Part and Summed Up +2: How Red Bull sells without ever mentioning its product

Part and Summed Up dissects how well brands connect the dots between brand experience and audience to fuel growth.

Who should read this issue? If you ever picked Red Bull over another drink from the 7/11 fridge and want to understand why you did that then this is for you, extra points if you’re a marketer who wants to learn what it means for your brand.?

Read time: 5 minutes (long but mostly pictures)

The Sum

Turns out Red Bull is kind of a big deal, like the third most valuable non-alcoholic beverage brand in the world, kind of a big deal. They don’t actually even make beverages.

They got here with marketing that became a full on media business, consistent product innovation, and distribution prowess. One of their JDs explained that their goal is “Drive awareness and grow consumption of Red Bull products, both the can and the media business.”. This is a masterclass in selling your product by showing, not telling - handing out wings to athletes (wings being adrenaline filled events) and to target audiences (wings being cans of Red Bull) at the right place and time. All leading to 91% awareness among energy drink enthusiasts.?

Here are the parts we find notable:

#1. A website nav that reveals their strategic priorities

#2. Sponsored athletes who personify the brand

#3. Approach to fueling their 6 target consumption occasions

#4. A disconnected visual identity

Part Deep Dive

#1. A website nav that reveals their strategic priorities:

Their brand awareness strategy focuses on orchestrating and showcasing awe-inspiring, daredevil events that resonate with the spirit of their consumers. Their website is in lockstep with this strategy - product is 4th in the hierarchy, rare for a beverage co.

#2. Sponsored athletes who personify the brand:

Outside of the extreme events they host and sponsor (we won’t go into their major faux pas with the cancellation of Formation, a women’s freeride mountain biking event), Red Bull sponsors specific athletes poised to become the next big thing not just in their sport but in the media.They deck them out in Red Bull gear like a custom wrapped helmet or surfboard–a badge of honor that can’t be bought. This is both an efficient use of capital and creates viral content that personifies the brand.

For example:

• Kai Lenny will never be an Olympic surfer but he regularly surfs the biggest wave that ends up all over social media–all on a bright-colored Red Bull board,
• Wout Van Aert and Tom Pidcock are world champion caliber cyclo-cross riders–a niche sport with a small global following. However, both rider's are super-domestiques in the Tour De France– responsible for essentially towing their podium-hopeful teammates up difficult climbs so they can save energy and attack at the last moment. As a result, they are at the front of the race for 4-6 hour stretches with cameras on their Red Bull wrapped head protection.
• Sponsoring Eileen Gu in women’s freeskiing, long before her gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. Following that success, Red Bull has been able to align themselves with her extreme lifestyle working as a full-time fashion model and Stanford college student while training for the winter competition season.?

#3. Approach to fueling their 6 target consumption occasions:

We tend to equate heart-stopping stratospheric jumps and high-octane racing with Red Bull but that’s just the top of funnel activity. Their full-funnel strategy is more nuanced leaning into their 6 priority consumption occasions: Party, Socializing, Festivals, Work, Study, Gaming where Red Bull is a stamina companion. They have both ‘media’ and ‘can’ marketing focused on each of these occasions - including organized and sponsored events, influencer partnerships and product distribution at events.?

#4. A disconnected visual identity:

Their brand identity has been visually fragmented around media, illustrated brand world and the can itself:

• Media - sweaty, raw energy
• Brand world - dainty doodles that convey a looser, more playful attitude.?
• Can - polished, Apple-style appearance that emphasizes product features.

They’re investing in bringing these worlds together, which we can see in the following examples:

What's this mean for you? (as someone who may or may not have a 70B marketing budget)

With an emphasis on competition and product releases that feel special, Red Bull thrives by rewriting the rulebook, proving that the best way to stand out is to be exactly who you are.??

• If you’re a CMO…Be aware of the conversations and use cases that customers are having adjacent to your product. For example the Cars of 7/11 campaign.?
• If you’re a brand marketer…Hot take from Cecila, if you become a verb, you can focus on brand awareness rather than direct response marketing.?
• If you’re a growth marketer…think about testing partnerships with niche influencers who personify your brand ethos. We’ve seen this work time and time again particularly for FMCG.
• If you’re in marketing at Coca-Cola/Pedialyte… it would be worth testing investment in the endurance and extreme athletes who are genuinely using your product to perform vs other brands who are just photo ops.

How did we do???

There’s a real person here so please let us know what you think! Feedback/forward makes the dream work. From issue #1 we heard - “a touch light on meat,” “so long,” “you could have provided more value by going really deep on one thing.” Others thought Oura were a client - they aren’t yet but Oura if you’re out there give us a call, we have ideas.