Red Bull Stratos – Good deed or good marketing?

Guest Post from David Nichols, Managing Partner and head of invention

 Red Bull has done it again. Just when most of us were still trying to work out how to do a ‘Facebook campaign’ or viral video, they have proved that the sky isn’t really the limit, with their sponsorship of Felix Baumgartner’s insane freefall from the edge of space. 

8 million people (including me) watched it streamed ‘live’ on YouTube.  It then propagated out onto TV news channels, radio and newspapers the world over.  In case you have been locked in a bunker for 3 weeks and you haven’t actually seen it, you can watch the edited video below, or click here:

There has been a huge amount of discussion of this within the marketing press.  Nicola Kemp’s article in Brand Republic that captured what a lot of blogs and commentators have been saying in praise Red Bull's latest PR stunt:

“Red Bull shows how brands need to go beyond just selling their products and now have to improve the world with their marketing”

Whoah, hang on a minute. I have my doubts about this. I believe too much is being read into the whole thing.  As a qualified aerospace engineer (really), I have some insight into why Red Bull really sponsored the Stratos project: It’s cool.

It is not, I would suggest, part of a larger move by Red Bull to improve the world through marketing, but part of their strategy to sell more energy drinks.  And it worked really, really well.

Why did Stratos work for Red Bull?

• If you want to be seen as cool – do cool stuff: Comedians don’t stand on stage telling you that they are funny.  They tell a joke.  Red Bull do not do ads showing lots of cool looking people with straplines that scream ‘We’re Really Cool’.  They just do cool stuff.  Lots of it.  Red Bull Stratos is one more in a very, very long line of cool things that they are actively involved with.  It’s just that it went stratospheric. Literally.

• Take Risks: It could have gone wrong.  Not ‘Hoover Free Flights’ wrong, but tragically, awfully wrong.  They were prepared to put their brand on the line and get involved in something beyond the norm in order to get huge returns.  How many other global brands would have approved this kind of sponsorship?

• Engage through Passion Points: Red Bull understand better than any brand I know that to engage consumers they have to get involved in what people love to do: we call these ‘passion points’. They don’t do promotions that revolve around people drinking energy drinks (‘Red Bull Truck Driver Stay-Awake-athon’ anyone?).  They are involved in literally hundreds of sports, from wake-boarding to cliff diving and wing-suiting. They are so far advanced at this that they have found passions that we had forgotten we were all interested in, like space exploration. 

Summary

Improving the world is a laudible goal, and every company should have a Social Responsibility strategy.  But let’s not forget what we are paid to do in marketing.  It is quite straightforward, it is to ‘SMS’: Sell More Stuff. 

Red Bull want to be part of things that are cool and exciting and ‘give you wings’.  Jumping out of a pod held up by a microscopically thin Helium balloon 126,000 feet above the earth is simply a damn cool, death defying, record-breaking, mind blowing stunt that keeps their brand red hot and splashed all over TV and the web.  In short, it’s a lot more ‘good marketing’ than ‘good deed’.

Comments

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[Pczeno]

Hi - I'd be interested in your thoughts re Red Bull vs Monster. As shown in attached link, Monster has grown significantly faster with little or no marketing / communication support. Red Bull invests approx. 30% of profits into marketing (and has consistently supported the brand over time)...yet they've lost share. So while I love the stunts...as a marketer, I guestion effectiveness. I believe Monster's valuation as also been much stronger. (They've recently faced some trouble in the US regarding the health risks of energy drinks)...but over time I believe Monster has had a much stronger valuation. Look foward to your thoughts. Trish

http://www.energyfiend.com/the-15-top-energy-drink-brands