When Negative Press Gives You Wings

The RedBull brand, unlike many other brands, took an interesting approach to building up their brand name and customer engagement. When the RedBull brand was first introduced, it was faced with backlash and negative publicity. RedBull used this negative publicity to their advantage by capitalizing on it. They felt that even if there was negative controversy, the brand was still being recognized and therefore was keeping the product alive. As a result, the brand used “tongue and cheek” when responding to the controversies and rumors. 

To build customer engagement, RedBull was known for using word of mouth marketing and getting out in the markets to offer samples to potential customers. Employees of RedBull strategically drove branded cars and passed out samples to students, DJ’s, universities and gyms. What is unique about this is that RedBull did not take a traditional approach to building their brand, instead they relied on getting out into the community to promote the brand and focus on a niche market. RedBull focuses on sponsoring major events such as Miami Music week, providing free products for potential customers to try. Red Bull also has a strong social media presence and focuses on promoting their brand through instagram and tiktok. Content is then tailored to each platform showing adventurous, lifestyle videos. Additionally, RedBull focuses on local ambassadors called “Wings Teams” on college campuses to promote their products to the college student life. Unlike competitors who leaned on traditional media buys and athlete endorsements, Red Bull leaned into the gen z consumer base—literally showing up at college campuses, festivals, and sporting events. While Monster focused on action sports, Red Bull built a full-blown media empire around storytelling and adventure.

When it comes to big name brands, I think it is important to continuously create product extensions to keep the brand relevant and top of mind. However, sometimes not all the brand extensions are successful. In the case with RedBull, the Organics was a product extension that had the right intentions but was not aligned with the brand identity. The RedBull brand targets a very niche market, and a group of consumers that are not a part of that market are the health conscious consumers. This extension was a good way to target the healthier consumers  by offering products that are crafted from natural ingredients. I believe that this was not a good brand extension because it differs from the brand’s image of high caffeinated, energy drinks. This can be confusing for customers, particularly when the brand’s products do not align with the brand’s image. Another brand extension that RedBull capitalized on was the AlphaTauri fashion brand. The AlphaTauri fashion brand emphasizes high performance and innovation. This brand extension aligns with RedBull’s high energy and performance. This is a good brand extension because it leverages brand identity. These brand extensions were a way for RedBull to change up its typical product line to see what worked and what didn’t. 

 Red Bull is also known for using both digital and influencer marketing campaigns to promote their products and brand identity. The company created the Red Bull Media House, a content production company that is in charge of capturing everything from documentaries to extreme sports coverage. They focus most of their marketing on snapchat, instagram, TikTok and youtube. On these platforms, Red Bull promotes itself as not only a leading energy drink brand, but also as a lifestyle content creative brand. The brand stays up to date with trends, incorporating trends and memes into its content. RedBull’s success goes to show how sometimes you need to steer away from traditional advertising and shake things up. They completely changed the landscape of the beverage industry making RedBull not just your average energy drink, but as a lifestyle.