Its Branding Techniques O Red Bull example essay topic

I. RED BULL'S HISTORY. Corporate legend has it that in the early 1980's, while traveling to Asia on business, Austrian Dietrich Mateschiz came across some very popular "energy drinks". With his (self-describe) "uncanny instinct for successful product innovations", he schlepped a small sample of energy beverages back to Europe along with a big idea. Then with a clear vision and a lot of scientific know-how, Dietrich (and what was surely several unnamed food scientists) gave birth to the Red Bull Energy Drink. In 1997, Red Bull sold one million cans, helped no doubt by its introduction to US consumers after a decade on European shelves. In 1998, Red Bull sales mutated to over 300 million cans and last year in what at first appears to be some kind of bookkeeping typo Red Bull reported world wide sales of one billion US$.

Indisputably, the dominant energy-drink brand, Red Bull has chosen to stick with its one product beverage line, avoiding branching out into similar areas such as energy bars or other sports-related products. Red Bull was introduced to the Lebanese market in 2001. The mother company in Austria operates directly in Lebanon through a brand manager who reports to the regional manager of the Middle East and the Far East based in Dubai. Red Bull Lebanese brand manager is Mr. Elias Hank ach. Red Bull is an energetic drink that has two brand lines: Red Bull original and Red Bull sugar free. The main ingredients of Red Bull are: Taurine, caffeine and a lot of vitamins.

There is only one size of Red Bull can on the market that is produced in Austria, and the product is standardized world wide. II. BRAND ELEMENTS. 1.

Brand name: Red Bull is the brand name of the product. It is a Compound, Arbitrary name, because it's a combination of two unexpected real words with no obvious tie-in to the company. Because the brand name is simple, different, distinctive unusual, easy to pronounce and spell, the company have build strong brand awareness through out the world. Whenever we say energy drink; the world says Red Bull. 2.

Logo and Symbols: Red Bull is using an abstract logo that is related directly to the name. The components of the logo are two thick-necked Herculean crimson bulls in opposing charge against a yellow sun. This sun represents the human mind, the bulls represent the muscles and the body which means that Red Bull revitalizes body and mind. 3.

Slogan: Red Bull's slogan is: "Red Bull gives you wings". It is a short phrase that communicates descriptive information about the brand. This slogan is making strong links between the brand and the corresponding product category, so it's creating a strong brand awareness to the product. This slogan is used in all Red Bull campaigns, through the world, but in different languages.

4. Jingles: The jingle is here the slogan said in a musical tone. And it is: "Red Bull gives you w gs". When asked why did they choose the slogan as jingle: " we stress on the benefits of our product". 5. Character: it's character is called Witty Bull.

It is an animated character that represents a red color bull. It is used in most of Red Bull events. 6. Packaging: Red Bull has created a can that is practical to use. The colors are silver and navy blue divided in a very creative way, and in the middle we have the brand name, the logo, and the function (energy drink).

This bottle can identify the brand, convey descriptive information, facilitate product transportation and protection, assist at-home storage and aid product consumption. The size and shape are made to satisfy mostly athletic people. All of Red Bull brand elements are highly protected by a lot of laws. To protect it's brand name, Red Bull has paid a lot of money so that no other company could use similar name or package. The logo, slogan, jingle and character can not be imitated. As for the packaging the colors, the dividing of the colors and the shape are protected. (see linked document)..

The Product. IV. POSITIONING. Definition: It involves finding the proper location in the mind of a group of consumers so that they think about the product or service in the right or desired way. A. Segmentation: Red Bull has segmented its market using the main variables: Demographic and Psychographic. o Demographic: A product like Red Bull with it's ingredients is targeted to a certain age category. The age to witch it can be given to children is above 12 years old.

And the highest age for people to stop drinking energy drink is 49 years old because at that age most people stop exhausting their body. So Red Bull's core target is between 12 and 49 years old. As for the real target it is from 15 to 29 years old the segment where people make the most physical and mental efforts in there life. It can be used for both sexes. o Psychographic: Red Bull mainly target optimistic and outgoing people; clubbing, sports and adventures lovers. Students and hard workers are main targets of Red Bull. B. Competition: Red Bull has many competitors in the Lebanese market. We can tell from them Base, XL, sharks, explosive, speed...

Because Red Bull is the leader in the market all these competitors are attacking the firm directly, especially in their advertising campaign. For example: in its advertising Base says: "no taurine and no caffeine", the essential ingredients of Red Bull. As for XL they say: "enough energy to beat a bull" with an image of a red beaten bull. Red Bull Company says: there's no competition, because they don't lead the market but control it. Many new entrants invest a lot of time and money on advertising campaigns pushing people to consume energy drinks. Red Bull sees in this fact a self advantages: Promoting for energy drinks = Promoting for Red Bull.

For now, Red Bull's market dominance seems guarantied. Other competitors have neither the distribution channels nor, more importantly, the potential to be considered real threats. 1. Point of difference (POD's): The competitive advantages that Red Bull has over the competitors are: o Red Bull is known all over the world.

For this reason it is found in more than 100 countries. o Red Bull is the first energy drink in the world, so all competitors are trying to imitate it copying all its branding techniques. o Red Bull is scientifically proved all over the world. o Red Bull image that the company has created, by putting it on top of the consumer minds. o Red Bull unique taste that none of the competitors could imitate. 2. Point of parity (POP's): As for the similar points of Red Bull and its competitors are: o Red Bull and its competitors are all energetic drinks. o Their essential ingredients are taurine and caffeine. o They all have almost the same packaging size. V. PRICING STRATEGY. Red Bull costs almost the same all over the world. The differ nce comes from the change in taxes fee in each country.

