A Brand Building Project on Redbull-as corporate Brand.

Prepared by:

Vishakha Tyagi

Tybmm B

Roll No. 111

Usha Pravin Gandhi College of Management.

Company History:

Red Bull GmbH produces the world's leading energy drink. More than a billion cans a year are sold in nearly 100 countries. Red Bull holds a 70 percent share of the world market for energy drinks, or functional beverages, a category it was largely responsible for building. Its dominant position in the fastest-growing segment of the soft drink market in a number of countries has drawn a number of imitators. Red Bull has become a case study in successful guerilla marketing in the United States and United Kingdom. Marketing is aimed at hip young people with active lifestyles, though the formula began as a popular tonic for blue collar workers in Thailand.

Globetrotting Origins

Dietrich Mateschitz was born in 1946, a native of the Styria (Steiermark) region of Austria. As a student in Vienna, he studied world trade and commerce. After graduating, he worked for Unilever, then Blendax, a German manufacturer of toothpaste. This position involved much global travel.

In 1982, Mateschitz visited Thailand and brought home with him a number of energy drinks he sampled there. According to The Economist, Mateschitz was sold on a product called Krating Daeng after it took away his jet lag. He later claimed to consume up to eight of the drinks a day.

Krating Daeng, which is Thai for "Red Bull," was a drink popular among cab drivers and other blue collar workers. It had been produced since the early 1970s by the T.C. Pharmaceutical Co., founded in Thailand in 1962 by Chaleo Yoovidhya, a Blendax licensee. (T.C. Pharmaceutical eventually formed the subsidiary Red Bull Beverage Co. Ltd.)

Mateschitz founded Red Bull GmbH in Austria in 1984 as a 49 percent partner with Chaleo Yoovidhya and his son. The company began marketing its namesake drink in Austria in 1987; a million cans were sold in the year.

The original formula was altered for Western palates. Some ingredients were dropped and carbonation was added. Components of the legendary elixir included B vitamins, glucuronolactone, sodium, and caffeine. One ingredient, the amino acid taurine, was derived synthetically, not from bull testicles, as rumor had it. Red Bull's selling proposition was that it increased stamina and mental concentration, making it a natural for one of the original target users, long-distance drivers. The taste of the thick yellow beverage, said to be akin to liquid gummi bears, lent added distinction to the brand.

International Expansion in the 1990s

Red Bull's distribution expanded into neighboring countries Hungary and Slovenia in 1992. Red Bull was introduced in Germany in March 1994. By June, it was claiming a quarter of the sports drink market there, reported the Associated Press, putting it ahead of Gatorade. It was priced about three times as much as a can of Coca-Cola. Red Bull

was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1994 and marketed there as Red Bull Stimulation after 1996.

Red Bull entered the United States in 1997, focusing at first on four western states: California, Oregon, Texas, and Colorado. It was marketed to Americans as a non-corporate alternative to Coke and Pepsi, and both packaging and pricing helped set it apart. The drink was sold in unique, narrow 8.3-ounce cans for $2 a pop. Red Bull associated itself with the nascent extreme sports movement. The company sponsored snowboarding and freeskiing contests and Flugtag, a homemade flying machine challenge (Mateschitz was an enthusiastic collector of vintage aircraft).

While Red Bull had appealed to athletes and, in the United States, tired white collar workers, the real story of Red Bull's growth lay in the promise of further endurance at clubbing, giving it a special appeal for young people exhausted from working hard all week. The Los Angeles Times reported that the beverage appeared to glow green under the fluorescent light of nightclubs. The drink became a very popular mixer, especially with vodka. Red Bull deepened its involvement with the club scene by sponsoring a month-long school for deejays in New York City called the Red Bull Music Academy.

Worldwide sales were logged at 300 million cans in 1998 by Beverage World. By the end of 1999, Red Bull was sold in more than 50 countries, and sales estimates varied between 600 million and one billion cans worldwide. Red Bull led the energy drink category in the United States and the United Kingdom, where it displaced the venerable Lucozade brand owned by pharmaceutical company SmithKline Beecham (later GlaxoSmithKline).

The company promoted the lift the beverage offered with the slogan "Red Bull gives you wings." Traditional advertising was limited, as the company focused heavily on getting product samples into the right hands. The company sometimes put up edgy, graffiti-style billboards. In the late 1990s, Red Bull produced animated TV ads for mature markets.

