Red Bulls Communication Marketing Report

Student Name

Institutional Affiliation

Executive SummaryThe aim of this report was to assess the performance of Red Bull’s digital and social media strategy, and to determine why the company has largely been successful in the energy drink sector. The first step was assessing Red Bull’s marketing communication objectives using its previous and most popular adverts, marketing campaigns, and messages. The second step was to analyse the current digital and social media strategy of Red Bull, which was achieved by using the 5S’s framework (Speak, Sell, Save, Serve, and Sizzle). The last step was conducting a SWOT analysis of the company. The findings of this report showed that the current marketing communications, social and digital strategies are meant to attract, retain, and increase its target market of young, and active men (18-35 years). Instead of Red Bull promoting its products to increase its sales, its engaged in covering and sponsoring the content that their target audience like, which has helped it to effectively position itself, and enjoy success in the energy drink market sector.

Key Words: Red Bull, marketing, SWOT, 5S, Digital, social media, strategy

Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u Executive Summary PAGEREF _Toc64608488 h 2Introduction PAGEREF _Toc64608489 h 4History PAGEREF _Toc64608490 h 4Vision PAGEREF _Toc64608492 h 4Scale and Main Products PAGEREF _Toc64608493 h 4Target Customers PAGEREF _Toc64608494 h 5Profitability PAGEREF _Toc64608495 h 5Red Bull’s Marketing Communication Objectives PAGEREF _Toc64608496 h 5Evaluation of Red Bull’s Current Digital and Social Media Marketing Strategy PAGEREF _Toc64608504 h 6Sell PAGEREF _Toc64608506 h 7Serve PAGEREF _Toc64608508 h 7Speak PAGEREF _Toc64608510 h 7Save PAGEREF _Toc64608512 h 7Sizzle PAGEREF _Toc64608514 h 8SWOT Analysis PAGEREF _Toc64608516 h 8Strengths PAGEREF _Toc64608518 h 8Weaknesses PAGEREF _Toc64608524 h 9Opportunities PAGEREF _Toc64608528 h 9Threats PAGEREF _Toc64608532 h 9Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc64608536 h 10References PAGEREF _Toc64608538 h 11

IntroductionIn this section, there will be a brief overview of Red Bull focusing on the company’s history, vision, target customers, products that the company sells, profitability, and target customers.

HistoryRed Bull was introduced to the market on April 1st 1987 by Australian entrepreneur, Dietrich Mateschitz. This was after his visit to Thailand, in 1982, and drank an energy drink known as Krating Daeng produced by a Thai entrepreneur, Chaleo Yoovidhya, which helped cure his jet lag (Red Bull, 2020). In 1984 Mateschitz and Yoovidhya partnered and co-founded Red Bull, and made it into an international brand. While in Thailand energy drinks were popular among the blue-collar workers, in the western market, Red Bull was positioned as a trendy, and upscale drink, and is sold at premium prices. It was the first energy drink that was introduced into the western market. With 33 years of history, Red Bull is the market leader in the sale of energy drinks globally, having sold 7.5 billion cans worldwide in 2019 alone.VisionRed Bull’s vision statement is, “Red Bull GmbH is dedicated to upholding Red Bull standards while maintaining the leadership position in the energy drinks category when delivering superior customer service in a highly efficient and profitable manner. We create a culture where employees share best practices, dedicated to coaching and developing our organization as an employer of choice (Red Bull, 2020).”

The assessment of the company’s vision statement illustrates that Red Bull main values are centered on people (customers), corporate culture and ideas.

Scale and Main ProductsAs an energy drink company, Red Bull’s main product is its energy drink. Currently, the company produces 20 flavors which include Red Bull Energy Drink, Red Bull Sugar Free, Red Bull Total Zero, and a variety of artificial fruit flavors. Currently, Red Bull is available in 194 countries globally (Red Bull, 2020). It is one of the most successful companies in the beverage industry.

Target CustomersRed Bull’s target audience is a young male demographic (18-35 years old). In particular, the company targets young, urban men that are into extreme sports, and recreational activities such as sky diving, cliff diving, music festivals, and Formula One.

