MARKETING MANAGEMENT

2. RED BULL
Marketing Mix of Red Bull analyses the brand/company which covers 4Ps (Product, Price, Place,
Promotion) and explains the Red Bull marketing strategy. As of 2020, there are several marketing
strategies like product/service innovation, marketing investment, customer experience etc. which have
helped the brand grow.

Red Bull Product Strategy:

The product strategy and mix in Red Bull marketing strategy can be explained as follows:

Red Bull drink idea came from Krating Daeng which is a non-carbonated energy drink available originated
in Thailand. Red Bull drink contained ingredients similar to that but a few more added to accommodate
the western taste and also became carbonated. The product mix of Red Bull can be elaborated as
follows. Red Bull energy drink contains caffeine, taurine, B vitamins, sucrose and glucose which is mainly
required by workaholics, sports people or even youth who want to party at night. As there is a usual trend
that occurs in the younger segment, they came up with a sugar free variant called Red Bull SugarFree
which contains aspartame and acesulfame K instead of sucrose and glucose. The drink is available in a
tall blue-silver can with 2 red bulls on the front whereas Krating Daeng is a gold short can. The two
products are produced differently and available in different countries and red bull is a much more popular
energy drink worldwide.

Red Bull Price/Pricing Strategy:

Below is the pricing strategy in Red Bull marketing strategy:

Red Bull has a number of competitors in the energy drinks industry but yet they are the market leaders.
Hence, the pricing strategy is that of a market leader but based on competitor pricing. Being on the top
they can easily charge a premium for their products and customers will even buy it for their quality. Red
Bull was the first in its category so it will always be the number one choice for customers and its demand
will never decrease. People prefer buying Red Bull in bulk as its’ cheaper than buying a single can. Yet
overall they are the most expensive energy drink compared to competitors like Rockstar, Tzinga, Cloud 9,
Gatorade, Monster and KS.

Red Bull Place & Distribution Strategy:

Following is the distribution strategy of Red Bull:

Red Bull has successfully managed to sell 5.9 billion cans worldwide in 2015 owing to its vast distribution
network worldwide. Red Bull is available at convenient locations like a supermarket, convenience store,
retail outlet or even night clubs, bars and casinos. This way it becomes very easy for a customer to buy
the product. Also, Red Bull is often stored in Red Bull exclusive refrigerators attracting customers to buy
an energy drink when they go grocery shopping or to a bar. Red Bull is also available online either in bulk
packs or single making it easier for customers to buy it in bulk. The main motive of selling this drink at
night clubs and bars is either people prefer mixing it with another beverage to add some extra flavor or
sometimes it is just to help them stay up late and party with friends.

At supermarkets and convenience stores they are placed alongwith other competitive products giving the
customer a choice between which one to buy.
Promotion: 
The promotional and advertising strategy in the Red Bull marketing strategy is as follows:

Red Bull being an energy drink mostly targets sports people with their tagline “Red Bull gives you wings”
so owing to a huge customer base they organize a lot of sports events and even sponsor teams as well
as the events. Some of these events include mountain biking, BMX, motocross, windsurfing, surfing,
skating, Formula 1, Red Bull Startos, Red Bull Foxhunt, Red Bull Cape Fear, Red Bull BC One, Red Bull
Battle Grounds, etc. They also endorse various sports athletes and celebrities. Besides sports they also
have a Red Bull House of Art where they encourage artists to display their art in a period of 3 months at
their exhibitions. They have Red Bull T.V available on laptops, PCs, mobiles, gaming consoles and
tablets airing various music festivals, shows, films, performances and videos. Red Bull also have their
own merchandise stores online and magazines for extreme sports persons. Through all these promotional
activities they want customers to recall their brand every time they see or hear energy drink thus
increasing their customer base. Hence, this covers the marketing mix of Red Bull.

PRODUCT MIX
The full set of products offered for sale by an organization. The product mix includes all product lines and
categories. It may be defined more narrowly in specific cases to mean only that set of products in a
particular product line or a particular market”.

Every company’s product mix has a certain width, length, depth. In case of red bull, since it makes only
beverages, there will be no width of the product; however the rest will look as follows:

DISTRIBUTION STRUCTURE
Distribution channel or the marketing channel plays a very crucial role in making the product available to
the final customer or the target consumer. There are various types of marketing channels or distribution
channels. These are:-

 Push and Pull Strategies:

In push strategy, manufacturer uses his sales force, trade promotion, money or other means to include
intermediaries to carry promote and sell its products to end users. Red bull does not include any push
strategies as they do not believe in involving intermediaries in their distribution process.

In pull strategy, manufacturer users advertising, promotion and other forms of communication to
persuade the consumer. This is the form of communication Redbull prefers and uses.

Direct and Indirect Channel:

Direct channel- the type of distribution channel used by Redbull is the direct channel in which they
directly provide the finished goods to the customer without any intermediaries and have been successful
at it till now.

Indirect distribution- Indirect distribution channel consist of one or more intermediaries between the
manufacturer and the final customers. In India Red Bull does not resort to such measures.
The retail channel is the contact-point of the product and the end-consumers. For
energy drinks, retail outlets include bars and night clubs, supermarkets, convenience
stores, health clubs, etc. Red Bull is available in all of these channels, and is considered
the number one energy drink brand in all of them.

PLC
 Maturity.
 Those products that survive the earlier stages tend to spend longest in this phase.
Sales grow at a decreasing rate and then stabilise. Producers attempt to differentiate
products and brands are key to this. Price wars and intense competition occur.
Promotion becomes more widespread and use a greater variety of media
 Maturity, with 70-90% share to energy drink market.
 The impact is they automatically said that energy drink market has a lot of potential
and also attract new competitor to join in.
 During the growth stage distribution became more significant with the increased
demand and acceptability of product. More channels were added for intensive
distribution in order to meet increasing demand. Along with maintaining the existing
quality, new features and improvements in product were done
 when the maturity stage began Red bull added features and modify the product in
order to compete in market and differentiate the product from competition (a new
sugar free version was also introduced). New channels are being added to face
intense competition and incentives are offered to retailers to get shelf preference
over competitors.