By this time, Red Bull GmbH was the most highly valued company in Austria, worth about $11 billion according to one estimate. This made Mateschitz, with his 49 percent holding, the country's richest individual.

Continued Success in the 2000s

Mammoth beverage marketers such as Coca-Cola Co. and Anheuser-Busch were pouring out new drinks designed to capture a share of the success of "cult" energy drinks, a $300 million market. PepsiCo acquired South Beach Beverages, maker of the SoBe brand, in 2000, and Quaker Oats, owner of Gatorade, the next year. Liquor distributors were also eyeing Red Bull's share of the mixer market, introducing pre-mixed premium drinks such as Smirnoff Ice. Former Red Bull employees launched a competitor, Roaring Lion, in 2001, its marketing and distribution tailored for the nightclub market.

Red Bull sued a number of bars for surreptitiously substituting knock-offs when customers ordered mixed drinks specifying Red Bull. Red Bull's Australian distributor

rolled out its own competing beverage called LiveWire. A court later found Sydneywide Distributors copied Red Bull's packaging too. Red Bull made its first forays into the southern hemisphere, via South Africa and Brazil, in 2001. In October 2002, Red Bull opened a regional headquarters in Dubai and was planning to build a plant there as well. Red Bull's worldwide sales were estimated at EUR 1.4 billion ($1.32 billion) in 2002. Much of Red Bull's success in the United States can be attributed to the dedicated, one-brand distribution network operated by the company. Mateschitz set up a separate company to develop and market other drinks, including LunAqua, a New Age brand of water bottled during full moons. A sugar-free version of Red Bull was rolled out in January 2003.

The brand came to India in 2003. Although the brand has been keeping a low profile compared to the Cola majors , Red Bull has created a category of energy drinks in the Indian market. According to Economic Times ( 30.05.08) the energy drink market in India is estimated to be around 100 crore. The market now has two main players Red Bull and Power Horse.

Energy Drinks are not much popular in India or it can be said that this product is used mostly by sport persons hence a niche. So far the use of these kind of drinks has not percolated to the mass market.

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Visual and verbal identities of REDBULL-The Brand:

Logo:

Red Bull’s logo – two thick-necked Herculean crimson bulls in opposing charge against a yellow sun – is the epitome of the kinetic virility and pugnacity the beverage claims to provide. Indisputably, the dominant energy-drink brand, Red Bull has chosen to stick with its one product beverage line, avoiding branching out into similar areas such as energy bars or other sports-related products. In addition to conventional advertising (TV, radio), the company also maintains its liquid-adrenaline image by sponsoring athletes in such X-Game disciplines as BMX, motocross, hang-gliding, skateboarding, wakeboarding and bungee jumping.

Packaging:

The standard packaging of all Redbull products comprises of the two colours blue and silver with a shiny Redbull Logo in red colour in the centre.Although the sugarfree Redbull can was made light blue compared to the original energy drink ,sort of depicting that its”lighter” than the usual drink as it

doesn’t contain sugar.

The distinctiveness in the packaging is intentional as the drink itself is distinct from other beverages and so Redbull can is easily differentiable from any other beverage can as it’s a propreitory or functional drink rather than a simple beverage

Tagline and Slogans

Their slogan is "Red Bull gives you wiiings"and the product is aggressively marketed through advertising, tournament sponsorship (Red Bull Air Race, Red Bull Crashed Ice), sports team ownerships (Red Bull Racing, Scuderia Toro Rosso, EC Red Bull Salzburg, FC Red Bull Salzburg, Red Bull New York, RB Leipzig), celebrity endorsements, and with its record label, Red Bull Records, music. 

The Slogan “it give you wings “ is attached to almost every campaign and occasion and its been used in a such a manner that it has instant recall value of the brand that’s been spoken about.

Wiings Team :

Red Bull Wings Team Members are part of unique fleet of charming, knowledgeable, entrepreneurial, and dynamic individuals spread across the top 50 markets in the United States. These Wings Team Members are passionate about Red Bull and are excited to share their love with current and future consumers at unexpected and unique times.

The most important part of a Wings Team Members’ job is to put a Red Bull product and leaflet in the consumers’ hand and offer a memorable experience that will drive brand loyalty.

The Wings team has its unique branding which is very limited and available only to the team and makes them distinctly recognizable in crowd.

Sampling forms the most important element of the company’s marketing mix which involves energizing right people with cans of Redbull at the right place, right time. The company otherwise doesn’t advertise digitally as much as it spend on sampling because it involves closer interaction with consumers and increases brand value.

