Red Bull's Marketing Strategy: An Essay Analysis.

The Marketing Strategy of Red Bull

Question:

Discuss about the Marketing Strategy of Red Bull.

Red Bull is an energy drink which is sold by an Austrian company and it has the highest amount of market share in energy drink. The marketing strategy of Red Bull includes multiple sports team ownership. It has created brand awareness among the customers in a short span of time. This paper will highlight the marketing strategy of Red Bull. Various literatures will also be analyzed in the paper related to the marketing strategy. The food safety authority of European country has approved that Red Bull contains adequate amount of caffeine and it safe for consumption. Red bull has also positioned itself as a premium drink and the product has expanded internationally in different markets within a short span of time. The company has also carried out international market campaign and it has targeted the youth and the sportsmen (Miles?Chan et al. 2015).

According to Buchanan and Yeatman (2017), the digital marketing strategy has enhanced the interest of the young adults in the consumption of energy drink. This has led to the increase in the weight gain and the various communicable diseases in youths as well as adults.  It has also been found that the advertisements in the social media sites or other modes of digital advertisement have attracted the youths and thus the consumption of Red Bull is high among the children. Although, Red Bull is categorized as a non-alcoholic beverage, but it contains small proportion of caffeine which increases the mental alertness and thus helps as an energy booster. Bustin et al. (2015) has opined that the brand name of the drink has attracted the customers and this has affected the personality traits. The subliminal advertisement has increased the sensitivity of the people and the various dispositional factors laid potentiating effect. The various situational factors also increase the sensitivity of the people to subliminal advertising and the messages are more effective for the people who are craving for the drink. The personality atrits of the individuals are closely associated with consumer choice. There is some sensation which is associated with the preference for this kind of energy drink such as Red Bull. The situational factors such as thirst increases people’s sensitivity for the subliminally refreshed drink. Freeman et al. (2014) has predicted that the face book pages are used as a marketing feature to increase customer’s engagement and interaction. The apps developed by Face book allow the customer to place the orders directly through face book. The youth and the adolescent are mainly found to be engaged with the app and they are the targeted market of Red Bull. This has also helped Red Bull to capitalize the users on the social networks and they can reach the marketing messages to the people. According to Wen et al. (2014), e-commerce marketing has helped Red Bull in the expansion of its business. Red Bull is a functional beverage and it has established solid fans foundation. With the rapid development of the social media sites such as Facebook. Red Bull has set up its own home page on Facebook. It has also set up an interesting and powerful call to action in its website and thus it becomes difficult for the users to escape when they visit the home page of Red Bull for the first time. The users can also choose the application which is fit for them according to their convenience after visiting the home page of Red Bull.

Impact of Digital Marketing on Consumer Behavior

The methodology helps in discussing the processes and methods which are to be followed to meet the research objectives. In this case, quantitative data will be used to find out which type of marketing strategy is adopted by Red Bull. Moreover, secondary data will be collected from the annual report of the company. The various marketing strategies which are adopted by the company will also be discussed in detail. The data will be analyzed using different types of statistical tools like SPSS and thus it will help to meet the research objectives. Moreover, the research will be based on ethical approach and it will ensure reliability and validity. The work will not be plagiarized and the data gathered from the secondary source will not be manipulated. Thus, it will help to meet the research objectives (Bryman and Bell 2015).

The marketing strategy of any company is drawn from the market research and it focuses on the product mix so as to maximize its profitability and sustainability of the business. Red Bull has used various marketing strategies such as word-of-mouth, event sponsorship, point-of-purchase, advertisement, sampling program, athlete endorsement (Cornil et al. 2017).

In the point-of-purchase sale of Red Bull, certain prominent locations are set. The products are sold in branded refrigerated unit and the van drivers distribute and make sure that the product is available in those points. There are also a team of dedicated people who are engaged in the vehicles which are covered by Red Bull logo and they supply the stock to the various locations. They also make sure that there is proper advertising of the product (Rosenthal and Morin 2016).

