Red-Bull and its recent developments
Red-Bull has broken new ground of energy drinks category all over the world. It became an example of the success story in the soft drink and beverages industry. The brand first tested in 1984 and later launched into the market in 1987. It was during this time that the iconic slogan logo was designed.
Red bull was created by Mateschiz a professional and businessman who borrowed the energy drink idea from Asia (Richey, 2001). Mateschizt believed that red bull quality of energy drink will only attract consumers only if it sold on prices above the traditional soft drinks.
Within a year of its launch red bull brand has established in Europe and America (Richey, 2001). Today red bull is a world wide brand and a market leader in the energy drinks. Red bulls growth strategy has been attributed to the expansion of its international distributors spread in almost 130 countries. Red bull has also positioned itself as the major sports events sponsors as well as its marketing strategy that targets the younger generation.
Sources of Brand Equity for Red bull
Red Bull has emerged as the most acknowledged leader in the category of energy drinks. In fact, through Red Bull’s appealing catchphrase ‘Red Bull offers you the wings’, the product is widely undisputed. There are numerous brand equity sources for Red Bull. For instance, Keller (2008) asserts that brands have their powers based on what the clients have in their minds.
This implies that, clients best brand equity transpires only when the consumers are highly familiar and have elevated levels of awareness with a particular brand which makes them to hold certain distinctive, favorable and strong products brand relations in reminiscences.
When Dietrich Mateschitz first inaugurated Red Bull, he had both the clients and brand equity built in his mind. The creation of Red Bull brand equity incorporated price, positioning, attributes, packaging and brand design.
Pricing
The premium pricing structure for Red Bull serves as an imperative facet for the brand equity. When compared to a bottle of soda or even a cup of tea or coffee, Red Bull still emanates to be dear. For consumers looking for mutual benefits, this makes a lot of sense. If Red Bull could have avoided the premium pricing strategy by making its prices similar to soda and coffee, most customers could have wondered how different these products were and might have the sources of difference.
Thus, the first-rate pricing approach signifies that Red Bull is a superior brand which generates a sensation of supremacy among consumers and gives additional benefits when compared to any other drink. In addition to premium pricing structure, red Bull equally utilizes effective positioning tactics to advance the brand equity.
Positioning
The positioning of Red Bull is conceivably the main influential facet of its brand equity. According to Richey (2001, p.70), the tangible Red Bull’s benefits are ideally conveyed through “revitalizes the mind and body” catchphrase. Indeed, everyone needs daily mind and body revitalization.
The author claims that he often requires at least a single revitalization each afternoon at 2 pm. The creative Red Bull tag-lines give rise to unlimited opportunities for this brand consumption. Just a handful of various consumption occasions which come to average consumers minds are to achieve the best in sports, work and at school. Such a positioning strategy makes everyone to use and yearn for Red bull any moment and in whichever place. This produces manifold segmentation prospects for the marketers of Red Bull.
Attributes
There is not even a single product that has produced features which incorporates the Red Bull attributes. The matchless Red Bull benefits incorporates a blend of glucoronolactone for augmented detoxification as well as metabolism; taurine for vigor, for improved metabolism, as a detoxifying agent and essential amino acid; and caffeine as a source of energy (Richey, 2001).
Whereas other drinks can assist with metabolism as well as detoxification while coffee and soda might offer requisite energy, Red Bull is single option that provides numerous distinctive benefits in a single sip. Such derived benefits similarly entail increased mental alertness, concentration, reaction speed, overall wellbeing sensation and improved physical endurance (Richey, 2001). All these are pooled in a single drink which creates matchless, strong and encouraging brand connection in Red Bull enthusiasts’ minds.
Packaging and brand design
According to Richey (2001, p.70), Red-Bull emerges in sole two hundred and fifty milliliters can which is blue and silver. In the can, there are the ‘energy drink’ catchphrase and the Red-Bull insignia which symbolizes its exclusivity to the consumers. The exceptionality accrues from the fact that Red-Bull was the earliest energy drink that rocked the global marketplaces.
The two colliding bulls denote the vigor and might that Red Bull gives to its consumers but the ‘energy drink’ phrase precisely recapitulates what actually Red-Bull does as well as what it is. The logo and casing design creates a matchless brand connection amid the loyal consumers and Red-Bull which enduringly creates and maintains its brand equity.
Such powerful and unique brand equity sources have remained unfailing in all markets and countries where Red Bull enters. Besides, Red Bull’s marketing tactics as it succeeds and enters numerous global markets have remained consistent. There has not been any change in Red Bull brand equity sources.