Wiings team is present at all Redbull events energizing the participants and the audience.

Student brand managers:It'sa 300+ national student network empowered with the tools to build a global brand on the college campus.The goal of an SBM is to bring the Red Bull brand to life in the world of all things college. It can be as simple as providing Red Bull for a party, or... it can go a whole lot further.

For example: building excitement and getting people involved in Flugtag, spreading the word about a program like Red Bull First Person.Or coordinating our Wiiings Team to provide Red Bull to students when they need it most.

Companies CSR initiatives:

The Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation was founded in 2004 by Dietrich Mateschitz, CEO Red

Bull, and Heinz Kinigadner, multiple motocross world champion and KTM sporting director.

The tragic outcome of the accident suffered by my son Hannes whilst on a race for charity in summer 2003

showed the continuing lack of medical resources for treating spinal cord injuries along with the limited

progress being made in the related scientific field.In collaboration with Dietrich Mateschitz ,Heinz set up

Wings for Life. Its chief function is to support rigorous pure fundamental and clinical research in the field of

the central nervous system.

Research is truly the key to a putative cure for paralysis. With financial support scientists can strongly

push towards cutting-edge discoveries and treatments to cure paralysis and associated conditions caused

by spinal cord injury.

Without sustained funding scientists may fall short of their goals. Fostering funding for spinal cord injury

research is the most instrumental component in the quest for a putative cure.

Therefore, Wings for Life is reliant on support of the general public - every donation represents an

important contribution to make our vision come true one day, and thereby will benefit all people affected

by spinal cord injury

So what makes the brand redbull?

Since introducing Red Bull in 1987, Mateschitz has invested heavily in building the brand. About $600

million, or 30% of revenue, goes on marketing. (Coca-Cola spends 9%.) But unlike rivals who pay millions

of dollars for superstars like Britney Spears, Mateschitz relies on cheaper talent: hip youngsters, students

and a legion of fringe athletes. Red Bull sponsors some 500 athletes around the world, the type who will

surf in Nova Scotia in January or jump out of a plane to "fly" across the English Channel. Every year the

company stages dozens of extreme sporting events, like the climbing of iced-down silos in Iowa or kite

sailing in Hawaii, as well as cultural events like break-dancing contests and rock music jam sessions. Then

there is Hangar-7, an eye-popping structure of glass and steel that Mateschitz erected next to the airport

in Salzburg, Austria. The building serves as a chic eatery for club crawlers and provides shelter for the

Flying Bulls, a fleet of 15 show planes that appear at air shows around the world.

Apart from sports,.Red Bull has also made sponsorship forays into the rave scene, where it is the dominant

brand in the market for what are known as well drinks. The Red Bull Music Academy, which features some

50 DJs workshopping twice fortnightly in subjects such as “turntablism,” was first held in Berlin in 1998,

then moved to Dublin, and was scheduled for New York in 2001. Despite a handful of competitors in the

energy drink market, Red Bull has proven to be the only brand capable of such an international crossover

appeal, having planted itself firmly throughout Europe, the United States and a good deal of East and

South East Asia. In Thailand, a T-shirt featuring the Red Bull logo is de rigueur for one’s travel uniform.

Creating the Brand image:

The firm avoided usual methods of marketing, relying more on what is called 'buzz marketing' or word-of-mouth. A brand image was created and cultivated which associated the drink with youth culture and extreme and adventure-related sports, such as motor sports, mountain biking, snowboarding and dance music. Red Bull's target consumer segment began to adopt nicknames for the product such as 'liquid cocaine' or 'speed in a can', thus spreading its 'left-field' appeal.

Image: Red Bull associates its brand with youth culture and extreme and adventure-related sports - one example of this is its Driver

Search programme. The aim of the competition is 'to find, test and support budding young American racing talent'. Copyright: Sutton

Images, reproduced by kind permission of Red Bull

Red Bull then worked to ensure that their brand was visible on the street:

Using pick-up trucks as mobile displays, painted blue and silver with a giant can of the drink mounted on top of the vehicle

Designed to be eye-catching, these devices were aimed at promoting the red bull brand as youthful and slightly 'off-the-wall'

Cans of the drink were also given out free to people on the street who had been identified as being in need of energy

Red Bull was given to club DJs, empty cans would also be left on tables in hot spots such as trendy bars, clubs and pubs

The company also set about promoting the Red Bull brand directly to Generation Y, the so-called 'millennials': people born after 1981 who were believed to be cynical of traditional marketing strategies.