Red Bull has also tried to venture in sponsoring athletes to build the brand equity. It is one of the most important tactics and the athletes perceive it as successful and powerful. It is sponsoring sports events such as “Red Bull Signature Series”. It has also participated in event marketing such as creating and sponsoring events and thus this has enhanced the brand equity and the brand image. It has provided sponsorship in Red Bull Flugtag event, Red Bull Ramoagde, Red Bull Soap Box Race, Red Bull Cape Fear and many more (Schmidt et al. 2017).

The word-of-mouth strategy has involved “micro-targeting” such as bars, clubs, shops and stores. The youths have also influenced their peer groups after consumption. This has also led to seeding program and created a buzz among the youths. This strategy was adopted in various sports competition and by various opinion and cultural leaders. Moreover placing empty cans in the bars and clubs has also created popularity among the people. It has also applied a strategy in its advertisement which stated that the drink is meant for brave and energetic people. This has helped the company in increasing the sales volume (Wesnes et al. 2017). 

Word-of-Mouth Strategy and Sponsorship Marketing

Conclusion

Thus, it can be said that the Red Bull has captured more than 50% of the market share and it has more than $1 billion sales worldwide. The sponsorship marketing strategy adopted by the company has led to increase in its customers. The company has also used various types of advertisement to attract the people. As the product is for the niche market, it has been able to reach only a particular segment of the society. It is necessary that the company must concentrate on sales without compromising the quality.

In the presence of a large number of competitors in energy drink, red Bull will have to introduce new flavors so as to keep the customers attracted and motivated for their product. It must also use new innovation in packaging which will make the product more attractive. To maintain its identity in the market, it must expose its product in a different way than the other brands. The company must follow the average pricing strategy rather than the high pricing strategy. Moreover, the packaging must be in different sizes so that customers of all segments can purchase the product. The company must also try to focus on celebrity endorsement and it must use sports celebrity to endorse the product and capture the market.

References

Bryman, A. and Bell, E., 2015. Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA.

Buchanan, L., Kelly, B. and Yeatman, H., 2017. Exposure to digital marketing enhances young adults’ interest in energy drinks: An exploratory investigation. PloS one, 12(2), p.e0171226.

Bustin, G.M., Jones, D.N., Hansenne, M. and Quoidbach, J., 2015. Who does Red Bull give wings to? Sensation seeking moderates sensitivity to subliminal advertisement. Frontiers in psychology, 6.

Cornil, Y., Chandon, P. and Krishna, A., 2017. Does Red Bull give wings to vodka? Placebo effects of marketing labels on perceived intoxication and risky attitudes and behaviors. Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Freeman, Becky, Bridget Kelly, Louise Baur, Kathy Chapman, Simon Chapman, Tim Gill, and Lesley King. "Digital junk: food and beverage marketing on Facebook." American journal of public health 104, no. 12 (2014): e56-e64.

Miles?Chan, J.L., Charrière, N., Grasser, E.K., Montani, J.P. and Dulloo, A.G., 2015. The thermic effect of sugar?free Red Bull: do the non?caffeine bioactive ingredients in energy drinks play a role?. Obesity, 23(1), pp.16-19.

Rosenthal, T.M. and Morin, D.P., 2016. A little Red Bull may give you wings, but it probably will not affect your Tpe. Anatolian journal of cardiology, 15(11), p.923.

Schmidt, L., Chandon, P., Pessiglione, M. and Plassmann, H., 2017. Red Bull Gives You Incentive Motivation: Understanding Placebo Effects of Energy Drinks on Human Cognitive Performance. bioRxiv, p.097717.

Wen, L., Ni, Y. and Huang, B., 2014, May. Analysis of the Application of Social E-commerce Marketing [C]. In Proceedings of the 2012 2nd International Conference on Computer and Information Application (ICCIA 2012). Atlantis Press.

Wesnes, K.A., Brooker, H., Watson, A.W., Bal, W. and Okello, E., 2017. Effects of the Red Bull energy drink on cognitive function and mood in healthy young volunteers. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 31(2), pp.211-221.