On a trip to the Far East in the 1980s, advertising professional Dietrich Mateschitz spotted a ‘functional drink’. He returned to his home country Austria and looked to create his very own functional and energy drink, Red Bull.
Like any new business, this one too had doubters. Many believed that there would be no demand for an energy drink. Cut to around three decades later and Red Bull has a 43% market share and Mateschitz is the 40th wealthiest person in the world.
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About Red Bull
Red Bull has never gone the traditional marketing route. Yes, there are the odd TV commercials in some markets worldwide, but even those aren’t the normal run-of-the-mill advertisements.
The brand started marketing by sampling – it went straight to their TG – young males. They went to college sports events, parties, bars, etc and other places where they could reach out to them and gave them a free sample.
Three decades later – the need to reach out to their target audience directly hasn’t changed. While many brands look to advertise their content, the Austrian brand has seen the demand for it and shifted to become a media house with Red Bull TV.
Why they’re winning?
Through Red Bull TV, the brand aims to cover topics that interest their audience – music concerts and extreme sports are just a few of the topics covered on Red Bull TV. Picture anywhere you might see someone enjoying (or needing) a Red Bull and their content will cover it.
In previous blog posts, we’ve stated the need for being available across platforms. And Red Bull TV takes care of that as it is present from phones (iOS and android), to Android TV, to the Amazon Firestick, the Sony Playstation, the Amazon Echo, and even on the Oculus.
Red Bull TV also ticks another box – the UI and UX. A quick scroll through the homepage of Red Bull TV reveals much about the brand upon which the digital streaming platform has been built.
When you enter the app, you are given a sleek selection of autoplay trailers for shows and videos on sports like mountain biking, BASE jumping, motocross and backcountry skiing. There are also clips of surfers and snowboarders brandishing cans of Red Bull. But those cans are the only time you see Red Bull as their content focuses on what the viewer wants rather than force-fitting Red Bull for each of the content pieces.
Another much-used phrase in the marketing ecosystem is ‘content is king’. And Red Bull truly believes in that. The brand has created legendary content. They sent a man up 128,000 feet above the earth in a small ship and helium balloon and had him free fall out of it. This stunt, commonly known as the Red Bull Stratos Jump broke two different world records.
This kind of content will always make people take notice of the brand.
Next Growth Area
When an app has a 4.9 rating on IoS’ App Store and more than 4 on Google’s Play Store, there’s not much one can really complain about.
But a glance of the app does suggest that the navigation on the app isn’t the best. A few users have also found this navigation troublesome and are calling for better search options. This is one area that Red Bull TV could improve as users can quickly get frustrated and leave an app and start binge watching content on any other app.
Conclusion
Red Bull TV’s content is one of the most ideal case studies. One will wonder what an energy drink brand is doing while creating content? Yet, it is raking in the number of subscribers.
According to media reports, Felix Baumgartner’s space jump cost Red Bull US$50 million to make happen. That was nothing compared to the return value on global reporting which is estimated at US$6 billion.
Impressed by Red Bull TV, and want to enter the content space with your own OTT app? We at Enveu are here to connect with you and discuss the abundant opportunities in the OTT space.
Let’s talk!
