Redbull, the distuptor, is being disrupted

I have come to realise that we consume far more information that we can process and readily use. Most of it seems interesting and entertaining at the time of consumption because it makes you feel like you are in the know and up to date, but how much of it do you really understand and can explain to someone? for me, its less than 5%. What I find stays with me is the one-line message I take away and talk to other about. In this spirit of the recognition of this notion, I am going to now include a 1 sentence summary of all my new posts called Zap, to get a summary of the article in the speed of lighting.

Zap: Red Bull built its reputation on being the anti-establishment brand and masterfully cultivated this status. As it and the market have matured, its growth has slowed, Red Bull is at a cross road: should it “sell out” and roll out mass marketing campaigns or should it stay true to its origin and accept the low growth envrionment?

Here are some interesting takeaways from the Redbull article published in the London School of Business:
-to get solidify the status of the brand, Redbull’s sale reps insisted that Redbull is delivered by a dedicated truck (e.g. blue painted trucks only for Redbull) and identified the “in” clubs and gave influences (e.g. DJs, bartenders, etc.) free Redbull and promotional material.
-The founder, Mateschitz invested 35% of turnover in marketing and sponsorship. His efforts were effective as Redbull was able to associate itself with extreme sports by the sponsoring events and creating extreme sports events (e.g. BMW biking, kiteboarding, etc.), associating itself with pop culture by sponsoring the Red Bull Music Academy (a 2 weeks of seminars for musicians and DJs), and encouraging trend-setting artists to engage with the red bull brand by hosting theRed Bull Creative Contest where artists creating works of art using Red Bull Cans.

Red Bull at the Chicago Can of Art. Source:

-Red Bull cultivated mystique. Combined with vodka it was called “liquid viagra” and said to have viagra like effects and there were rumours that it sourced taurine (an amino acid that is found in the brain, eyes, heart which is in Red Bull) from bull’s testicle. Both of which worked favour of the brand!

– competition was rife. In 2000, there were 23 new functional energy drinks introduced in UK, but Red Bull was able to hang on to 86% of the market. Red Bull was able to hang on to its dominance, and as its founder says: “the market isn’t generic; it doesn’t exist if we don’t create it. It’s a branded market.”

-More recently, Red Bull’s has been slowed to single digits. Red Bull was a one-trick pony (it only had one product) and was in a bad position to bear changed in the market. Additionally, as the previous generation of Red Bull drinkers aged, it had a hard time attaching the new “16 year olds”.





“RED BULL: THE ANTI-BRAND BRAND | The Case Centre, for educators.” Accessed 14 May. 2017.


Leave a reply:

Your email address will not be published.

Site Footer