Red Bull’s 8 Marketing Strategies That Made It a Household Name

Red Bull is a worldwide popular energy drink. It’s famous for its bold slogan and unconventional advertisements, attracting youngsters and adrenaline lovers alike.

The brand has gained almost 43% of the market share because of its powerful marketing tactics.

It has targeted niche areas with extreme focus, influencing people’s perspectives about energy drinks and the brand image.

Today, People associate Red Bull with a certain lifestyle and love it for the experience it delivers.

In this article, I have shared some core marketing strategies of Red Bull. These techniques generate high conversions and are flexible enough to be adopted by other brands.

About Red Bull

Red Bull is an Austrian-based beverage brand that distributes energy drinks worldwide.

It belongs to a multinational private company, Red Bull GmbH, owned by Austrian billionaire Mark Mateschitz and the Thai-born Yoovidhya family. 

Chaleo Yoovidhya (late) and Dietrich Mateschitz (late) started the company in 1987 and, over the years, expanded the business overseas successfully.

Red Bull is now the third most popular drink among Gen Z and millennials and operates in over 172 countries. 

Its 2023 sales alone were 10.55 billion EUR.

Red Bull is also famous for sponsoring music and sports events. It’s one of its early promotion techniques that still drives maximum results for the company. 

Eight Marketing Strategies of Red Bull

Red Bull follows plenty of promotion techniques to drive conversions.

It leverages traditional and digital media, uses in-person connections, and incorporates storytelling in its advertisements to connect with its target audience and generate sales.

Via consistent branding and engaging content, it stays visible, relevant, and trendy.

Below are the nine best marketing strategies Red Bull has used to establish its position in the market and gain global recognition. Most of them are general promotion techniques, but they have been tailored by Red Bull to deliver specific results.

Let’s explore them.

1. Product Inspiration

Red Bull is one of the oldest beverage brands. It isn’t, however, the pioneer of energy drinks. 

The idea of Red Bull was inspired by a local Thai tonic created for blue-collar workers to help them manage long duty hours.

Austrian businessman, Dietrich Mateschitz came across this “new tonic” by chance while traveling to Thailand for business in the nineties. He bought a can of Kraeting Daeng and the experience was astonishing enough to cause inspiration for the next brand.

He partnered with the Pharmacist (Chaleo Yoovidhya), who created the original drink, and Red Bull was officially introduced in Europe.

The combination of a novel product and good marketing got Red Bull a lot of exposure, and soon cans were being distributed in the United States and other regions.

By the end of the nineties, Red Bull sold one billion cans. 

Since then, the company has created several variations of the original products. You can buy Red Bull in Watermelon, blueberry, coconut, and other flavors, including sugar-free cans.

Takeaway

Develop a product that offers something new to your audience.

New ideas get noticed quickly, and People are willing to pay for the experience. 

There are plenty of ways to find inspiration. For example, 72% of companies receive product ideas from customer feedback. 

Expand your research circle and collaborate with others for ideas

2. Targeting The Right Audience

Red Bull’s marketing strategies are customer-oriented and tailored to attract a specific audience. They target active Gen Z and millennials who love sports activities and can afford Red Bull’s premium prices.

What’s remarkable is that this customer segment is completely different from the Thai energy drink that was the source of Red Bull’s inspiration. 

As mentioned earlier, Kraeting Daeng was produced as an energy boost for blue-collar workers. So, its prices were set to attract that particular income group. 

Dietrich Mateschitz, however, wanted to introduce Red Bull as a premium product and build its marketing strategy to portray it as a premium drink. 

But energy drink has an acquired taste and not everyone prefers them. 

Keeping that in mind, Red Bull chose the young generation as its target audience and focused its marketing efforts on nurturing.

The results exceeded expectations. The brand now enjoys a top position both locally and internationally.

This is why Red Bull invests a major portion of its marketing budget in creative ads, festivals, and sports events.

Takeaway

Knowing who to target and how to target them can help you tailor your promotion strategies. 

You can pick marketing channels with high potential and personalize your customer experience.

Almost 80% of companies have seen a rise in sales after market segmentation.

3. Branding

Red Bull’s brand image is distinct and bold. 

Its trademark is unique, the slogan is attention-grabbing, and the packaging is visible. It also uses a consistent cartoon theme on its website and in its advertisements for entertainment.

And that’s not all. Red Bull has created a wild brand personality, which is apparent in all its content and marketing campaigns.

These elements compose Red Bull’s branding, differentiating it from competitors.

Unsurprisingly, it has generated the best results for the company.

You can measure Red Bull’s successful branding from the fact that despite being almost 40 years old, the brand hasn’t deviated much from its original identity. The first cans had a bull trademark pasted on the bottle, and the current cans show a similar trademark. 

Takeaway

Branding identifies your product in the market. It formally introduces you to your audience and gives you a personality to set apart.

Create a brand to enter the market. You can leverage, colors, type, and graphics to build a strong identity. For instance, Red Bull’s keyword is energy and the logo’s symbol and color represent the same.

Study well-known brands for ideas. Apple, LEGO, and, of course, Red Bull, are excellent examples.

4. Story Telling

Storytelling is Red Bull’s marketing strength. It is deeply embedded in its marketing content, making its content recognizable and relatable.

Let’s start with the cartoon commercials.

Have you noticed a common theme in its cartoon ads? The link between Red Bull’s branding and its product is nominal, but everyone can instantly recognize Red Bull’s TV commercials and link them to the product.