ProfitabilityIn 2019, Red Bull reported a total sale of 7.5 billion cans worldwide. The sales growth was based on the increased popularity of the drink in emerging markets in Africa, Brazil, and India. According to the company’s website, total sales in 2020 increased to 7.9 billion cans that were sold worldwide (Groendahl, 2020). It signified an increase of 5.2%in comparison to 2019. The company’s overall sales increased by 4% from 6.067 billion euros to 6.307 billion euros in 2020. It is worthy to note that the increase in the sales was because of sales development in the different Red Bull markets such as in Turkey (+23%), Germany (+19%), Russia (+16%), Canada (+14%) and in the United States (+10%) (Red Bull, 2020). Red Bull is experiencing increasing sales in different regions.

Red Bull’s Marketing Communication ObjectivesThe main marketing communication objective for Red Bull has been to create a brand, which embodies a distinct lifestyle and audience, instead of promoting the popular drink to the public (Groendahl, 2020). This means that, their advertising objective is to create a brand preference for Red Bull targeting the Generation Y, active males as their main target audience. The message that is send to the target audience is that the drink invigorates the body and the mind (Farris, 2017). Red Bull’s advertising content revolves around extreme sports, festivals and people living a fast-paced life with the indication that using the product regularly will help the drinkers to be awake, active, and provide them with the necessary energy to attend, and even participate in these events.

Initially, when Red Bull was introduced into the market, the company used guerrilla marketing tactics (Sridhar & Fang, 2019). Traditional advertising was expensive for the start-up and this led the company to use unique marketing strategies such as taking samples to college parties, coffee shops and other locations that they were likely to find their target customers (Sheoran et al., 2018). It helped expose the product to their customers, and popularize it through the word of mouth.

The 2016, Red Bull advert titled, ‘There’s Always Fresh Snow on Red Bull,’ which used the ‘Always On,’ was one the most popular advert video. In 2016 alone, the ‘always on,’ Red Bull advertisements generated 27,047,591 shares. In addition to that, over the past 30 years, Red Bull has been using a charming and witty advertising campaign, which was created by Johannes Kastner. The marketing concept revolves around the marketing slogan, ‘Red Bull gives you wings.’ The cartoon adverts contain simple story lines on how Red Bull revitalizes the body and mind to the point that the drinkers develop wings and fly away (Farris, 2017). These adverts are shown in over 170 countries, and some of the popular ones are the disappointed frog prince, the thirsty Dracula, and Napoleon.

Red Bull has focused to ensure that the content in its marketing strategies is meant to interest its target customers. They have advertisements and sponsor extreme sports such as cliff diving, concerts and music festivals. The company is involved in publishing blog posts, and posting videos on these events for entertainment purpose of its readers, rather than for marketing purposes of its products (Biggs, 2020). In the assessment of the marketing objectives of Red Bull, it has been determined that their main objectives are:

To sell their brand, instead of pushing for their products.To provide their audience with the right content that interest them such as coverage and sponsorship of extreme sports.To mainly target their main audience, young, energetic 18-35 year-old urban men who are thrilled by parties, extreme sport and dangerous recreational activities such as cliff diving.Evaluation of Red Bull’s Current Digital and Social Media Marketing StrategyTo critically assess and evaluate Red Bull’s current digital and social media marketing strategy, it is appropriate to apply the 5S’s approach, which comprises of Sell, Serve, Speak, Save, and Sizzle.SellAccording to Chaffey and Smith (2013), a company is required to make sales, if it wants to grow its sales, and experience an increase in its market share. Red Bull mainly avails its products to its customers by using various channels such as super markets, or petrol stations, and retail shops. The product is also sold in bars and night clubs, convenience stores and health clubs. This has made the company’s products easily accessible to its customers.

ServeThese are the activities that a company engages in to provides its target customers with additional information, which will be beneficial to them, and as a result add value to their lives (Kirkepar, 2015). Red Bull’s official website has events that the company covers, athletes, and videos of events that they covered that their target market can watch and enjoy. It is important to note that Red Bull is always determined to provide its customers with the right content for their entertainment purposes, which helps them identify with their products and therefore make more purchases.

SpeakRed Bull is active in all the popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google +. It actively engages with its customers by replying to their comments and tweets on its platforms. By regularly interacting with its customers, it ensures that it answers their questions, which increases customer retention, helps them to understand their needs, build a positive reputation, and increases, or improves brand growth.SaveAssessing Red Bull’s current digital and social marketing strategies, there was no clear indication on the approaches that the company has undertaken to be more business efficient, and save its overall costs in terms of operations.SizzleRed Bull has managed to create, and establish its brand presence on the digital platform by sponsoring, and covering extreme sports events. For instance, in its Facebook page, there are videos of extreme sports events that were posted recently. In a video that was posted seven hours ago, it shows five people sky diving from a helicopter. Red Bull provides its customers with the content that they want to see, and this has contributed to an overall improvement in their brand presence among its target customers.SWOT AnalysisA SWOT analysis is necessary and important tool to assess a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the market that it operates.