Part of this idea involved recruiting 'student brand managers' who would be used to promote Red Bull on university campuses. These students would be encouraged to throw parties (as if encouragement was needed!) at which cases of Red Bull would be distributed. The brand managers would then report back to the company, giving the firm a low cost form of market research data.

So why is this brand so successful? What has it done differently that other older brands couldn’t do? Why do consumers from San Francisco to Singapore prefer to pay nearly double the price of an average soft drink for a highly caffeinated, tangy drink?I think the answer is in brand differentiation and customer engagement & experience.Brand personality & positioningRed Bull is quite a unique brand in its own right. Instead of aggressively advertising itself in the mainstream media, it took the off-beat path of sponsorship marketing and product testing. It targeted and developed a cult following among the marketing wary Gen-Y, who saw it as an anti-brand. As Mateschitz has once said, “we don’t bring the product to the people; we bring people to the product. We make it available and those who love our style come to us,” adding, “Red Bull isn’t a drink, it’s a way of life” (Kumar et al).It was a unique product with unique ingredients and taste that promised to ‘revitalize body and mind’. This phrase conveyed the tangible benefit of the product in an easy-to-grasp manner. It also covered a broad set of appropriate consumption occasions. Red Bull intended to be drunk whenever consumers needed a lift, whether it was morning, noon, or night. This way, Red Bull consumption would not be limited to certain occasions or activities, the way other energy-related beverages had been positioned. This broad positioning was designed to enable growth into a variety of market segments. Red Bull’s advertising did not specify any consumption occasions, which further facilitated an elastic positioning.This positioning then became the basis of Red Bull’s brand personality. Knowing exactly who their target audience were – the marketing wary Gen-Yers, Red Bull became a revolutionary, multi-faceted, edgy brand. Nigel Hollis, chief global analyst at Millward Brown asserts that Red Bull’s brand personality was clearly defined to the point of being polarizing. But by standing for something, it gained the loyalty of those who loved it and were willing to pay a premium for it (Hollis, N.)Customer engagement & experiencePerhaps the most significant influencing factor in Red Bull’s success is its engagement with its customers and the experience it delivers. To begin with, it enlisted an army of souped-up super samplers, driving cars with giant Red Bull cans mounted on their roofs. These teams policed the streets targeting the tired outside gyms, university campuses and offices.A major part of Red Bull’s marketing was sponsorship of extreme sports events, and more recently in F1 and motorcycle racing to broaden message reach. Many of these had a flying theme, consistent with the brand’s slogan. Soon the drink became associated with dangerous, on-the-edge, adrenaline-fuelled activities. Red Bull is also quite big on the party scene. It always did something quirky and interesting to keep the brand alive in an underground way.But most interestingly, Red Bull has managed to create a mystery around the brand – what I call Brand mystique!Brand mystique

Mystique was important to the brand identity of Red Bull. Described as “the Porsche of soft drinks,” Red Bull had nicknames like “liquid cocaine”, “speed-in-a-can.” Mixed with vodka, it became known as “liquid Viagra” purported to have ecstasy-like properties. Similarly, a rumour that taurine was made from bull’s testicles simply added to its popularity These factors contributed to the buzz surrounding the product and led to the “over-mystification” of Red Bull.

RedBull Racing:

Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing

team based in Milton Keynes, England,

which currently holds an Austrian licence and

is one of two Formula One teams owned by Red Bull, the other being Scuderia Toro Rosso. The team became the2010 Formula One Constructors' Championship winner in

only their sixth year of competition, becoming the first Austrian] team to win the title. The

team also produced the world champion driver in 2010, Sebastian Vettel. The team is

managed by Christian Horner, boss of

theArden International GP2 Series team.

The team uses Renault engines.

Scuderia Toro Rosso (Italian

for Team Red Bull), also known simply as Toro

Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an

Italian Formula One racing team (one of two

F1 teams owned by Austrian beverage company Red Bull, the other is Red Bull Racing). It made its racing

debut in the 2006 Formula One season, after Paul Stoddart sold his remaining interest in the Minardi team

at the end of 2005 to Red Bull's owner,Dietrich Mateschitz, who subsequently struck a 50/50 joint-

ownership deal with former F1 driver, Gerhard Berger, before the start of the season. In late November

2008, Red Bull regained total ownership of Toro Rosso after buying back Berger's share of the team.

