Corey Greenwood

Case Study

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IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction

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. 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.

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.

AnalysisAnalysisAnalysisAnalysis

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 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

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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

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

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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 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

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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.

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,

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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.

ConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusion

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

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 cancelled date up until the actual jump. They really invested well since

NASA didn't take the reigns on this one. They also did a great job at sticking to one of the

aspects we have covered in class; storytelling. They "wrapped Stratos in a compelling

story of passing the torch from the old veteran to the young adventurer" (Matthew, 2012).

They included Kittinger's story and how Baumgartner continues this amazing feat. The

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human interest aspect of it all drew many people in, and gave it a different edge for how

they portrayed this jump. Overall, this was a very successful and intuitive campaign,

especially if you look at the statistics.

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RedRedRedRed BullBullBullBull StratosStratosStratosStratosWorksWorksWorksWorks CitedCitedCitedCited

Wikipedia, Red Bull Stratos. (n.d) from Red Bull Stratos Web Site:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull_Stratos

Red Bull Stratos. (2012). Retreived October 19, 2012, from www.redbullstratos.com

Smith, C (2012, October, 15). Red Bull Stratos YouTube Live Stream Attracts RecordNumber Of Viewers (UPDATE). retrieved October 19 2012, from Huff Post TechWeb Site:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/14/red-bull-stratos-youtube_n_1965375.html#slide=1641992

Red Bull Stratos. (2012). Retreived October 18, 2012, fromhttp://www.redbullmediahouse.com/products-brands/online/social-media.html

RedBullStratos (2012, October 14) Questions for Felix? Tweet @redbullstratos and 3 willbe answered live at the press conference. (Twitter post) Retrieved fromhttps://twitter.com/RedBullStratos

Boies, J (2012, October, 15). How Red Bull Stratos Successfully Soared Across SocialMedia. retrieved October 19 2012, from Sales Force: Blog Web Site:http://blogs.salesforce.com/company/2012/10/how-red-bull-stratos-successfully-soared-across-social-media.html

Wasserman, T (2012, October, 9). See The Best Pics From Red Bull’s #Stratos InstagramFeed. retrieved October 18 2012, from Mashable.comWeb Site:http://mashable.com/2012/10/09/instagram-felix-baumgartner-red-bull/#94171Felix-Baumgartner

Matthew (2012, October 15). 6 Ways That Red Bull Absolutely Killed It With Stratos.retrieved October 19 2012, from RGB Social Web Site:http://blog.rgbsocial.com/2012/10/15/6-ways-that-red-bull-absolutely-killed-it-with-stratos/

Bastow, S (2012, October 15). Stratos: how a brand took their content above and beyond.Retrieved October 19, 2012, from BloomWeb Site:http://www.bloomsocialbusiness.com/stratos-how-a-brand-took-their-content-above-and-beyond/#.UIGYiMXA-pA

(2012, October 19) Epic Jump Gives Red Bull Wings In Social MediaRetrieved October 20, 2012, from Social Bakers Web Site:http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/970-epic-jump-gives-red-bull-wings-in-social-media

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AppendicesAppendicesAppendicesAppendices

Appendix A:

Appendix B:

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Appendix C:

Appendix D:

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Appendix E: