Marketing Excellence Red Bull

Red Bull Case: Marketing Excellence Red Bull

1. What are Red Bull’s greatest strengths as more companies (like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Monster) enter the energy drink category and gain market share? What are the risks to their brand equity of competing against such powerhouses?
2. Discuss the pros and cons of Red Bull’s nontraditional marketing tactics. Should the company do more traditional advertising? Why, or why not?
3. Discuss the effectiveness of Red Bull’s sponsorships, advertisements, personal selling strategies, promotion, events, and public relations. Where should the company draw the line in terms of risk?
4. Recommend the next steps for Red Bull with respect to their marketing and advertising strategies.

Red Bull Strengths and Risks

In the competitive beverage market, this company has different strengths. As compared to other brands in the beverage industry such as Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and many others, Red Bull has sustained its brand image remarkably. Regarding marketing communication, the company has depicted the evolvements in an effective and lucrative manner. The image of the company or brand has been sustained through sponsorship of events and effective positioning. Integrated marketing communication has emerged as a key strength of the company. Also, several points of purchase or customer touch points have been developed by the company. The big risk that the company can face in the new market is the broad range of products of other companies. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and other companies have a broad product line, and it is a threat to the Red Bull brand in the competitive market. Customers can have options in the energy during categories, and it can create a negative impact on red bull’s sales (Kunz, Elsässer, & Santomier, 2016).

Pros & Cons of Red Bull’s Nontraditional Marketing Tactics

Many pros and cons of Red Bull’s nontraditional marketing tactics are in the limelight. For instance, Red Bull has an unconventional marketing strategy. The management has gained access to customers at beaches, gym, sporting places, and parties. The company wants customers to try the product immediately and provide feedback. It is a traditional market trait, and it goes in favor of the company regarding sales and revenues. On the other hand, the disadvantage of traditional tactic is the limited sales. It is a fact that the company usually depends on customers on the spot. Thus, in the competitive market, sales of the company can be decreased. Now, trends in attracting customers have changed in the industry. The company should avoid traditional advertisement and use digital or social media channels to enhance the visibility of the attraction. The purpose of the reshaped advertisement is to target more customers and increase sales (Lange, Josephberg, Linn, & Pollack, 2002).

The effectiveness of Red Bull’s Communication Mix

The sponsorship of the company is effective due to its impact on customers. The company intends to sponsor mountain biking, snowboarding, rock concerts, and extreme sailing. The effectiveness of this sponsorship can be justified or measured by the attraction and response of the customer.  People have emotional and sentimental attachments with the particular sport or event, and they usually idealize the red Bull accordingly. Thus, the sponsorship is quite effective because it streamlines the association of people with the drink. The example of the annual Flugtag is quite pertinent, more than 300,000 people perceived the slogan of the company positively.

Recommendations

The next step for Red Bull regarding marketing and advertising is triggered by some modern approaches. For Instance, it is the best time for Red Bull Company to make a shift regarding the marketing or advertising process.  Advertising Red Bull on different social media channels is highly recommended because the firm can reach an immense range of customers. The target customer of this company is tough, and it can be reached easily on these media channels. However, the firm must make different segments according to the newly developed product line. Instead of targeting customers as a whole, separate marketing campaigns on digital media channels are to be run. Interestingly, celebrity endorsement on social media channels can create a positive impact on positioning, attraction, and sales (Maireder, 2014).

In the end, it is to conclude that Red Bull has to evolve regarding its marketing or integrated communication mix process. Maybe, current marketing initiatives will become outdated in the future, and some strategic considerations are to be demonstrated to make the difference in the competitive beverage market.

References

Kunz, R., Elsässer, F., & Santomier, J. (2016). Sport-related branded entertainment: the Red Bull phenomenon. Sport, Business and Management, 6(5), 520-541.

Lange, D. M., Josephberg, K., Linn, J., & Pollack, J. (2002). Red Bull wins victory in Sweden based on marketing design. Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal; Clifton, 14(6), 26.

Maireder, A. (2014). Follow the Connections! Finding the Big Picture of Internet Communications. Marketing Intelligence Review, 6(2), 52-58.