It is a safe bet that most people reading this textbook are familiar with Red Bull. The $6.4 billion company that largely created the market for energy drinks revels in its association with cultural events such as concerts and extreme sports including snowboarding and surfing. The company uses a variety of communication channels in addition to advertising and PR to promote the brand. Red Bull’s Facebook page has 43 million “likes,” and 2 million people follow its Twitter feed. At concerts and other events, street teams pass out free samples while driving specially modified cars with giant Red Bull cans mounted on them. The company sponsors the Infiniti Red Bull Formula One racing team, and the Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, is home to the New York Red Bulls Major League Soccer team. In sum, Red Bull is not only high energy; it is high profile, too!

The brand’s slogan, “Red Bull Gives You Wings,” made Red Bull the perfect corporate partner for one of the biggest PR coups in recent years. In fall 2012, Red Bull sponsored Red Bull Stratos, otherwise known as Felix Baumgartner’s death-defying skydive from the edge of space (see Exhibit 14-13). After seven years of planning, Baumgartner jumped from a helium-filled balloon at an altitude of 24 miles. As a worldwide audience watched on television and YouTube, Baumgartner plummeted toward Earth at speeds as high as Mach 1.24 (834 miles per hour) before landing safely. Needless to say, the Red Bull logo was prominently displayed on his uniform, and the event received extensive publicity in the press.

The success of the Red Bull Stratos project helped the Red Bull brand stand out from a crowded field of competitors that include Monster and Rockstar. As brand strategist Roger Addis noted, “It’s a smart move because it’s such a singular event. If the logo is buried in a sea of logos on a NASCAR car, you’re completely diluted by all the others.” The ad industry seems to agree; Red Bull topped Advertising Age magazine’s 2012 Best of Creativity rankings in the integrated/ interactive category.

Questions
1. What is the critical-thinking issue raised by the case?
2. Summarize the different types of marketing communications that Red Bull uses. Are these “traditional” or “nontraditional”?
3. Which communication goal does each of Red Bull’s marketing communication tools accomplish? Are you familiar with any additional brand touch points that are not mentioned in the case?
4. What is the risk of sponsoring a special event such as Felix Baumgartner’s historic skydive?
5. Red Bull and other energy drinks have generated negative publicity regarding their possible health hazards. Discuss.
6. What makes Red Bull, in Professor Kumar’s words, an “antibrand brand”?