The Red Bull “Bring out your power” brand positioning
The identified market for Red Bull comprises young males aged between seventeen to twenty-five years of age. This bracket is associated with vigour and enjoys watching and playing rugby. The game of rugby is highly physical with the teams strive to gain ground and the opponent territory and scoring by making tries. The adopted statement for the positioning is “Bring out your power” and therefore, the thought of Red Bull comes to their minds whenever it thinks about the game.
The three-year enhancement programme will undergo implementation through the use radio and television campaigns where commercials will be run daily. Advertisement space will get application in the print media and popular online sites for the youth. Billboards and posters placed along avenues leading to schools and colleges (Amoako, 2012).
The major factors of consideration for implementing brand strategy are the standard attributes of Red Bull against those of the competition. The marketers must also understand what consumers expect of the brand as well as their perceptions. It would also be inescapable to consider the price of Red Bull against that of similar products in the market. The benefits associated with using the positioning strategy is that it fixes the products into the consumers’ minds. The downside is that running the campaign for three years would cost the company a fortune in terms of related costs (Kotler, 1994).
Brand development (brand extension)
A company may increase the visibility of its products by using the launch of new or modified products into the market. The working of the strategy has base on transferring consumers’ interactions with the pre existing brand to the new one. The need to develop and stretch brands in this context has arisen from the fact that commodity markets. The perception held by the customers on the pre existing brand is the most significant determinant of whether the new brand will succeed in the market or not (Kotler, 1994).
Red Bull is in the process of introducing a smaller can of the vitality drink into the UK market. The performance of the pre existing can size has been good, and the marketers intend to use this fact to promote the new introduction. The new product is therefore, marketed along the merits held by the older products with the slogan: Red Bull- equal power for smaller wallet.
A greater part of the three years will be used preparing the ground for the launch. Before introducing the new Red Bull packaging to market, the marketers will first assess the current perception held by the customers on the pre existing strategies. This will enable them to gauge the level of the customers’ expectation of the new packaging. The parent brand must also be able to stand out in the market against the completion brands for the new packaging to have an impact in the market while most importantly, the parent brand must have a strong image in the targeted market segment (Amoako, 2012).
The major advantage of using a brand extension strategy to market a new product is related to the fair costs of implementing the strategy relative to all the other strategies. However, the major challenge associated with brand extension is the risk of consumers’ inability to adjust their perceptions in line with the introduced packaging. This rigidity might negatively affect the performance of the new brand (Serrao & Botelho, 2008).
Brand sponsorship
Brand sponsorship involves offering financial and material assistance towards a social event with the aim of being involved in the publicity material for the sponsored event. This marketing strategy manifests itself in different ways such as sponsorship of programmes in TV and radio stations, sports, and study scholarships. In a typical sponsorship arrangement, the sponsor is given exclusive or majority of the rights to advertise its products (Ruby & Bailey, 2007).
Scholars have postulated that corporate bodies that participate in sponsorships of different categories realize more brand recognition and turnover in terms of sales. The image of the organization within the society also gains some value because of the sponsorship (Ruby & Bailey, 2007).
The Red Bull- Sydney University High Flying Awards Scholarship is offered to students engaged in sports and who graduate from senior school with good grades. This is a fully paid scholarship including travel, tuition and living costs for the selected students to study a four year course of their own choice at the University of Sydney.
The advantages associated with using sponsorships to enhance brands in the market are that they give the sponsors an opportunity to increase their visibility. The targeted regions are many with different interests where sponsorships are applicable. However, there are many legal complications that may arise out of a sponsorship deal which may result into loses and negative publicity for both the sponsor and the brand names involved (Manhas, 2010).
Conclusion
There are various types of brand enhancing strategies that can be employed by marketing consultants and marketing executives in corporations and other institutions. The choice of strategy used gains determination by the targeted market niche and the kind of output expected (Amoako, 2012).
References
Amoako, G 2012, The effect of sponsorship on marketing communication performance: A case study of Airtel Ghana. African Journal of Marketing Management , 65-79.
Kotler, P 1994, Marketing Management. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Manhas, P 2010, Strategic Brand Positioning Analysis through Comparission of Cognitive and Conative Perceptions. Journal of Economic Finance Administration , 15-29.
Ruby, W & Bailey, D2007, Niche Market Pricing and Strategies for Maintaining Price Premiums. Utah: Utah State University.
Serrao, P & Botelho, D 2008, Effect of Brand Extension on Brand Image:A Study in the Brazilian Context. Latin American Advances in Consumer Research , 2-15.