Analysis of Red Bull's Brand Imagery

Red Bull was founded by Mr. Dietrich Mateschitz in 1986 is an Austrian company that produces energy drinks. Before it was founded, there was no energy drink industry, Mateschitz discovered this niche market so he created Red Bull energy drink. Last year Red Bull sold 6.3 billion cans worldwide, distributing in over 171 different countries. It is currently the world's biggest-selling energy drink and dominates many markets, it also currently has 43% of the market share in the United States. The inspiration for Red Bull started when Mateschitz took a trip to Thailand, and was introduced to a drink called Krating Daeng, this drink is referred to as the “Original Red Bull”. It made him feel very energized and more aware of his surroundings which is when Dietrich recognized that there was no such drink like this anywhere in the west. Due to the impressive potential he saw in the drink he contacted the inventor of Krating Daeng, Chaleo Yoovidhya, and offered him a deal. Mateschitz managed to take over 49% of the company.

Brand imagery was an incredibly important for Mr. Mateschitz. In order for the drink to appeal to the western market, he added a few ingredients into the drink to modify the flavor and make it more desirable to consumers. He also spent an entire year and a half just raising brand awareness before releasing the new product. Red Bull has an extremely recognisable slogan, “Red Bull gives you wings” that Mr. Dietrich used as their slogan to imply that driving this drink will give you so much energy that you can do the impossible. When it came to the price of the product Mateschitz wanted to make it clear to everyone that his new product was a completely different category than all other soft drinks. If he had only priced his product at a 15% premium, then it would simply be considered a premium soft drink brand, and not an entirely new product in a different category. So he decided to sell a can at $2 when it was released, and in comparison to all other soft drinks sold at the time, this was a significantly more expensive beverage.

Overall Red Bull utilizes its position as an energy drink to sponsor and include itself in almost every extreme sport possible helping it grow into a multi-billion dollar company. Red Bull started off as a simple energy drink, Mateschitz found a niche in the market and seized the opportunity, however now it has grown into a conglomerate and has teams in all sorts of extreme sports such as cliff diving, rock climbing, wind-surfing, and even having 2 separate Formula 1 teams. Red bull even almost managed to turn their famous slogan “Red bull gives you wings” into a very literal sense, with their own Air Racing Series that has taken the world by storm.