StrengthsMarket Dominance: Red Bull is considered a market leader in the energy drinks sector. In 2019 and 2020 it sold over 7 billion cans annually, and this has ensured that it has become a global market leader in this sector.Rapid growth in sales: The company overall sales in 2019 and 2020 improved significantly by ensuring that it captured the emerging markets in Brazil, India and Africa, while also experiencing an increase in overall sales in markets that it has dominated for years such as the US, where it recorded a 9% increase in total sales.Aggressive marketing: The company’s marketing strategy is intensive and aggressive. It has mainly exploited extreme sports to capture, or attract its target customers.Strong brand presence: The company has positioned itself strategically in relation to its target customers. In addition to that, it has a simple, yet catchy phrase in terms of, ‘Red Bull gives you wings.’

Diversified: It is undeniable that a majority of the company’s revenue comes from energy drinks. However, the business is engaged in other ventures such as car racing, arts, and auto manufacturing.WeaknessesExpensive: Red Bull products are sold at premium prices, which limits its market segment to people who can readily afford it.Speculation that it is an unhealthy product: The high caffeine and sugar contents in the drink have made it being considered a relatively an unhealthy drink. In countries such as France, Red Bull cans have a health warning sign.Difficult to enforce a patent: Red Bull is unable to enforce a patent on its ingredients as it is not the one that formulated them. This means that rival companies can create products that closely resemble Red Bull products without fear of litigation issues.OpportunitiesSuccess in emerging markets: Red Bull is focusing on emerging markets such as in Africa, Asia and Latin America to increase its overall market share and sales volume.Red Bull has over the years engaged in research and development opportunities to offer healthy products to its clientele base.Red Bull is planning to offer a wider variety of its product lines, and new flavors to target a wider market.

ThreatsGrowing health conscience people in its target audience: Red Bull consist of unhealthy ingredients such as caffeine, sugar and flavors, and is unlikely to be consumed by people who are health conscious.Increased competition from rival companies: There has been an emergence of energy drinks such as Monster, and energy drinks from smaller companies that retail at relatively cheap prices, and this may reduce the overall market share of the company in the future.Global pandemic: In a majority of cases, Red Bull products are consumed in social events. With the strict measures during this pandemic such as banning of social gatherings, the sale of Red Bull products may be negatively impacted in the near future.

ConclusionRed Bull’s marketing strategy, message, and utilization of the social media and digital platforms are meant to attract, retain, and increase the number of young, active, urban men (18-35 years). From the introduction of this product to the market, Red Bull has always positioned itself as a drink associated with extreme, and fun activities, which has made it trendy, and popular among the youths. Red Bull’s marketing strategy has never been to push its products, but to provide the needed content by the consumers who will associate the product with the things that they love, and therefore make it popular among the target audience.

ReferencesBiggs, A. (2020). Redbull – A Study in Market Differentiation.

Chaffey, D., Smith, P. R., & Smith, P. R. (2013). Emarketing excellence: Planning and optimizing your digital marketing. Routledge.

Farris, P. W. (2017). Red Bull and energy drinks 2010. Darden Business Publishing Cases, 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1108/case.darden.2016.000257Groendahl, B. (2020, February 17). Red Bull sold one can for almost every person on earth last year. Bloomberg.com. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-17/red-bull-sales-rose-10-to-record-driven-by-emerging-marketsKirpekar, R. (2015). DIGITAL MARKETING – NEW AGE OF MARKETING. Sai Om Journal of Commerce & Management: A Peer Reviewed National Journal, 2, 7-17.

Red Bull. (2020). Red Bull energy drink – Official website :: Energy drink :: Red Bull MY. Red Bull Gives You Wings – RedBull.com. https://www.redbull.com/my-en/energydrink/company-profileSheoran, M., Kumar, D., Kumar, V., & Verma, D. (2018). Understanding the trends of marketing research and its future directions: A citation analysis. The Bottom Line, 31(3/4), 191-207. https://doi.org/10.1108/bl-04-2018-0022Sridhar, S., & Fang, E. (2019). New vistas for marketing strategy: Digital, data-rich, and developing market (D3) environments. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 47(6), 977-985. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-019-00698-y