Why Red Bull’s Advertising Makes Me Want to Jump Off a Mountain (In a Good Way)

We all remember those old Red Bull television commercials. You know the ones I’m talking about. Shaky cartoon. Innuendos everywhere. Odd banter between strange characters. And the fact that we remember them speaks highly of the advertising, or budget, or both, of Red Bull. But over the last few years, Red Bull has somehow managed to make a fluid transition from cheesy oddball commercials to extreme, life-inspired viral videos that have swept the world off its feet. Their new video efforts have even earned them comparisons with the glory days of Nike advertising. Indeed, Red Bull has made its way from corny side conversation to extreme sports enthusiast. We see Felix Baumgartner plastered in Red Bull gear leaping from space. We see people in squirrel suites (so I’m told they are called) zoom mere feet above the sharp treeline of a tall mountain. We see surfers thrashing across perilous waves. And you know what? It’s actually really cool. My wife may kill me, but I think I’m going to have to try that “squirrel suit” jump in the near future.

Type “Red Bull advertising” into Google and you’ll get results like Red Bull as Adweek’s Ad of the Day, a Mashable article entitled “How Red Bull Takes Content Marketing to the Extreme” and AdAge talking about a Red Bull video catapulting to the top of the chart. AdAge even named Red Bull’s historic 120,000 foot free fall from space video as the best integrated campaign of 2012. But why did this transition happen?  And has their strategy worked?

After doing some digging, I learned that the “cartoon” advertisements that we all knew and, well, maybe liked, had been aired “for 23 years in 160 countries” (Beuker, 2010). Red Bull had been sponsoring extreme sports for quite some time as well, but their brand identity did not really reflect that. Enter: The digital age. In a Fast Company article by Teressa Iezzi that ranks the Red Bull Media House as the world’s 29^th most innovative company, Iezzi describes how Red Bull was able to capitalize on their vast knowledge of extreme sports by creating videos and selling them online. But it wasn’t until they realized that this extreme sports lifestyle was really the DNA of their brand that they made the decision to transition their advertising away from the cornball cartoon ads, and more in the direction of Nike-esque advertising.

And has it paid off? According to Yahoo Finance, Red Bull maintains a 40% market share in what is understood as one of America’s fastest growing industries (projected 86% growth over the next five years). But what’s more important is how ingrained this company has become in the very extreme culture it has supported for so many years. Oh, and let’s not forget the huge revenues they are making off of these amazing videos. According to Iezzi, they spent just $2 million on a video that went on to reign “atop iTunes’s sports, documentary, and overall movie sales charts for a week, at $10 a pop” (2012).

So what do you think? In my opinion, Red Bull is the coolest energy drink company in the world. But, I also drink a combination of Rockstars and Mosters on a near daily basis. To be honest, I haven’t had a Red Bull in years. So is a positive opinion as important as an actual sale? Has Red Bull’s immersion into extreme culture through iconic videos and historically extreme events (think 120,000 foot free fall) persuaded you to buy a Red Bull? Or, perhaps more importantly, has it changed your image about their brand? Something is obviously working for them. All I know is I love their marketing.

Oh, and for old time’s sake, here’s one of the cartoon style Red Bull ads, which they are still coming out with from time to time.

References

Beuker, I. (2010). Why Red Bull Ignores Its Advertising Agency. Viral Blog. Retrieved from http://www.viralblog.com/user-created-content/why-red-bull-ignores-its-advertising-agency/.

Iezzi, T. (2012). The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies. Fast Company. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2012/red-bull-media-house.

Red Bull Gives You Flavors (2013). Yahoo Finance. Retrieved from http://finance.yahoo.com/news/red-bull-gives-flavors-120000094.html.