The marketing program for Red-Bull
Basically, Red-bull has ever since its inauguration been employing witty marketing strategies. However, word of mouth seems to be the most considerably employed tactic that Red-Bull uses to generate and uphold its market dominance besides building the reputable brand equity. When compared to other market competitors, the successful marketing program for Red-Bull incorporates point of purchasing promotion, sports and events marketing as well as sampling.
Sports marketing
To amicably build its brand equity, Red-Bull has ventured into supporting sportspersons such as athletes. This appears to be an influential tactic given that most athletes are alleged to be potent and triumphant. Therefore, when Red-Bull aligns itself with athlete such as Vonn Lindsey (skier) and White Shaun (snowboarder), it further strengthens its brand equity (Perley, 2010).
The kind of extremely passionate but triumphant athletes and sports persons who are linked with the Red-Bull brand tend to correspond to ‘Red-Bull offers you wings’ watchword which further adds to strong brand equity building.
Events Marketing
Red-Bull also uses an influential and imperative event marketing approach. Under this strategy, Red-Bull is seen to sponsor and create events which are typically intended to build its brand equity through enhancing its brand icon.
Most products and Red-Bull’s logo are widespread is such events. This has created a subversive alignment of Red-Bull product with matchless events including snowboarding and bull riding (Richey, 2001). Often, every event serves as a prospect for Red-Bull to extend and advance its brand equity.
Sampling
Sampling is also another marketing tactic that Red-Bull uses to develop and increase its brand equity. After individuals and groups have tasted Red-Bull as a product, the marketers usually encourage them to inform their friends about the existence of such a product.
The consumers who are directed by their friends are also given the product to try and notify other more people about Red-Bull. Whereas conventional sampling normally occurs in retail stores where product execution is done with marketers who have deficient brand knowledge, a different approach has usually been employed by Red-Bull (Richey, 2001).
Red-Bull student brand managers and sampling teams are globally employed by Red-Bull to strategically institute sampling programs in various positions (Todd, 2003). The notion behind setting sampling in such strategic localities is to seize consumers whenever they require ‘Red-Bull wings’.
Concerts and sports events are some instances that have people who are exhausted and might need the Red-Bull wings. The marketing teams constitute of groups and individuals who vested their career interests in Red-Bull marketing. Thus, they normally work much harder to market Red-Bull product in order to build its brand-equity.
Word of mouth
When Red-Bull entered every global market where it is currently present and brilliantly dominant, it used word of mouth as a core pillar to strongly build on its brand equity icon. The word of mouth strategy entailed targeting micro cool and hip hangouts as well as locations.
These places were flooded with influential marketers who used sweet words to lure consumers to have a taste of the Red-Bull. The influential thereafter instigated with WOM campaigns everyone had consumed the Red-Bull.
Many people were influenced by their counterparts but it was difficult to quantify how many were influenced. However, most people were enticed by the marketers’ assertions that, provided something is deemed cool, masses will always consume it and there is no exception with Red-Bull (Richey, 2001).
The word of mouth created huge markets for Red-Bull even in areas where the product was invisible. The huge demands made consumers to look for Red-Bull nearly everywhere and it was a result of persuasion by influential word of mouth marketing that Red-Bull brand equity was built.
Point of purchase
Red-Bull uses an effective marketing tactic to called point of purchase to strengthen and categorically build its brand equity. This involves setting-up signage and refrigerators at various bars and nightclubs. In such places, Red-Bull employs a team of devoted workers and marketers who ensures that the demanded stocks are available.
The teams also ensure that the required Red-Bull ads are up. When party goers begin to yawn, they are reminded by the marketers that Red-Bull is there to quench their thirst and give each one of them wings. Red-Bull has also used social networking to capture the marketing (Richey, 2001). Currently, there are nearly two million face book fans that admire and consume Red-Bull. This has significantly developed and built Red-Bull’s brand equity.
The effectiveness of Red-Bull in advertising its brand to various consuming groups
According to the demographic segmentation, younger generations are the large consumer compared to the older generation and the business segments. Those between the early and mid twenties relatively drink red bull more than the older generations. This is majorly due to the red bull marketing strategy as well as the product perception.
Historically the product was first launched in the night clubs and other places visited mostly by younger generation hence perceived as the younger generation drink. Since the usage of the product was marketed as being unlimited to a particular period or occasions, users will continue to utilize the red bull even as thy change their priorities (Richey, 2001).
Red bull also, through its advertising campaigns, pushes the product towards this demographic segment. Logically the body needs at thirties is more than the body needs at twenties in terms of energy. That is because the person at thirties fell exhausted very quickly than the person at twenties.
Therefore the drink will still be needed at thirties just as it was needed in twenties to enhance body energy. In this sense, the product is will still be valid and acceptable by the consumers (Richey, 2001). Gradually, there will be renewed consumers of the product and this is what has made red bull grow and sustain in all market segment. In case red bull remains focused on the current marketing strategy then it is has a future growth potential.
