Marketing Program for Red Bull - Essay Example

? Brand and Marketing Part Starting from humble beginnings in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Red Bull has grown into a dynamic and globally recognized energy trek provider. With regards to what this particular brand means within today’s environment, it can be definitively, our be it somewhat subjectively stated, that Red Bull is the most identifiable and widely recognized of any energy drink provider within the current system. The story of how the Red Bull brand it evolved over time is something of an interesting case. Whereas many firms begin by aggressively promoting a new product and expending a vast amount of resources based upon this broad level of marketing, Red Bull sought to specify precisely who their customer base would likely be in seek to focus any and all marketing funding specifically towards reaching this demographic (Todd, 2003). In such a way, Red Bull began targeting and specifically marketing to key demographics by sponsoring different types of extreme sports and buying marketing space with regards to those activities that were primarily watched or engaged with by their demographic target. Such an inexpensive approach allowed the brand to position itself effectively with regards to rapidly gaining market share in integrating with this specific demographic around the globe. With respect to how this target market has changed over time, it has not. This represents both a positive and a negative for the Red Bull brand due to the fact that it present situation in which they are continuing to speak to the specific needs and tastes of their target audience; an activity that they have a great deal of experience in performing. However, this also represents a drawback due to the fact that there are a limited number of individuals within this particular demographic to which Red Bull can integrate and hope to sell their product (Barnett, 2013). As such, continuing to integrate with the same demographic as a means of targeting further sales is something of a lost cause. Conversely, the competition is positioned more along the traditional lines of marketing and brand imagery. The likes of Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co. have sought to exclusively promote and market key entries within the energy drink market by the traditional means of massive amounts of advertising and high costs of market entry (Red Bull, 2012). This necessarily places Red Bull at something of a strategic advantage due to the fact that the competition is continuing to integrate with very costly and prohibitively limited means of product integration with the demographic in question; thereby limiting their total probability and producing the levels of threat that they pose to Red Bull. Part 2: As has been stated previously, Red Bull did not initially seek to engage a costly marketing scheme as a means of promoting their beverage lines. Instead, they chose to sponsor key events and sporting activities that were regularly viewed in a positive light by their potential customers (Red Bull, 2013). However, as Red Bull’s fortunes of changed, they have been able to integrate with a higher degree of profitability and have been able to engage in celebrity marketing in the same means that much more powerful firms have done the same. In such a manner, as one might expect, Red Bull has been promoted and endorsed not necessarily by celebrities, but by sports stars. More specifically these sports stars cannot be understood upon the traditional lines of sports stars such as football players, basketball players, baseball players etc (Mortimer, 2012). Rather, they are extreme sports athletes that continue to engage with the brand image that has been discussed above. In such a manner, a few of these celebrity endorsers include the following: Blake Girffin, Rajon Rando, Reggie Bush, Shaun White, Bubba Stewart, Dallas Friday, Casey Kahne and Brian Vickers (Gorse, Chadwick, & Burton, 2010). This strategy, described above, has been extraordinarily beneficial to Red Bull as a means of continuing to integrate a high degree of profitability within overall sales. However, it can also be understood that there is always room for improvement and integrating with a different subset of endorsers could also be beneficial in seeking to expand the overall demographic that regularly engages with such a product. Within such a manner, it may be beneficial to expand Red Bull’s endorsement program to include individuals within everyday workplace environments that need a next her a boost of energy to get them through a particularly hard day. Evidence of such a strategy can of course be noted with respect to the way in which 5 Hour Energy has sought to engage potential consumers. Similarly, with regards to the type of endorsement that competitors use, this can be understood to be concentric upon the traditional approach. In such a manner, celebrity endorsement for Coca Cola products has invariably been concentric upon popular singers, movie stars, and other members of the popular culture. The same can be said to be true with regards to PepsiCo and its approach to celebrity endorsement. Although it is without question that such celebrity endorsement works, it is invariably extraordinarily expensive. Within such a manner, firms that are seeking to maximize their profitability while at the same time minimize their costs, cannot and should not integrate with the such a form of celebrity endorsement due to the fact that his prohibitively expensive. In effect, what has been denoted within this brief case study is that Red Bull stands apart from the competition in that it does not engage in traditional activities of marketing that its peers do. Although an expert within the field can readily point to the fact that such an approach has helped to define and differentiate Red Bull’s products from its competitors, it is not an approach that would, taken at face value, be understood to be profitable or beneficial. Yet, due to the fact that Red Bull has been able to integrate with such a strategy in a very effective manner, the brand seen itself grow from a mere idea of a traveler in South East Asia, to a multibillion-dollar reality that integrates with hundreds of millions of consumers each and every year. References Barnett, M. (2013). Red Bull and F1: Whizz kid builds up a track record. Marketing Week (Online Edition), 19. Gorse, S., Chadwick, S., & Burton, N. (2010). Entrepreneurship through sports marketing: A case analysis of Red Bull in sport. Journal of Sponsorship, 3(4), 348-357. Mortimer, R. (2012). Red Bull flies to another level with marketing wins. Marketing Week (01419285), 35(44), 3. Red Bull Gives You Wings - RedBull.com. (2013, July 1). Retrieved July 4, 2013, from http://www.redbull.com/us/en Todd, H. (2003). Red Bull North America, Inc. Beverage World, 122(5), 34. Read More