Red Bull - the Anti-Brand Brand
Marketing Communication: Research and Planning
Spring exam 2012
Red Bull – The Anti-brand brand
Question 1:
Red Bull was launched in Austria in 1987, and in the 25 years that has passed since then, many things have happened that could and should affect the way Red Bull markets and brands its product as opposed to how it was done in the years after the launch.
All though Red Bull was launched in 1987, it was not until 1992 that the company began expanding its distribution – first to other European countries, Hungary, Slovenia (1992), Germany and Switzerland (1994), and then in 1997 to the US (Kumar et al 2005: 3). In the 1990s, the general consumer trend in the markets that Red Bull entered into was that the more you spend the better. In many countries, especially in the US, the 90s was the decade of the consumer, and it was a decade where advertising and branding really became a point of differentiation for many companies – a strong brand became synonymous with success (Clifton 2009: 119). The current financial environments in Red Bull’s core markets are a lot gloomier than what was the case in the 90s, but interestingly enough, energy drinks was the one soft drinks category apparently unaffected by consumers spending less money. In 2010-2011 Red Bull outperformed the overall soft drinks market in both value and volume, and this in spite of the fact that energy drinks are priced higher than most other soft drinks. In conclusion, it seems that Red Bull’s target consumers are not as affected by the economic environment as one might think (Euromonitor 2012d).
The biggest change, however, that has occurred since the 1990s, is, without much doubt, the expansion of the internet. From 2005-2010 alone, the number of internet users in the world, rose from 1 billion to 2 billion, and the number is expected to almost double come 2020 (Euromonitor 2011d). In the beginning of the 1990s the internet was still fairly new to the common consumer, and in the US for
Spring exam 2012
Red Bull – The Anti-brand brand
Question 1:
Red Bull was launched in Austria in 1987, and in the 25 years that has passed since then, many things have happened that could and should affect the way Red Bull markets and brands its product as opposed to how it was done in the years after the launch.
All though Red Bull was launched in 1987, it was not until 1992 that the company began expanding its distribution – first to other European countries, Hungary, Slovenia (1992), Germany and Switzerland (1994), and then in 1997 to the US (Kumar et al 2005: 3). In the 1990s, the general consumer trend in the markets that Red Bull entered into was that the more you spend the better. In many countries, especially in the US, the 90s was the decade of the consumer, and it was a decade where advertising and branding really became a point of differentiation for many companies – a strong brand became synonymous with success (Clifton 2009: 119). The current financial environments in Red Bull’s core markets are a lot gloomier than what was the case in the 90s, but interestingly enough, energy drinks was the one soft drinks category apparently unaffected by consumers spending less money. In 2010-2011 Red Bull outperformed the overall soft drinks market in both value and volume, and this in spite of the fact that energy drinks are priced higher than most other soft drinks. In conclusion, it seems that Red Bull’s target consumers are not as affected by the economic environment as one might think (Euromonitor 2012d).
The biggest change, however, that has occurred since the 1990s, is, without much doubt, the expansion of the internet. From 2005-2010 alone, the number of internet users in the world, rose from 1 billion to 2 billion, and the number is expected to almost double come 2020 (Euromonitor 2011d). In the beginning of the 1990s the internet was still fairly new to the common consumer, and in the US for
References: Alsted, Christian (2012): Qualitative research lesson slides, February 5, 2012 Clifton, Rita (2009): Brands and Branding, The Economist & Profile Books Ltd Dréze, Xavier (2005): Lessons from the front line: two key ways in which the internet has changed marketing forever, Appl. Stochastic Models Bus. Ind., 2005; pp21:443–448 EUCAM (2008): Women- The new market - Trends in Alcohol Marketing, Eucam Report Euromonitor (2009): Western Europe - The new dynamic market for energy drinks, Euromonitor International, 19 November 2009 Euromonitor (2010): Global Functional Drinks Opportunities, Euromonitor International February 2010 Euromonitor (2011a): In Focus: The Future is Digital, Euromonitor International, 08 July 2011 Euromonitor (2011b): Sports and Energy Drinks – United Kingdom, Euromonitor International: Country Sector Briefing, February 2011 Euromonitor (2011c): Sports and Energy Drinks – United States, Euromonitor International: Country Sector Breifing, February 2011 Euromonitor (2011d): Web 2.0 and Consumers, Euromonitor International, 13 July 2011 Euromonitor (2012a): consumer lifestyles in the US, Euromonitor International, February 2012 Euromonitor (2012b): consumer lifestyles in the UK, Euromonitor International, February 2012 Euromonitor (2012c): Energy Drinks Entering a New Phase of Growth, Euromonitor International, 02 March 2012 Euromonitor (201d): Red Bull GmbH in soft drinks, Euromonitor International march 2012 Ferguson, Rick: (2008),"Word of mouth and viral marketing: taking the temperature of the hottest trends in marketing", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 25 Is: 3 pp. 179 – 182 Hair, Joseph F., Bush, Robert P Kumar, Nirmalya, Linguri, Sophie & Tavassoli, Nader (2005): Red Bull – The Anti-brand Brand, London Business School, 2005 Lindstrøm, Martin (2003): Brandchild, Kogan Page Martin, J. R. 1992: English Text. System and Structure. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Moschis, George P Tokuhama, Chris (2011): Consumption, a Modern Affliction: Branding Culture, Youth Identity and College Admission, Journal of College Admission, Winter 2011 Warc Briefing (2010): Word of mouth, Warc Exclusive, November 2010 Statistics: US Census Bureau (2010): Current Population Survey, October 1984, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2009 Websites: CBS (2010): Youths Spend 7+ Hours/Day Consuming Media, January 20, 2010, World Wide Web: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/20/health/healthy_living/main6120342.shtmlD