Marketing Strategy Of Red Bull

Started by Dietrich Mateschitz in the mid 1980’s, Red Bull has fast become the market leader in energy drinks. April 1st 1987, Red Bull Energy Drink was first sold in Austria, the energy drink is now sold in “171 countries and over 62 billion cans of Red Bull have been consumed so far.” (Red Bull GmbH, 2017). In today’s market Red Bull dominates with a market share of 60-70%. Originally inspired to bring the taste of Thai energy drinks to the international markets, Mateschitz and his Thai co-founder the, late Chaleo Yoovidhya, developed the distinctive product that we now know as the original Red Bull. The company has continued to grow to great heights with an annual turnover in 2016 of “Six Billion Euro, increasing from EUR 5.903 billion …show more content…
(FastCompany.com, 2001) Nancy F Koehn, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School states that “in terms of attracting new customers and enhancing consumer loyalty, Red Bull has a more effective branding campaign than Coke or Pepsi” (Koehn, 2001)- Red Bull have established themselves as risk takers, marketing towards those individuals who are risk takers, athletes, adrenaline junkies and over worked, exhausted millennials. Red Bull’s marketing has been identified as one of the most unique in the market to date. Instead of bringing the customers to the product, it brought the product to the customer. The marketing mix consists of 7ps, 4ps marketing mix was developed in the 1960’s (McCarthy, 1964) whilst the remaining 3p marketing mix was developed in the 1980’s (Bither, 1981). When looking at the 4P Marketing Mix (McCarthy, 1964) with regards to Red Bull one P of the marketing mix which is of the upmost importance to Red Bull is the people they attach themselves too. In the UK alone Red Bull sponsor 30 athletes who participate in sports ranging from Motocross to Wakeboarding, sponsoring athletes like these reinforces the ‘Risk Taker’ brand Red Bull push to give off. Another P of the marketing mix, Red Bull are currently excelling at is Promotion, Red Bull currently offer Student Jobs promoting the product. Students receive a Red Bull branded car to drive and will offer hand out samples at their universities or colleges, hitting this target market of over worked students and millennials. “It all started in Austria in 1987 when we launched the first every sampling program” (Red Bull GMBH, 2017). This program is one of Red Bull’s programs that has been key to its success with new demographics but retaining their unique marketing