Saturday, May 21, 2011

Lessons from RED BULL – Awful Taste – Massive Market Share

“Red Bull is not just a drink. Instead, it is a "philosophy"—one seemingly derived from his own outlook on life—and a "functional product," used to improve strength and performance and to revitalize the body and mind.” Dietrich Mateschitz –Owner of Red Bull


Starting from Fuschl, an Austrian village, RED BULL has developed its niche in 161 countries. Only last year it sold 4.2 billion cans of its drink, including more than a billion in the U.S. alone. In 2004, the company had 2,605 employees; in 2010, 7,758 -

Undoubtedly, Dietrich Mateschitz now 67, is one of the most successful entrepreneurs of this century, a man who with his unique selling abilities, challenged the most established brands in the beverage industry..

His vision that created a new beverage category “The Energy Drink” also famous as “speed in a can". This unique positioning made RED Bull as number 1 product in this category!

Question is: Red Bull does not taste very good, so what are the reasons for this huge success?. Mateschitz says “It's not just another flavored sugar water differentiated by color or taste or flavor. It's an efficiency product. I'm talking about improving endurance, concentration, reaction time and speed”.

To me the answer is: A Well defined USP – Implemented in a Unique way

The company works closely with sports that require energy and present state of mind. Focus of Red Bull's marketing campaign has always been its claim that “it can improve athletic performance”. It l has over brand 500 brand ambassadors - athletes from 97 various sports. The company also owns four soccer teams: New York's Red Bulls (and their stadium), Red Bull Salzburg, Red Bull Brasil, and RB Leipzig and a Nascar team and two Formula 1 racing teams.

Mateschitz is Austria's richest man, and Red Bull is the biggest thing to come out of this small country in Europe. This success has close ties with “Vision” “Positioning” “Strategy’ and “Implementation.

5 comments:

Majid Shabbir said...

The company came up with a different vision and philosophy that was the main reason of its success. To me its entirely a tasteless drink but psychologically it attracts me to get energy and strength. In my opinion company en cashed the psyche of the energy hungry people, especially the sportsmen.

Yes, company's planning, execution, and strategy was excellent that helped it in successfully introducing a new brand in the beverage industry.

Majid

Majid Shabbir said...

To me its a tasteless drink but psychologically it attracts me to get energy. Actually company en cashed the psyche of energy hungry people, especially sportsmen and made a big brand name in the beverage industry.

Ashraf Chaudhry said...

A nice piece of writing on century's one of the mist successful brand. Their marketing is based on viral, deception, perception, illusions. I have a full article about Red Bull at my blog that details about its success and about mysterious nature of its founder. Keep it up and happy blogging.

Malik Mirza said...

That was interesting Hammad sahib - I have added your blog in my blog roll. Visit my website www.wisdomfrombooks.com

Thanks again for sharing this. Any story from your experience of training in Pakistan on USP?

Mina Joshi said...

Interesting article. Redbull is one of the most popular drink with the younger generation in UK. Some like to mix it with Vodka to get a quick high. Personally, I don't think it's good for you as it has some adverse side effects. However, it's marketing is so good that people will continue to drink it.