How Red-Bull can maintain its marketing momentum
Red Bull brand proved to have a marketing impetus especially in the western European market. Red Bull brand has tremendously established itself within the energy drink market and has continued to maintain its dominance despite numerous competitors. Red Bull presence is felt allover.
It has fully utilized all channels of advertising both traditional methods as well as new media arena. In additional, Red Bull has been sponsoring and promoting sports activities making it to be the most favored sports brand in the sports arena (Richey, 2001). Moreover the promotion strategies that Red Bull uses are distinct from its competitors. This strategy has actually provided red bull a competitive advantage.
Red Bull should prioritize on maintaining its leading position in market share particularly in already existing markets. It should also continue developing new markets in countries that it does not exist. The company strategy of using the young stars as its marketing agents should be used in developing new markets (Perley, 2010).
Red Bull has always focused on the recruitment of the young graduate brand managers. As the students advance in their career they also advance with the brand. Moreover they physically grow with the brand. In their first years, they take Red Bull as an energy enhancer. But as they become older they take Red Bull as a mixer just as the working adults do.
Red Bull has already created its pricing image as affordable energy drink. Red Bull leading prices has provided the company with an increased competitive advantage in the energy drink market. Moreover the company has utilized affordable prices to penetrate markets that have already been conquered by other competitors (Perley, 2010).
In addition its pricing strength has been a barrier to entry by other leading competitors such as coca cola in the energy drinks. Therefore Red Bull should continue with this pricing strategy especially in developing new markets.
In relation to the packaging Red Bull should maintain its packaging style. The Red Bull brand in the traditional can is becoming fashionable day by day as the company brand continues to penetrate the market (Richey, 2001). Furthermore, the company is known with its brand packaging which users always find convenient.
Though refreshing the packaging style would be advantageous to the company keeping the tradition would provide more competitive advantage. Besides, Red Bull should maintain its brand extension as the company could not afford losing its brand image. Losing brand image would lead to the lost awareness hence losing the competitive advantage.
An evaluation of Red Bull’s move into fast-food, magazines and chains herbal teas
Red Bull energy drink has been successful in the energy drink market. Therefore the company should always try to maintain this product and prioritize on its development it terms of improving quality and increasing its market share. In other words the company should not lose focus on its successful main brand.
Though there could be some potential in the other drinks such as herbal tea, losing focus on the main product brand would be detrimental to the company especially on its market share (Richey, 2001). Diversification is essential for the growth of the company, however market factors should always be considered before the company diversifies. To the Red Bull scenario diversification within the product brand would be beneficial.
Moving to the products would be result in increased competition as other companies such as Pepsi cola has already taken the larger market share. Diversification in various brands has been held as the reason why larger global brands such as coca cola failed in their strategies when they were entering into the beverage markets (Perley, 2010).
However there might be some available opportunities that the company might exploit while entering the tea market. There still exist middle and old age potential customers who are not fully served with tea. These are major users of tea but are not targeted by Red Bull since Red Bull focus on the younger generation. The company can focus on these potential customers and use its brand image to grab the market share.
Fast foods are usually considered as unhealthy and full of cholesterol which is against the Red Bull brand image. Red Bull is only known for the provision of sugar free energy drinks which it claims to be healthy. Therefore, Red Bull association with energy does not fit in the fast food chains (Richey, 2001). Moreover, the fast food chain market is flooded with not only larger corporations but also with smaller enterprises that have the capabilities of penetrating the core market.
Magazine is a good venture for red bull not only for increased revenue but also as a marketing strategy. In deed the magazine should focus on major sports activities such as formula one event that features for instance Night life Classic planes of flying bulls sponsored by Red Bull.
This will not only reinforce the Red Bull brand but also increase the association with the consumer (Keller, 2008). Moreover it will increase the consumer knowledge about the brand as well as the consumer trust. Investment in magazine will contribute to the reduction of the cost of advertizing. In addition investment in magazine will help Red Bull leveraging the brand equity and the good that is essential in building the additional brand stature.
The involvement of Red Bull in other brands might generally lead to the loss of focus on its flagship or major product. Moreover, it might also lead to the dilution of the existing brand thereby negatively affecting the brand image (Todd, 2003). That is, damaging the existing brand perception. The competitors may use other brands to attack the original Red Bull brand. However, ingenious use of the Red Bull on other products may increase the product image and help it to have a bigger share in the market.
References
Keller, K. (2008). Strategic brand management: Building, measuring, and managing brand equity. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Perley, I. (2010). Lesson 2 brand equity, positioning & values. Web.
Todd, H. (2003). Red Bull North America, Inc. beverage world. Web.
Richey, K. (2001). Red Bull: Building band equity in new ways. Web.