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The Economic Times

How energy-drink brand Red Bull is charming audiences across the globe

Somewhere in Hungary sits the mystery animator for Red Bull's television commercials. His job is to breathe life into stories that flow in from all over the world through Red Bull's idea contest.

His quirky and simple doodles transcend time, and go beyond borders to create an unassuming piece of work that hits the spot, practically every time, be it in Budapest or Bombay. For decades, the Austrian energy-drink brand has been charming audiences across the globe with its campaign 'Red Bull Gives You Wings'.

The stories are meant to amuse rather than push consumers to buy. The latest commercial called 'Mama' is part of one of the longest running campaigns in the world. The Mama in the spot nags her boy, she is paranoid and obsessive, and exasperating at times, sometimes theatrical, like mothers everywhere, right? Well, this Mama is all of
the above.

The film connects with people with minimum stagecraft and dramatics, according to Joono Simon, executive creative director, Ogilvy & Mather. The ad comes across as a counter point to the glossy, big budget commercials that are heavily dependent on execution and star power, among other things.

"Humour has stern codes to live by, and these simple gags have a certain lightness about them that gives them longevity and instant likeability. Although serialized ads are more prone to fatigue, the 'mama' ad and others in the series from Red Bull are something that make you chuckle," says Simon. "'Red Bull gives you wings' is a simple proposition that's flexible enough to free your imagination and not handcuff creativity."

Red Bull's official international ad agency network Kastner & Partners, which helped launch the brand from their Frankfurt office in 1987, is the source of all the material. However, the spots are customised when they reach their local destinations.

For instance, Hungarian, German and Italian Mamas are a tad different from Ma in India. Here, in an Indian accent, Ma tells her boy to have a care for her poor nerves and give her a "missed-call" as he flees from spot with the help of a couple of wings.

"For the Indian market we added the 'missed-call' line because that's what happens here; so we customised the script to make it more relevant," says Prashant Godbole, co-founder, ideas@work (the agency handling the account in India). "That's why the campaign works so well. These are universal ideas and themes that people can connect with and have a laugh anywhere in the world."

The energy-drink brand that made its founder (and some would say the man who founded the category) Dietrich Mateschitz one the richest men in Austria has never been keen on traditional media and methods of advertising. Instead it has built a strong association with all sorts of regular and extreme sports, entertainment and events around the world rather than bombarding unsuspecting consumers with television commercials, billboards and banners or print spreads.

The 30-second cartoon spots are released at regular intervals though. According to Vikaas Saxena, marketing director, Red Bull India, the company's marketing approach is very different indeed.

"Advertising Red Bull is not just about glorifying the product but connecting with consumers with an entertaining story that's a bit of fun. The distinctive cartoon style makes it unique and clutter breaking." Simon of Ogilvy couldn't agree more. "Even the doodle like illustration style is not so form obsessed and it seems to suggest that it is deliberately made weightless to be carried by the power of the gag," he says.

Somewhere someone is sipping the magic potion from a blue and silver slender can to stay up later, for work or exams. Elsewhere a group of pub-hoppers clink their glasses and knock back Jägerbombs. Let's just hope they remembered to give their mamas a missed-call.