In Lebanon the price of a Red Bull can is 2500 LL, and it is considered the highest price of an energy drink. The price took into consideration the income of the target market, and the company wanted it to give a high image to the product, so consumers may combine their perceptions of the quality of the product with their perception of the price of the product to arrive at an assessment of its perceived value. Red Bull retailers are allowed to increase there prices but never to sell it under 2500 LL. In night club the price of the Red Bull can varies from 7500 to 10000 LL. As for Red Bull competitors there prices varies from 1000 to 2000 LL except for Base that cost 2500 LL. VI.

CHANNEL OF DISTRIBUTION. Red Bull is produced in Austria and it is distributed all over the world (more than 100 country), through a very effective distribution channel. Red Bull Company has divided the world into three divisions the American market, the European market and the Asian-African market. In the American market Red Bull can be found in all the countries and the US sales are the highest worldwide. In the European market Red Bull is facing some difficulties to operate, in France for example Red Bull is not allowed to enter its market, because the French law doesn't permit to a foreign product to operate on its market if it doesn't have a local competitor. As for the third division Red Bull sales are the lowest but the market is growing every day, and the brand manager of this section is from Lebanon called Selim Chid iac.

In Lebanon Red Bull is using a piggy backing strategy in distributing it's product, through a distribution partner: GIC Company the owner of Nada water. The Lebanese market is divided to two sections, the sector that include restaurants, hotels, cafeterias, night clubs... and the sector that include supermarkets, mini markets, small outlets... In Lebanon sales for 2004 were 3 million can, and their target for 2005 is 5 million. There biggest sales are in night clubs, where there are mixing Red Bull to other alcoholic drinks although the company never promote mixing red bull to other drinks. VII. PROMOTION.

Red Bull is spending a lot of money on promotion. The promotional elements are: A. Advertising: It's a paid non personal communication about a product, service, organization or an idea. It is paid by an identified sponsor using mass media to persuade the target audience. Advertising can take two different forms: Broadcast advertisement and Print advertisement.

Red Bull focuses a lot on broadcast advertisement in its both forms: T.V. and Radio. All the Red Bull ads are made in Austria through their advertising agency "Kastner and Partner", and it is broadcast ed in the entire region where Red Bull is distributed with a slight change in language. The company is using animated ads, in which it's concentrating on the benefits of the product and the situations of consumption. B. Sales Promotion: Sales Promotion is offering an extra value to the consumer either for free or for a discounted price. Red Bull does not use sales promotion, because they don't believe in attracting customers through it but through high quality. C. Interactive Media: The interactive media consists of having a link between the company and the consumer through the web.

Red Bull is using the interactive media. In other words a two way communication which is the possibility of having a contact between the company and the customer through the web. And the website includes information about the background of the company, mission and vision, achievements, core business, the technology used, and much more information about the company and the way it operates. D. Direct Marketing: Direct marketing occurs when there is a direct company-customer interaction without passing through intermediaries (retailers or wholesalers). Red Bull does not use a lot of direct marketing, so they don't use telemarketing, direct mailing, catalogs, broadcast ed media.

Public Relation: Public relation is to systematically plan, organize, and distribute information in a way to promote and control the image of the company... They have there own education team, made from girls with Red Bull cars, who visit schools, universities... offering people Red Bull cans with information about the brand. In this segment Red Bull have invested a lot of money in sponsoring a lot of events, extreme sports... we can name from them: o Internationally Red Bull is sponsoring: Volkswagen team in Paris-Dakar race, Jaguar team in F 1 races for 2005 season. The company also maintains its liquid-adrenaline image by sponsoring 138 athletes in such X-Game disciplines as BMX, motocross, hang-gliding, skateboarding, wake boarding and bungee jumping.

Away from athletics, Red Bull has also made sponsorship for 50 rave DJ's. o In Lebanon Red Bull they have three types of events: cultural events, supported events, and Red Bull events. And because it is the only country that has snow in the region a lot of event are base on snow. So we see events like snow to sea, ski to sea, snow board championship... as well events like the marathon in Far aya, extreme biking, mountain biking... and they sponsor athletes like Abdo Fghaly Lebanese rally champion. F. Personal Selling: Personal selling is trying to sell the product by use of a specialized sales force (sales representatives). Red Bull uses personal selling only while trying to sell the products to retailers and not to end consumers. In other words personal selling in "business to business" and while dealing with retailers and not with the targeted end consumer. V. PROBLEMS ENCOUNTER. The trouble in paradise for Red Bull is that the brand exists in a world of smoke and mirrors, rumors and urban legends.

Red Bull problems can be divided in to international and local problems. Internationally and because it's a well known company many rumors about it components, like taurine is made from bulls' testicles... The company has answered all the questions concerning the roomers on its web site. In Lebanon the major problem is in night clubs were people are asking for Red Bull in there drinks but served with something else. Whenever the company knows of such an act it is taking action against this night club because he's cheating the consumers and when there are asking for Red Bull they are getting less. IX.

Conclusion. Since the birth of Red Bull, marketers worked very effectively to turn an unknown product into what it is now! A leader in its segment with a high brand equity leaving competitors far behind. Some of our recommendations: o Ads must have a Lebanese aspect so they can attract Lebanese customer more. o They should try to under saturate the market. o Try to increase a bit sales promotion.