Marketing Strategy Of Red Bull As A Performance Enhancing Drink

Introduction

Being the first company to provide a carbonated performance enhancing drink, Red Bull opened up a whole new market in the drinks industry. Through well developed and initiated marketing strategies red bull has become much more than a performance enhancing drink – it has now become a life style. Recognisable to most, the blue and silver can with two red bulls about to clash in front of a yellow sun is now an identity recognised in 169 countries (Red Bull, 2016). As the performance enhancing drinks market expands, Red Bull is still able to boast a high majority of market share due to the solid understanding they have of their consumers needs. With clever use of the marketing mix and the four P’s, Red Bull has been able cement their

By identifying the main usage situations of the product, Red Bull is able to further situational segment to position products so that they can meet the specific needs of the situation. During the antecedent state and relating to Russell and Pratt’s (1980) representation of affective quality, Red Bull would be located between high excitement and high arousal. Because of this, Red Bull often advertises though buzz marketing where these states of high excitement and arousal already exist - such as music festivals, bars, clubs and sporting events. This entices consumers to buy Red Bull, as the product is perceived to help prolong these states of arousal and

The perceived high quality of the drink has allowed the company to price products at a premium compared to competitors in return for the superior quality that is offered. Due to Red Bull dominating presence in high-energy sports and events, exposure to Red bull drinks can trigger goal-relevant behavior and cognitions in consumers (Brasel and Gips, 2011). This compliments Dijksterhuis et al. (2005) theory that substantial amounts of consumer behaviour is driven by a non-conscious process. Using Soloman et al. (2013) theory of the consumer’s perceptual process, Red Bull is often able to trigger stimuli for multiple sensations. The main sensation trigger is the sight of the products familiar brand logo – present in events such as festivals, motorsports, air races, boat racing etc. This allows the company to be present in the consumers mind without even advertising the core product – the drink. As a result, having this high presence in high-energy events attracts the attention of the consumer, which consequently leads to the interpretation that Red Bull is stimulating the high-energy activities. Once the interpretation has been made that Red Bull is synonymous with high-energy and excitement, this persuades the response that drinking Red Bull will enable the consumer to be engage in the same high-energy activities assist in reaching self actualisation Maslo