Marketing strategy of Red bull
Strategic Marketing Management
Strategic Marketing Management (13/14)
Anonymous Marking Code: Z0944701 Word count: 1929
Contents page
Critical marketing issue
One of the main questions that can be emphasized in respect of this case is the approach to the marketing strategy of Red Bull. Does the company still benefit from its non-traditional and “anti-brand” approach or Red Bull needs to change its marketing direction to a more common way? One of the root of this question lies in a statistics of market growth provided in the case study (p.2) which shows its decline in volume for energy drinks from 44% in 2000 to 6.5% in 2003. Another reason is connected with the increasing competition in this segment of beverage industry where such giants as Coca-Cola and Pepsi began to promote their energy drinks. The problem with the second reason is that these companies have more traditional marketing approach and target wider market while Red Bull is focusing on a narrow segment like extreme sports alternative lifestyle and music, which may endanger Red Bull’s market share (Sherbin, 2012). Also it is stated in the case that only in 2000 23 new energy drinks were introduced in the UK alone and in Finnish market the drink Battery managed to outsell better that Red Bull (p.8). Moreover, these new competitors attempted to imitate several buzz marketing techniques. As a result now Red Bull have to compete both with giant as Coca-Cola and Pepsi, which cover wider audience by using more traditional marketing approaches, and a lot of new smaller energy drink companies which apply strategy that to some extent is similar to Red Bull’s.
Hence, the most critical issue is the risk of decreasing of brand loyalty among the customers because of appearing of copycats which are similar to Red Bull by their strategies and they also provide some advantages like cheaper prices for bigger volume of a drink. Thus, the main question is how Red Bull marketing strategy should
Strategic Marketing Management (13/14)
Anonymous Marking Code: Z0944701 Word count: 1929
Contents page
Critical marketing issue
One of the main questions that can be emphasized in respect of this case is the approach to the marketing strategy of Red Bull. Does the company still benefit from its non-traditional and “anti-brand” approach or Red Bull needs to change its marketing direction to a more common way? One of the root of this question lies in a statistics of market growth provided in the case study (p.2) which shows its decline in volume for energy drinks from 44% in 2000 to 6.5% in 2003. Another reason is connected with the increasing competition in this segment of beverage industry where such giants as Coca-Cola and Pepsi began to promote their energy drinks. The problem with the second reason is that these companies have more traditional marketing approach and target wider market while Red Bull is focusing on a narrow segment like extreme sports alternative lifestyle and music, which may endanger Red Bull’s market share (Sherbin, 2012). Also it is stated in the case that only in 2000 23 new energy drinks were introduced in the UK alone and in Finnish market the drink Battery managed to outsell better that Red Bull (p.8). Moreover, these new competitors attempted to imitate several buzz marketing techniques. As a result now Red Bull have to compete both with giant as Coca-Cola and Pepsi, which cover wider audience by using more traditional marketing approaches, and a lot of new smaller energy drink companies which apply strategy that to some extent is similar to Red Bull’s.
Hence, the most critical issue is the risk of decreasing of brand loyalty among the customers because of appearing of copycats which are similar to Red Bull by their strategies and they also provide some advantages like cheaper prices for bigger volume of a drink. Thus, the main question is how Red Bull marketing strategy should
Bibliography: 2. Red Bull Upsizes to 473ml, 2010. BevWire. [online] Available at: http://bevwire.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/red-bull-upsizes-to-473ml/> [Accessed 12 January 2014] 3 4. Red Bull give you wings?, 2010. BevWire. [online] Available at: http://bevwire.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/red-bull-upsizes-to-473ml/> [Accessed 12 January 2014] 5 10. Ahmed A Alsunni, Ahmed Badar, 2011. ENERGY DRINKS CONSUMPTION PATTERN, PERCEIVED BENEFITS AND ASSOCIATED ADVERSE EFFECTS. [pdf] Ayubmed. Available at: [Accessed 12 January 2014]. 11. Carey Polis, 2013. Energy Drinks Survey Finds Confusing Marketing, Unclear Caffeine Content? The Huffington Post, [online] 4 November. Available at: [Accessed 12 January 2014] 12 13. Dolan, R. 2005. The Soda with Buzz, Forbes, [online] 4 November. Available at: < http://www.forbes.com/global/2005/0328/028.html l> [Accessed 12 January 2014] 14