Please read the below Case Study: Red Bull and answer below mentioned 3 questions.

Case study: Red Bull.

Its a safe bet that most people reading this textbook are familiar with Red Bull. The $6.4 billion

company that virtually created the market for energy drinks revels in its association with cultural

events such as concerts and extreme sports including snowboarding and surfing. The company uses

a variety of communication channels in addition to advertising and public relations to promote the

brand. Red Bulls Facebook page has 38 million likes, and 1 million people follow its Twitter feed. At concerts and other events, street teams pass out free samples

while driving specially modified cars with giant Red Bull cans

mounted on them. Also, the company sponsors the Infiniti Red

Bull Formula One racing team. In addition, the Red Bull Arena in

Harrison, New Jersey, is home to the New York Red Bulls Major

League Soccer team. Needless to say, Red Bull is not only high

energy; its high profile, too!

The brands slogan, Red Bull Gives You Wings, made Red

Bull the perfect corporate partner for one of the biggest public

relations coups in recent years. In fall 2012, Red Bull sponsored

Felix Baumgartners death-defying skydive from the edge of space

(see Exhibit 14-1). After seven years of planning, Baumgartner

jumped from a helium-filled balloon at an altitude of 24 miles.

As a worldwide audience watched on television and YouTube,

Baumgartner plummeted toward earth at speeds as high as Mach

1.24 (834 miles per hour) before landing safely. Needless to say,

the Red Bull logo was prominently displayed on his uniform, and

the event received extensive publicity in the press.

The success of the Red Bull Stratos project helps the Red Bull

brand stand out from a crowded field of competitors that include Monster and Rockstar. As brand strategist Roger Addis noted,

Its a smart move because its such a singular event. If the logo

is buried in a sea of logos on a NASCAR car, youre completely

diluted by all the others. The ad industry seems to agree; Red Bull

topped Advertising Age magazines 2012 Best of Creativity rank-

ings in the integrated/interactive category.

Sponsorships and event marketing are critical marketing

tools for global companies such as Red Bull. When developing

IMC solutions and strategies, global companies and advertising

agencies are giving these and other special forms of promotion

an increasingly prominent role in the communication mix; in the

first decades of the twenty-first century, worldwide expenditures

on sales promotion have been growing at double-digit rates. Sales

promotion, direct marketing, and specialized forms of market-

ing communication such as infomercials and the Internet are also

growing in importance. Personal selling remains an important pro-

motional tool as well. Taken together, the marketing mix elements

discussed in this chapter and Chapter 13 can be used to create

highly effective, integrated promotional campaigns that support

global brands. Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bulls creator, trusted his entrepreneurial

instincts instead of relying on traditional marketing research. As

Mateschitz recalls, When we first started, we said that there is not

an existing market for Red Bull, but Red Bull will create it. And this is

what finally became true. In other words, Mateschitz succeeded at

accomplishing one of the most basic goals in marketing: He discov-

ered a market segment with needs that werent being met by any

existing product. Today, Red Bulls blue-and-silver cans emblazoned

with the iconic charging bulls logo are recognized around the globe.

Mateschitzs marketing instincts have made him a wealthy man; in

2005, for example, he was featured in Forbes magazines cover story

on billionaires.

With typical entrepreneurial flair, Mateschitz pursues alternatives

to orthodox advertising strategies and tactics. We were always look

ing for a different, more creative point of view, he says. For example,

Red Bull utilizes a communication tool known as marketer-produced

media. The Red Bulletin is a monthly magazine produced by Red Bull

Media House. Red Bull distributes more than 3 million copies of each

issue through newsstand sales, subscriptions, and as a free iPad app.

The magazine is available in Austria, Germany, Great Britain, Kuwait,

New Zealand, Poland, and South Africa. In 2011, The Red Bulletin was

launched in the United States; 1.2 million free copies were distributed

in major newspapers such as The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago

Tribune, and The New York Daily News. The first U.S. issue featured

San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum, one of hundreds of ath-

letes who are sponsored by Red Bull. As publisher Raymond Roker put

it, We are entering a new age of media in terms of what consumers

of content want and expect.

Since 1998, Red Bull has been involved in another high-profile

initiative. The Red Bull Music Academy is a series of concerts, work-

shops, art installations, and other cultural events that rotate from year

to year among different international cities. Red Bull Music Academy

also sponsors stages at international music festivals such as Montreaux

Jazz; RBMA Radio is a Web resource where listeners can access new

music, live concerts, interviews, and other content. Despite the name,

Red Bull plays down its participation in the Academy; according to

the Web site, The Red Bull Music Academy is not a sponsored event,

but a long-term music initiative, commit[t]ed to fostering creative

exchange amongst those who have made and continue to make a

difference in the world of sound. Needless to say, the Red Bull logo

is visible everywhere, and coolers filled with the drink are placed in

strategic locations.

In its first two years of existence, the Academy was held in Berlin;

subsequent host cities have included Dublin, Rome, London, Cape

Town, and New York City. Songwriters, DJs, producers, and musicians

are invited to apply to the Academy; out of thousands of applicants,

62 people are selected to participate each year. The participants

attend workshops and lectures during the day; in the evenings,

they break into teams to write and record music. Red Bull makes no

ownership claims on any music that is produced at the Academy. As

Torsten Schmidt, one of the Academys founders, explains, Thats part of the opening speech: there is no catch. We are going to offer

you nothing in the end but inspiration and this chance of being here

together.

In 2013, the Red Bull Music Academy returned to New York City

for the first time since 2001. Many of the workshops and lectures

were open to the public; for example, a panel discussion featuring

veteran music producers Nile Rodgers, Tony Visconti, and Ken Scott

was devoted to David Bowies studio recordings. There were presenta-

tions and performances by industry legends such as ambient music

pioneer Brian Eno and Giorgio Moroder, who was Donna Summers

producer.

One enthusiastic alumnus of the Academy explained its impact

and importance this way: The people behind the academy, theyre

not just suits; they are really special people who are passionate about

artists. Above them they have some suits to deal with, but Ive never

dealt with them. Still, there are some dissenting voices. Matthew

Herbert is a British electronic musican whose recordings include One

Pig, an album cataloging the life (and death) of, well, one pig. He has

participated in the Red Bull Music Academy in the past, but has no

plans to do so in the future. My overriding impression of any music

industry Red Bull tie-in is that the brand is always louder than the art.

I dont think one would come away from any interaction with them

thinking that they were interested in anything else other than selling

caffeinated sugary drinks, he said.

Nirmalya Kumar, a marketing professor at the London Business

School, has written a case study on Red Bull titled The Anti-Brand

Brand. Kumar gives Red Bull high marks for its nontraditional mar-

keting communication strategy. As Kumar explains, Part of being a

great brand is conveying what you stand for in an authentic man-

ner so consumers find it believeable. The music academy and the

[Baumgartner] air show have given Red Bull a lot of that.

Discussion questions:

1. What is the risk of sponsoring a special event such as Felix Baumgartners historic skydive?

2. Red Bull and other energy drinks have generated negative publicity regarding possible health hazards. Discuss.

3. What makes Red Bull, in Professor Kumars words, an anti- brand brand?