276 SECTION 2 Internal Influences on Consumer Behavior
■●Case Study
RED BULL: GIVING WINGS TO A WAY OF LIFE
When Red Bull was launched in 1987 by the Austrian entrepre-
neur Dietrich Mateschitz, it created a new beverage category:
energy drinks. Since then, the energy drink segment has grown
substantially, with Red Bull establishing itself as the undisputed
market leader worldwide—it is available in 167 countries and
has sold around 50 billion cans to date. Red Bull has not only
created a new product category but has also cultivated a way
of life that is widely admired by athletes, musicians, artists, and
students around the world.
The brand’s logo of two red muscular bulls and its iconic
slogan promising to give the consumer “wings” are a statement
for the thrill-seeking consumer. Red Bull fans are attracted to
the brand’s proposition of fun, adventure, creativity, and chal-
lenge. It resonates well with the 18–35 age group by embracing
the culture of extreme sports, music, and art.
Over time, the Red Bull brand has become bigger than the
product itself. Red Bull does not intend to bring the product to
the people, but to bring people to the product. Red Bull’s strat-
egy is to associate itself with experiences and events that are
popular with its target customers and thereby create a unique
brand identity. The company delivers such experiences by heav-
ily sponsoring extreme sports events like motor racing, snow-
boarding, kite surfing, soapbox races, and Formula One races.
Red Bull also creates its own events, like Red Bull X Fighters, Red
Bull Air Race, and Red Bull Paper Wings, all of which attract
huge audiences.
The Red Bull Flugtag is one of their popular annual events,
and the participants live the brand’s slogan: they construct
their own homemade flying machines and jump into water.
Another event that showcased the brand’s spirit of adventure
was Red Bull Stratos, which was the company’s breakthrough
space-diving mission. The event was streamed live on October
14, 2012, showing Austrian sky diver Felix Baumgatner in a
Red Bull labelled costume take a free fall from the edge of space,
breaking the speed of sound and landing on the ground in a Red
Bull parachute. The company had heavily publicized the event
and it was followed by avid Red Bull fans right from the planning
stages. The live streaming of the event had 8 million views on
YouTube, a new record in itself.
Red Bull activities involve a mix of sports, games, athlete
and team sponsorships, music events, and other sports culture
events like Red Bull BC One (breakdancing), and Red Bull Art
of Motion (free-running). The Red Bull Web site features more
than 134 events and activities to engage its users. No matter
what activity its users choose, one thing is shared among all—
the Red Bull state of mind.
Red Bull started its own Media House in 2007 to offer its
followers more options to know and experience the Red Bull life-
style. It produces content across multiple media: print, television,
online, and feature films. Some of the productions of Red Bull
Media House include the film The Art of Flight, the brand’s maga-
zine Red Bulletin, and the TV show Red Bull Signature Series, in
partnership with NBC. With the establishment of the media
house, the Red Bull brand has actually transcended the origi-
nal product and become a full-fledged creator of its own brand
experience. Red Bull continues to hold autographed events
across the globe and produce its own content, incorporating
storytelling material that attracts readers, viewers, and listeners
to the brand.
Red Bull is not merely satisfying a functional need; it is
offering its consumers a vision and promising values through
which they can define themselves. Through this approach, the
drink that vitalizes the body and mind becomes a consumer life-
style choice of extreme experience. In addition, through the Red
Bull Media House, the company is set to take content marketing
to the extreme as well. Many in the marketing and advertising
world are ready to hail Red Bull as a publishing empire that also
just happens to sell a drink.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
CS7-1 Based on your understanding of the personality at-
tributes influencing consumer behavior, describe how
consumers identify themselves with the brand person-
ality of Red Bull. What goal and values are the consum-
ers of Red Bull trying to achieve?
CS7-2 Discuss how Red Bull can be considered a lifestyle
brand. Looking at the diverse activities that Red Bull
associates itself with, is there a single way to define the
Red Bull lifestyle?
CS7-3 Discuss the product complementarity of Red Bull’s en-
ergy drink and media house. Do you think that Red
Bull as a lifestyle brand is strong enough to venture into
publishing extreme content? What does this mean for
its original product and the rising competition it is fac-
ing in different global markets?
Sources:RedBullcompanyWebsite,http://energydrink.redbull.com/company,
accessed October 20, 2015; Kim Bhasin, “Red Bull Is Absolutely Obsessed
with Its ‘Gives You Wings’ Slogan,” Business Insider (October 15, 2012); Kim
Bhasin, “Felix Baumgartner’s Jump Was the Biggest Risk Red Bull Has Ever
Taken,” Business Insider (October 15, 2012); Catherine Smith, “Red Bull
Stratos YouTube Live Stream Attracts Record Number of Viewers (UPDATE),”
The Huffington Post, October 14, 2012; Rob Howard, “Cult Brand Secrets:
Red Bull,” Cult, March 14, 2014, http://www.cult.ca/blog/cult-brand-
secrets-red-bull#sthash.dAHOWxeK.dpuf, accessed October 20 2015;
Henry Faustine, “Red Bull: The Brand That Gives Content Wings,” Digital
for Life, November 6, 2012, http://www.digitalforreallife.com/2012/11/
red-bull-the-brand-that-gives-content-wings/, accessed October 18, 2015;
James O’ Brien, “How Red Bull Takes Content Marketing to the Extreme,”
Mashable, December 19, 2012, http://mashable.com/2012/12/19/red-bull-
content-marketing/#J_9pBDtlN5qy, accessed October 18, 2015.