Why? Because Red Bull tells a story in its advertisements using witty topics and distinguished illustrations. 

The cartoon theme has now become a part of its brand identity.

Red Bull’s storytelling is also noticeable in its promotion campaigns. The below video is one good example. 

Red Bull leverages influencers’ reputations to enter new markets and use stories to increase brand visibility. That’s one reason many find its advertisements engaging.

Takeaway

Utilize storytelling in your advertisement and nurturing campaigns. It’s a powerful marketing element that can help you build deep connections with your target audience and make your brand memorable.

Your stories don’t have to be directly relatable. 

Red Bull uses the energy element to interconnect its marketing content. You can also pick any emotional element and link the stories to your brand.

5. Publicity Stunts

Red Bull frequently launches publicity stunts to draw attention. 

From free falls and cliff diving to aerobatics and Space Jump, Red Bull has pulled some of the craziest stunts.

Why? To create hype and gain exposure.

Let me give you an example.

In October 2012, Red Bull launched a live event broadcast of its campaign “Red Bull Stratos”, featuring an Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner flying in a helium balloon and free-falling, breaking the world record for balloon flying.

That’s not even the best part of the campaign. 

Felix Baumgartner flew into the Stratosphere (the layer of earth’s atmosphere) and jumped from there–hence the name Red Bull Space Jump. 

This inconceivable campaign got huge attention and generated 8 million views on YouTube and 87,801 new subscribers–just as Red Bull wanted.

Publicity strung brings immense attention and coverage. You can attract millions of views and media talk with creative publicity tactics. 

This technique has not only helped Red Bull increase its reach but also allowed it to accomplish multiple goals from one campaign.

Takeaway

Connect your brand with social events and audience interests to deliver a personalized experience.

If you link your products with what people love, you can get a better response from your audience.

6. Event Marketing

Event sponsorship is another core publicity tactic of Red Bull. While the brand is heavily invested in sports, it hasn’t limited itself to one industry. 

You’ll find Red Bull in festivals, games, music events, dance competitions, and even art.

It targets multiple industries to diversify its reach and attracts people from different backgrounds to boost its reach.

What makes Red Bull sponsorship unique is its direct involvement. 

While other companies follow traditional routes, Red Bull creates its own content, buys sports clubs, and runs its own channels. 

Plenty of examples are available. There’s, in fact, an entire section dedicated to events on Red Bull’s page. 

As an energy beverage seller, Red Bull has built a powerful brand personality to strengthen its connection with its audience. 

With periodical social activities, it stays in the news and improves its brand credibility.

Takeaway

Focus on your brand image. 81% of customers buy products from familiar brands, and sponsorship is one way to make your brand known.

You can sponsor events within your budget and turn to free social media channels for promotion.

7. Social Media Marketing

Red Bull’s content marketing strategy offers amazing insights into customer engagement. 

The company generates creative content through its owned and partnership deals and then leverages social media channels to drive conversions.

Remember the Stratos campaign I mentioned earlier in the publicity stunts section? Its core publishing channel was YouTube. 

Red Bull’s YouTube videos on average generate one million views, short Instagram posts get thousands of comments, and the TikTok account receives similar attention. 

Red Bull also runs contests to create UGC content. Through participants and subscribers, Red Bull gains more exposure and receives free promotions.

Here’s a good example for study. 

Red Bull recently launched a campaign called “Can You Make It”, which involved traveling Europe in seven days, using Red Bull as a currency.

300 teams from 60 countries participated in the competition.

Imagine how much direct and indirect promotion Red Bull must have earned with one challenge.  

Takeaway

Social media offers access to a global audience. Five billion people use social media daily and learn about new brands through timeline posts. 

Create multiple social media channels and integrate them into your marketing campaigns. You can use market automation tools to integrate your campaigns with your digital and on-site channels.

8. Distribution Strategy

Red Bull’s distribution strategy involves globalization and accessibility. It follows both direct and third-party distribution and transports its products from Austria and Switzerland worldwide.

How does it cover delivery? Through third-party.

Red Bull doesn’t run exclusive stores. It delivers cans to places that young audiences frequent, which include supermarkets, entertainment areas, sports clubs, and retail stores. 

In some regions like North America, it runs a distribution company and transports products exclusively through its own network.

Red Bull also collaborates with other brands to boost its product value and reach.

For example. In 2022, Red Bull entered into a partnership with Dr Pepper to offer exclusive distribution rights. It allowed Red Bull to enter the Mexico market without establishing owned delivery channels.

This strategy is typical for consumable products. Many well-known brands follow this method to increase their distribution channels.

Takeaway

Make your products accessible to your target audience without affecting their worth. You can utilize both online and on-premise channels for product delivery. 

With digitization, plenty of options are now available that are well-suited for both startups and established organizations. 

If your product is a luxury item, you can try scarcity marketing as well. Red Bull applies this tactic in some of its editions.

If you check its products, it has an ORGANICS line that comes in both aluminum cans and glass bottles. However, the bottles are available only at specific restaurants. 

The idea is to boost the value of its bottled product through limited availability.

Conclusion

Red Bull is a simple energy drink. It might taste good, and it might keep you active. But in the end, it’s just a drink.

What makes it different from other energy drinks is its branding and marketing. 

Red Bull’s motto is to give you wiings. 

The drink doesn’t give you actual wiings, but it certainly provides enough boost to want to fly–that is pretty much its entire brand message, and it has executed it well through its marketing strategies.

Be unconventional like Red Bull and stand out. Good luck!