the company thought the advertisements were perceived as

being joyful and positive. These cartoon television commercials were launched,

with a slogan that read Red Bull gives you wings and was very successful. The

advertisements were created to strengthen brand identity rather than create interest.

Website- Home page is on brand. Red Bull follows the color scheme of their

product packaging. The background uses two shades of blue. The Red Bull name

is in bold red font. Last but not least is the famous bull fighting picture with

the yellow sun in the background. The website itself is user friendly and offers

many to help make the users experience easier and interactive.

The links that are included on the website are:

Athletes and teams- This link offers information about athletes and teams that are

endorsed by the Red Bull Company. Under this link Red Bull makes it easy for

the user to look up the team or players by alphabetical order.

Sports- the Sports link offers articles, audio, videos, photos, and calendar of

events. On the right side of the page, there are more links that give the user

options of what sports that the they might be interested in.

The categories of sports include:

Adventure Aerial Ball Bike Motor Skate Water Winter

1

Bullet Points

Events- The events link provides information about events through out the entire

world. The site also provides a link to go to the actual site of the event. Red Bull

sponsors an array of sporting events across the entire world.

World Series-This link offers information about all international events that Red

Bull is involved with.

Culture- Under the link titled Culture, Red bull offers a variety of featured music

and cultural inspired activities. The culture link offers videos, photos, articles,

and a calendar of events. Red Bull also has its own recording label Red Bull

Records.

Products and company- This link offers information about the product with

descriptions of the products. It also offers company history information.

Videos- This link offers users to watch video documentary and footage of a

variety of sporting events.

Photos- This link offers many photos of all over world particularly athletes that

are participating in the sporting events.

Games- This link offers a variety of sport themed games. The games that are

1

included on the site are:

Red Bull augmented racing Red Bull BC one Travis Pastrana Super X- Fighter Red Bull Racing Challenge Red Bull Soap Box Red Bull Super Air Race

Audio- This link offers live footage of the sporting events and featured music

from their own recording label.

Holy Shit- This link offers amazing and unbelievable footage of events that Red

Bull considers out of this world.

Red Bulletin- This link offers announcements, dates, and current winners of

sporting events.

Red Bull TV- This link offers Red Bull TV that gives the user a chance to view

everything that Red Bull is involved with. Red Bull TV also offers interviews

with athletes and Red Bull employees because Red Bull recognizes their

employees as being a key contributor to their success.

Redbullshop.com- This link offers consumers to purchase products from the Red

bull company. The products are shirts, hats, gloves, key chains, and posters all

include the Red Bull name, logo, and bull fighting picture.

1

Business cards- The business cards for

Red Bull Energy Drink are on brand.

The business has employee name and

title of position he hold through Red

Bull. The name of the product is in

Red bold font with a white outline

located in the upper left hand corner. The picture of an oriental themed depiction

has two red Bulls about to collide head on in front of yellow sun.

Red bull also has a mini jeep that travels around the

country. This truck gives Red bull brand

recognition and usually the drivers passes out free

samples of products to the areas it visits for the day.

Labels are on brand. The label provides the color

scheme affiliated with Red Bull. The name Red

Bull in bold red font. The oriental depiction of

two bulls fighting with the background of the

sun.

Red Bull also follows regulations on providing nutritional facts.

Hand-outs- Hand outs are on brand. Red Bull Employees dress in Red Bull gear

1

and pass out samples and post cards to create brand recognition.

Letterhead and envelopes are on brand. The company provided envelopes with

name and logo for company use only.

Brochures are on brand- Red Bull gets involved with the community. Anytime

there is an event that Red Bull is involved with. Red Bull is included in the

brochure about the event

Electronic MarketingSocial Media

Narrative- Red Bulls slogan; It gives you wings Red bull is involved with

many social media websites such as; Face book, Twitter, Foursquare, and My

Space. Red Bull products are known to be energy booster. With this in mind,

the pages created under the Red Bull name are geared towards athletes or sport

enthusiasts.

Visuals, colors, type styles- Red Bull follows the color scheme of their packaging.

The background consists of two shades of blue, The name is located in the

upper left corner in a bold red font. The oriental themed depiction that is always

represented on their products is located in the center

Downloaded material Web site offers the user to download videos and games via

Red Bulls website.

Follow-up materials The Red Bull website is an extremely informative tool

that is monitored and updated every week to give the user proper and informed

information regarding products ands sporting events. The company

E-mail- Is offered a contact mechanism that give consumers a chance to give their

1

opinions and complaints about product and services.

Associations

Appropriateness of association- Red bull is an energy so wiuth this in mind they

are heavily involved with sporting events all over the world.

Your mention in association literature- When Red Bull is involved with events,

the literature provides insert to give Red Bull Name recognition.

Spokespersons- Red bull frequently has Celebrity endorsements like Emenem,

Dennis Rodman and a variety of athletes.

Community

Location, hours of operation, traffic- Red Bulls product are located wherever

energy beverages are sold.

Participation of events- Red Bull is continually participating in sporting events.

Sponsorships- Red Bull offers tournament sponsorships. The tournaments include

Red Bull Air Race and Red Bull Crashed Ice.

Work Cited

Healey, Matthew. What is branding? Essential Design Handbook. Mies Switzerland. 2008. Ries, Al and Ries, Laura. The Fall of Advertising & The Rise of PR. Harper Collins Publishers Incorporated. New York, NY. 2002 Ries, Al and Trout, Jack. Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind.McGraw-Hill Book Company. New York, NY. 1993. http://hypnosebylancome.blogspot.com/2010/07/promotion-strategy.html

1

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1541-4337.2010.00111.x/abstract

1