The Hidden Truth of Red Bull's Marketing Campain

The first thing that one associates with the brand name Red Bull is the energy drink. However, not only is Red Bull a popular energy drink producer, it is also a huge marketing powerhouse, pumping a third of their yearly revenue into sponsorships and endorsement deals involving sports, especially extreme sports, with the premise that the more adrenalin and action it serves, the better.

The reason behind their main focus on sports is that it fits very well with the brand’s energetic and active image. Their first popular event was the Red Bull flight days, where amateurs were able to participate with their self-built flying devices to jump off a ramp into the water. So nowadays, if you think of the brand Red Bull, the slogan “Red Bull gives you wings” will automatically pop into your head.

The idea behind it is to give athletes the opportunity to surpass their own limits, even exceeding human capabilities. Take a look at the stratospheric jump by the Austrian extreme sports athlete Felix Baumgartner, who was sent 40km above earth in a small ship and a helium balloon, only to let him free fall out of it. It was also a huge media spectacle, which was followed through a live ticker and watched by eight million viewers through a live stream.

But Red Bull’s marketing strategy initially started in the early 1990s when there was no actual marketing concept for energy drinks. They had to invent their own strategy and went straight up to their target customers, who were 18 to 35 year-old males at college parties, bars or any place they would hang out.

It started with sponsoring music festivals and extreme sports events. Since then they made huge leaps into sponsoring different kind of athletes and teams, using different branded methods to become the worldwide recognized brand and sponsors they are today. However, the brand focuses nowadays more on owning properties rather than sponsoring alien brands.

Well-known Red Bull owned properties are sports teams like Red Bull Racing, a Formula One team, with four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel or Scuderia Toro Rosso, a Formula One team as well, which is the literal translation of Red Bull in Italian and is being considered the junior racing team.

But, not only does Red Bull own sports teams, they also created and supported popular extreme sports events such as Red Bull Air Race, Red Bull Cliff-Diving or Red Bull Crashed Ice, as well as non-extreme sports events like breakdancing or e-sports events.

The truth is that Red Bull owns a huge portfolio of extreme sports campaigns and athletes, and they are very good at what they are doing. That is why we want to introduce you to a completely new event for the upcoming anniversary.