Scuderia Toro Rosso was the junior/sister team of Red Bull Racing, with the aim of developing the skills of

promising drivers for the senior team. Since 2010, the team has competed as a 'true constructor',

independent of their sister team.

RedBull Events:

Recent Events:

Redbull ChrisPfeiffer India Tour 2011:The entire nation is in Cricket World Cup frenzy. The people are celebrating in their own ways, no matter

you are expert of the game or novice. Even foreign nationals living in India have bitten by the cricket bug.

4-times World  Champion Stunt Rider Christian Pfeiffer is no exception. The 2011 Red Bull Chris Pfeiffer

India Tour got started when the Cricket World Cup was in mid-stage between the 21st of march to 9th

April,in a 10 city tour across the country. And just a day after the final, Chris Pfeiffer performed in front of a

mad crowd at Inorbit Mall, Mumbai.Each of the city managed to have acrowd ofaround 4000 to 5000

speactators watch hile he performs the jaw-dropping stunts.

Redbull Thre3Style::2011Red Bull Thre3Style is a DJ contest that promises to be a night of dance-floor mayhem. The participants

have to play a selection of at least three genres or styles of music in 15 minutes. It doesn't matter what

genres of music are chosen so long as the DJ can make them work together. The participating DJs are

judged on their track-selection, technical skills, creativity and most importantly their ability to bring the

house down. It doesn't matter if they know all the DJing tricks and techniques in the book, if they can’t get

the feet on the dancefloor and hands in the air, they don’t stand a chance of winning a Red Bull Thre3Style

contest. All participants are judged by a panel of professional party starting DJs with much experience in

the industry.

Redbull Threestyle gained a heavy response from the party circuit and it gave a platform to amateur Djs

to bring forth their talent.Students,elite socialites and artistes took part on the final round of the event

which Happened at the Canvas lounge in Mumbai.

Internationally.Redbull has several events taking place at different parts of the worl.It To get a complete mapping of all recent Redbull event,go to link:http://www.redbull.in/cs/Satellite/en_IN/Events/001242877411718#

Conclusion:What started as a medicinal product that was stored only in the Austrian petrol stations was soon discovered by Austrian clubbers and snowboarders as a reviving drink (Kumar

et al) to later spawn a legion of admirers from hip clubsters to jaded cubicle-dwellers (Bashford, S. 2004). Within three years of entering the US market in 1997, it singlehandedly established and then lifted the booming energy drinks category (Hein, K. 2001).

Today, Red Bull is the uncontested global leader of the energy drinks market. Sold in over 100 countries throughout Europe and many parts of north and south America, Africa and Asia-Pacific, the drink has grown quickly and today commands about 80% of the worldwide energy drinks market (Datamonitor, 2008). It boasts at least 70% of every national market in which it is present and is still growing rapidly (Bashford, S. 2004).And believe it or not, Red Bull understood the power of “crowdsourcing” long before the concept gained popularity. Red Bull was the first to recruit Student Brand Managers – essentially hand-picked students whose personalities matched with that of Red Bull – and gave them free drinks, covered social costs incurred (essentially of parties!) and made a modest contribution towards funding their studies. In these Student Brand Managers, Red Bull really built what Nicolas Ind (2001) refers to as Brand Champions.

Analysis:After getting an insight into the world of Redbull,I can say that indeed Redbull is one of the biggest brand across the world and the product is just a part of it.Redbull is the clear example which proves to us that a strong branding strategy and brand personality can go beyond people buying your product or knowing about it,the name of your brand is in eveyrones head and that is what creating a brand is at the end of the day.Awareness of the product and functionality comes with it.It is indeed one brand which stands apart not only in its own sector but overall even counting other brand of other sectors.It is the one of the only companies in the world that doesn’t need to sponsor events ,but they have a cutting edge over other brands who do so,THEY CREATE THEIR OWN EVENTS.Redbull certainly employes a group of talented,dynamic and creative indivisuals who have enabled the brand to be where it is today,that is,at the TOP.

Redbull doesn’t need direct advertisements that push people to buy it,but they have adopted the pull strategy,which means ,make your brand so strong that people are bound to buy ur product and not forced or persuaded to.

Bibbliography:

Resources –

Redbull.in

Wikipedia.com

RedbullRacing.com