Red Bull Branding — Appropriate?
Mar 13th, 2011 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Brand, General, Marketing, Online MarketingCheck out these videos….
What do you think about these “branding” efforts?
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To me this approach makes sense because it matches their logo “Redbull gives you wings!” and also appeals to their target audience. They are not marketing their products to the baby boomers but rather to a young crowd and extreme sports appeals to a lot of young people. It’s not shown here but I believe they also sponsor an international air race and amateur plane building contests. It’s not the most efficient method of advertising but it doesn’t cost a lot (respectively) to but a plane and fly it over a stadium or air show.
Wow . .Crazy stuff! Red Bull associates itself with extreme sports, such as offroad racing, helicoptors doing back flips and even downhill mountain biking. Red Bull sells themself as edgy . . .if you want to live on the edge, drink Red Bull. Buying a Red Bull is buying into the lifestyle, young, hip, daring, etc. I did a quick google search and found it interesting to read a blog on why people will by 3.5 times more for a Red Bull versus Coke. The best post I read hit it on the head when they said that’s because that’s what the market will pay. Red Bull has done a great job of marketing to the lifestyle and the experience.
I definitely think that they are reaching their target market. The younger generation has grown up with their product and other energy drinks. The extreme sports fans share the adrenaline mentality, so Red Bull fits in perfectly. I had to laugh when the spokesperson said that the night before the race he couldn’t sleep and was up every two hours. I laughed wondering if he drank the Red Bull before he went to sleep!
That helicopter is incredible!! Defying the rules of aviation!! I think Red Bull’s branding approach is very effective because the energy drinks and extreme sports go hand-in-hand. People don’t want to drink an energy drink and go play chess, they want to drink it to get jacked up to do somthing exciting and extreme. I think many of the people in their target market are into extreme sports, and these videos provide a way of appealing to their target audience. Other energy drinks such as “Monster” also use extreme sports as a marketing tool, and for Red Bull not to do so could potentially leave them left in the dust.
I agree with the previous two comments. If we are talking integrated marketing/branding, this would be a great example. Regardless of the medium, Red Bull continues to deliver the same consistent message to the same target audience. These examples just reinforce the creative ways that Red Bull can articulate this message.
i must say these are crazy stuff. red bull is sponsering the edgy sports to do the contest promotion. I dont drink red bull and I know little about it. It is a energy drink. it is quite a fit with all these crazy stuff like helicopter backflip, TORC racing. Obviously I am not in the target market. but their branding is very successful by connecting the young, energetic life style with the product. I can easliy associated this with red bull. if they are targeting at this grouo of people, they achived their goals. people who acturally live a life like this will feel more connected even than I do.
This blog post caught my attention because I knew with it being red bull advertising/branding, it would be something interesting. Like it has been mentioned in previous posts, the whole idea behind red bull is not to market to the older generations, but the young, wild and crazy 15-40somethings in the world today. By having something like the heli doing backflips, it ties right in with the idea behind red bull meaning it gives you a spark and the “energy” to do crazy things, move fast, better focused. What better way to depict this than to take a heli and then have it start doing some crazy things in the air such as flips. In a way, I feel it personifies the helicopter and makes you think it could be on red bull too.
While I may not agree with the marketing strategy for red bull I think it does work to reach their target audience. It is not only promoting energy and excitement but also an element of irresponsibility and danger. Goes hand in hand with the popularity of mixing red bull with alcohol such as vodka. The dangerous combination of a stimulant and a depressant can have horrible consequences but that is part of the “wings” red bull is providing….a sense of indestrucability.
As soon as I saw the helicopter, it fit right in with my idea of a high energy person. Just about every 20 something year old that i have come across on campus drinks red bull or some form of energy drink. I think of the whole energy drinking experience as a “BIG BOOST” of energy and a feeling of being ready to take on the world and anything that it throws at you. So, yes these ads definitely fit in well with the whole “Energy Drinking” experience that I think that people have.
This is the perfect kind of marketing. They are positioning the product to make it look like it is exciting and adrenaline filled. Who wouldn’t want to have a product that is loaded with caffeine and excitement?
This marketing aspect completely reaches their target market. Red bull gives you “wings” and now they are implementing that on fast, twisty, turning aviation and fast, demolition racing type trucks and cars. Their was a special jab with the race when Red bull beats the competition rockstar and monster. The end of the racing video also shows the guy as a winner getting to drive expensive equipment, driving nice vehicles, getting the chicks and all because he supports red bull. Teenagers watch this video and immediately connect the two and are now “cooler” because they drink red bull. The more red bull they drink the more popular they become. The extreme sports are always being sponsored by red bull and other caffeine drinks, because their target market are the people participating and watching those sports. Great job on Red bulls end. The other place I always see them advertised more than other types of drinks is at the bars with alcohol which can also easily be associated with the 21-25 year range. They use cartoons for their commercials (which make little to no sense) and they use fast pieces of equipment to reach their target market. They succeed in my opinion on having their simple image and reaching all necessary customers.
Of course it makes sense to see Red Bull placing their product at the right place and at the right time. If their name was not all over the winning race car, it would have been someone else’s. And of course it makes more sense to go for product advertising associated with extreme sports instead of sponsoring a chess team. It is about being cool and keeping up with that image designed to reach certain target markets, especially the younger generations, someone that could totally see themselves flipping over a helicopter or being totally awesome by driving really fast. And it’s true they don’t have to necessarily be young, as long as they feel young. Plus red bull gives you wings, and it can totally help, right?! However, let’s not mention how a powerfully caffeinated beverage can also speed up your heart rate and if you also happen to suffer of heart disease, red bull will give you wings, perhaps in the wrong direction …