Andrew Bartlett

MKT 814- Strategic Marketing

Professor Barretti

10/7/2010        

Red Bull Case Analysis

Red Bull can be called a pioneer in the energy drink category worldwide. Dietrich Mateschitz began the evolution of the energy drink back in the late 80s when he launched, Red Bull in Austria.  The company was set up to market one product, Red Bull energy drink.  They were successfully able to situate themselves in this relatively un-navigated market through their innovative marketing strategy.  Red Bull did this by not narrowing its target market to one segment.  Rather it focused on three groups, athletes, workers, and clubbers.  The idea was that each one of them used Red Bull energy drink to meet their personal needs.  

Red Bull reached out to their target market by relying on a marketing scheme that was based on advertising, sampling and sponsoring.  They found innovative ways of getting their product known to the public.  Red Bull was successful because they did not rely on mass-media when creating their beverage brand.  One way Red Bull accomplished this was relying their marketing on what they called “buzz marketing” or word of mouth.  This “buzz marketing” aided them in their movement into different global markets.  Another aspect of their marketing strategy was their “student brand managers”, who would be employed to promote Red Bull on university campuses.  Finally they advertised directly to the younger generation.  It was these marketing schemes that helped Red Bull set itself as a market leader in the energy drink market.  They created and presented the product in a way that was unique to each of their target customers.  The biggest credit to Red Bull’s success was that it was the first to enter into the energy drink market and can be seen as the leader in the field.  

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Below is a breakdown of the of Red Bull’s marketing strategy in a SWOT Analysis.  This model matches Red Bull’s strengths and weaknesses and external factors to the competitive environment it is in.  The SWOT model is a good guidance in developing a sustainable niche in one’s market.  In the case of Red Bull, this SWOT analysis gives a good idea of how they measure up to the competition in the energy drink market.  

To gather a better idea of the effectiveness of Red Bull’s marketing strategy, one can analyze it through the TOWS model.  This model ...

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