Red Bull – Promotional Mix
Red bull was originally established in Thailand in 1962 under the name Krating Daeng, Red Bull was incorporated in 1984 with its head office in Austria. It is now a market leader in the energy drink segment with presence in over 130 countries and an employee base of over 3,900 worldwide. It recorded a turnover of $2.6 billion in 2006 with a whopping 300% increase in global sales as compared to the year 2000. Starting with its first international foray in the neighbouring Hungary in 1993, it has since then entered and established a foothold in various key markets like United States, Germany and United Kingdom. Through its well developed network of local subsidiaries in these and other key markets, it manages to make its products available in more than 100 countries. The brand Red Bull has a reputation of unconventional marketing strategies, first mover in the energy drinks market and a strong player in the overall functional drinks market.
Advertising
Red Bull uses many ways of advertising, from billboards to television adverts. Red Bull mostly focus on advertisement through the media as it reaches its primary target market of young people. Here are a few examples of red bulls advertising strategies. Their most popular and well known type of advertising is their adverts on television. They use TV adverts as it is an affective way of reaching out to the public as most people own a TV and will see the advert. This is a screen shot from the advert. It states that ‘Red Bull gives you wings’.
This is a well known slogan that many people recognise red bull by.Its a very catchy slogan therefore the public are likely to remember it and buy red bull. In the advert they are trying to put across a humorous yet witty message in their adverts by suggesting that Red Bull can help you escape by giving you wings. Cartoons can convey a message far more quickly than a written notice, for example. For one thing, you don’t need to be able to read to understand a cartoon. The advert also to give their potential customers a sense of the energy red bull can give you.
This is a billboard advertisement by Red Bull. Billboards are a good way of advertising as lots of people see them so its easy to catch the publics eye and try boost sales. The message in this advertisement is very clever and tries showing a scientific side to Red Bull. This is a good way of catching the publics eye as if its proven to give energy then people will buy it. This also has a sense of humour by using Einstein in the advertisement, but also he is very well known so will catch the publics eye. This can be classed as celebrity advertisement which is a very popular and effective way of advertising.
Personal selling
One of Red Bull’s most successful technique of personal selling is their wings team members. The wing team are a group of people all over the world who help promote and sell Red Bull. The team is made up of young, fun, charismatic people who attend events around the countries to represent Red Bull. Their aim is to drive product trial, win new customers and introduce existing customers to new consumption occasions. Here is an event that the Red Bull wing team have attended. This was a student fresher’s party in Bournemouth, this is ideal as their primary target market will be attending this event. They have company cars and props to catch the public eye and will always have free product trial and often giveaways, which may be stickers, caps and so on.
Sales promotion
Red bull is sold all around the world to, big chain supermarkets, junction shops, cafes and many more. Red Bull sales are very rare as they are the leading energy drink product in the world
Here is a sales promotion for Red Bull. It is an offer stating if you buy two large packs of Red Bull you receive a £5 gift voucher. This will help boost the sales for Red Bull and attract more customers. It is also priced at £5.99 as it it a pricing strategy called a psychological strategy. This would appeal to the customers as the product will seem cheaper, rather than if it was priced £6.00.
Public Relations
Public relations mean that the business has done something that will catch the publics eye and cause them to talk about it. This is an article on how Red Bull dropped off cans of their energy drinks to 400 campuses by helicopter. This is good for the product as it can be seen as free advertisement. Red Bull get a lot of public relations due to events like the Red Bull Stratos and many more. Events like these help the product gets into the media and set out interest to potential customers. Red Bull uses their wing team for direct marketing. The wing team travel around the country to events and cities to promote the product. They will approach customers and tell them about the product. They will often be given a free trial of the product or other freebies, e.g. stickers.
Sponsorship
Red Bull have a very big range of events, athletes, that they sponsor. On their website they show all the athletes that they sponsor. The picture above shows some of the sports they sponsor. This includes surfing, snowboarding, skating, motocross, mountain biking and many more. All of their athletes are very successful and some best in the world in their sporting area. Sponsoring successful athletes is good for the brand as it will help promote their product. For example the athletes will have the Red Bull logo on their bike, board, car and so on. This can attract a different type of group to their product and help the product make more sales.
Direct Marketing
Red Bull uses direct marketing to contact other businesses directly through email and letters to promote their product. They also use it to contact businesses to use their product, e.g in shops and supermarkets. Direct marketing is more effective as it allows other businesses to feel as the business is talking only directly to them.
Promotional objectives
Improve company image
Red Bull improve their company image by sponsorship and the Red Bull team. The people they sponsor are very successful and mostly famous in their career. By sponsoring these people it allows Red Bull to be recognised in a good way from followers of these people and what they do. This gives Red Bull a positive company image and allows Red Bull to be associated with positive events.
Improve financial position
Red Bull improves their financial position by extending the product life by bringing out new products. Red Bull has brought out Sugar Free Red Bull and Red Bull cola. This helped them widen their customers and people who appeal to Red Bull, which will help Red Bull to make more sales and generate more profit.
Increase brand awareness
Red Bull increase brand awareness by advertisement and many other strategies. In my opinion the most affective is holding events such as, sports competitions, festivals and parties. This allows a big variety of people to become aware of Red Bull.
