Red Bull Situational Analysis
Red Bull is a privately owned company, producing and distributing the Red Bull energy drink to more than 165 countries worldwide. The company was founded by Dietrich Mateschitz in Austria in 1984 and launched Red Bull onto the Austrian market in 1987. Since then more than 35 billion cans of Red Bull have been consumed. Red Bull employs over 8,900 people throughout the world, its corporate headquarters are located in Fuschi am See, Austria. (N/A, 2012).
This report focuses specifically on the New Zealand distribution and marketing of this product.
Red Bull New Zealand Ltd. is the local unit of the international giant that is Red Bull. In 2010 Kiwi’s bought $30.3 million of Red Bull, this was up 7.5% from the previous year. In the same year the company claimed 20% of the country’s energy drink market share, its main competitor was ‘V’ who held 60% of the market share. (Underhill, 2011).
The drinks are marketed to generation Y (15-30 year olds) through association with extreme sports and music. Red Bull is stronger in the ‘night-time’ market, where it is a popular mixer for alcoholic drinks, while V targets what Bergstrom calls the daytime market. (Underhill, 2011). This is a very easy target market to manipulate with marketing strategies as teenagers are often very concerned about being socially accepted whether it is through what sports they play, music they listen too, or going to nightclubs and partying, all of which Red Bull can be found very easily.
Red Bull was arguably the creator of the ‘energy drink market’ as it was one of the first energy drinks to be made and certainly the most popular in history. Since the launch of Red Bull there have been many companies trying to create their own products that can compete with it. Globally, nothing comes close to competing with its 70% market share. However in New Zealand, Red Bull competes with V, the energy drink sold by Frucor, which claims 60 per cent market share and boasts ingredients including
This report focuses specifically on the New Zealand distribution and marketing of this product.
Red Bull New Zealand Ltd. is the local unit of the international giant that is Red Bull. In 2010 Kiwi’s bought $30.3 million of Red Bull, this was up 7.5% from the previous year. In the same year the company claimed 20% of the country’s energy drink market share, its main competitor was ‘V’ who held 60% of the market share. (Underhill, 2011).
The drinks are marketed to generation Y (15-30 year olds) through association with extreme sports and music. Red Bull is stronger in the ‘night-time’ market, where it is a popular mixer for alcoholic drinks, while V targets what Bergstrom calls the daytime market. (Underhill, 2011). This is a very easy target market to manipulate with marketing strategies as teenagers are often very concerned about being socially accepted whether it is through what sports they play, music they listen too, or going to nightclubs and partying, all of which Red Bull can be found very easily.
Red Bull was arguably the creator of the ‘energy drink market’ as it was one of the first energy drinks to be made and certainly the most popular in history. Since the launch of Red Bull there have been many companies trying to create their own products that can compete with it. Globally, nothing comes close to competing with its 70% market share. However in New Zealand, Red Bull competes with V, the energy drink sold by Frucor, which claims 60 per cent market share and boasts ingredients including