Red Bull- It gives you wings… or a jet pack, base jumping parachute or a 130,000 ft free-fall, you choose.  Red Bull is arguably the world leader of content marketing. Not once in this promotional video do see some model slowly cracking a can of Red Bull energy drink. That’s not how they roll. But you might ask, how can a company as successful as industry leader, Red Bull top the charts when they don’t even advertise the product they sell? This is where the genius of Red Bull marketing has created quite a successful phenomenon that shift viewers perception of Red Bull as more of a production and publishing company than a beverage company. People connect with Red Bull’s adventurous spirit whether or not they are energy drink consumers and many are quick to affiliate their active lifestyle to the brand of Red Bull.

“Red Bull has masterminded a marketing strategy that is anti-traditional, spending next to no money in TV, radio or print media.  Instead, their revolutionary approach prefers to create and organize their own extreme events around the world.” This is what fuels their content marketing. “The idea central to content marketing is that a brand must give something valuable to get something valuable in return. Instead of the commercial, be the show. Instead of the banner ad, be the feature story. The value returned is often that people associate good things with — and return to engage with — the brand.” This newfound form of marketing causes unstoppable walls of word of mouth promotion and creates a brand image that people feel and want to be connected with.

Without simply pulling marketing dollars to slap their name and logo on events throughout the world, Red Bull has cleverly created 90 extreme sporting events that create passionate consumer content and affiliation while also simply marking their brand all over it. Genius. They have strategically chosen to spend their marketing dollars creating life changing and captivating events that fuel their brand image and affiliation rather than budgeting for everyday television commercials and radio advertisements. Not only have they done this through planned sporting events but by also strategically sponsoring athletes all over the world helping them to reach their goals. I cannot imagine too many athletes turn down the opportunity to be affiliated with and sponsored by Red Bull.

Another successful strategic move for Red Bull has been their ability to localize their marketing efforts. They remain dependent on the pull marketing strategy of content and word of mouth marketing but have found a way to influence it in many different parts of the world. For example in Canada where art and music are second to none, Red Bull Operations seek to be a music producer. The company affiliates themselves with evolving tunes by encouraging young artists to be heard and providing an art show space that exhibits non-traditional and awesomely quirky art to the public. Another localizing example is their work in the trendsetting UK. Red Bull has found itself taking risks here to launch new and exciting products such as their cola drink and herbal remedies. The company is seen to many as pushing the envelope of innovation and originality.

Yet they still remain to market globally that Red Bull is ultimately founded on the spirit of adventure and freewheeling culture.

The success is in the numbers, continuing to dominate as industry leader, you go Red Bull!

Referenced:

Agarwal, Mohit and Nitin Pangarkar “The Wind Behind Red Bull’s Wings” Forbes. June 24, 2013. http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesasia/2013/06/24/the-wind-behind-red-bulls-wings/

Obrien, James. “How Red Bull Takes Content Marketing to the Extreme” December 19, 2012. http://mashable.com/2012/12/19/red-bull-content-marketing/