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Positioning of Red Bull and Monster Through POP’s and POD’s

MARKETING 4220 – PRODUCT AND BRAND MANAGEMENT

Professor Dr. Burcu ILTER

2023
Introduction/ Answer 1

Red Bull and Monster are the two most popular energy drink brands in the world.

Their beverage ingredients are similar, but the marketing projects they focus on are not very
similar. Two giant companies are in constant competition with each other.

This report will examine how the rivalry between Red Bull and Monster is positioned through
POP's and POD's. It will also examine how the two companies manage several types of
adversely related attributes or benefits.

When the two brands are examined, it is understood that both energy drinks focus on the
themes that emphasize the product function. It is understood that the feeling of energy, -which
is felt at a certain level on consumers due to the stimulating effect of energy drinks- is tried to
be given in messages.

Formula 1 is where the two energy drink brands compete at the highest level in advertising.
The two best teams in Formula 1 are Red Bull Racing and Mercedes Racing. While Red Bull
is the main sponsor of Red Bull Racing and its driver Max Verstappen, the most successful
team in F1 history is Mercedes and its driver Lewis Hamiton is sponsored by Monster. The
advertising battle at the highest level of brutal Formula 1 auto racing is unbelievable. In other
words, the competition of both brands in the energy drink market continues in the field of
motor sports. Both brands are trying to transfer the images of these sports branches to their
own brands by making sponsorship agreements with athletes and teams operating in
excitement, adrenaline and extreme sports.

When the user profiles and shares of the Redbull and Monster brands on the Twitter platform
are examined, we see that the Redbull brand uses social media ads more actively compared to
the Monster brand. The posts made by the official accounts of the brands are generally
focused on motor sports. However, it has been determined that Monster brand's sharing
content and sponsorship agreements differ from Redbull's.

The Monster brand uses the slogan 'Unleash the Beast!'. Red Bull has become an icon with
the slogan 'Red Bull Gives You Wings!'. Monster's slogan has a more offensive content than
Red Bull's. The 'feeling of aggression' is evident in both the name and logo of the Monster
brand.

Apart from motorsport, Monster also collaborates with the Japanese rock band Man With a
Mission (MWAM) and shows himself outside of sports. However, we hardly see Red Bull in
the fields of music, culture and art, except for extreme sports. Monster; In their social media
accounts, there are posts about their sponsorship activities in sports based on physical strength
(such as Kickboxing, American football). Red Bull, on the other hand, tries to appeal to the
sub-dimension who loves the open air. Monster is trying to create an image of an open tough
personality under the dimension of robustness.
Although brands are evaluated in terms of differentiation from each other, they also have
similar aspects. One of the most important of these is that the masculine structure is brought
to the fore because the individuals involved in social media communications are male. And
most importantly, it highlights the movement and aggression personality traits of both brands.
They know very well the nature of the energy drink industry.

Answer 2

It is an utopian for an established business or a skill to be successful in all aspects. It cannot

be expected that every step taken will meet expectation and please everyone. Factors such as
the quality, demand and usage area of the offered product determine the value of the product.
The customer mass addressed by the product covers all of them, including the profit rate.

Brands market their products according to the specified service purpose. In general, the
preparation of a product for another sector than its own sector of the brand, often does not
achieve success.

However, there are also brands that have achieved success by providing different services
outside the sector. But, in order to achieve this success, the success of the brand in its own
sector, in other words, the reability of the brand name.It must captured a certain image. Also,
it is important to offer different conditions than its competitors in the sector they want to
serve.

The quality, price and appeal of the product offered must be different from the main sectors
that the brand serve. Providing service with the same quality, price and the same customer
base in another sector is one of the steps that prevent success. In addition, this could be
damaging for brand image.

Based on these claims, two competitive brands ( Red Bull and Monster) serving the same
sector and oriented to different sectors will be discussed through POD’s and POP’s.

Red Bull

Event and sponsorship have been key elements of Red Bull’s marketing strategy for many
years. Indeed, the brand has achieved a remarkable global success due, in part, to reinvesment
of 30 to 40% of its sales back to marketing and promotional activities.

Red Bull’s strategy has historically been divided into three kinds of approaches that are
slightely connected between them :

1. Buzz Marketing
2. TV Advertising
3. Sponsorship ( abullburnedbymonster, 2013)
Red Bull’s customer target is goverment-acquired individuals. Red Bull’s products are to
provide energy to its consumers. The brand uses the slogan ‘ Red Bull Wings’ to explain the
effect of Red Bull. Based on this understanding, Red Bull has gone to sponsor extreme sports
such as motosports, F1 sports, skiing, space events… that will support energy and expand its
sector (Not only beverage industry).

POD (Points of Difference) for Red Bull

 Sweet and carbonated taste like cola

 Energy Drink it was initially a POD of Red Bull ; however it has been negated by
competitors
 Functional Drink
 Credible Brand History
 Medicinal Taste
 Premium Price
 Exclusive Imagery
 Leader of the Market
 Awareness
 Consumer Perception
( academia.deu ,2011 ) ( analytical essay on brand management of Red Bull, 2022)

Monster Energy

According to Monster Energy Company, unlike the other companies they do not spend their
Money on ad agencies, TV commercials and billboards to tell consumers how good their
products are. At Monster, they support the scene, their bands, athletes and fans. They all
dreamed about being pro-athletes, musicians and living the life.They created Monster Army
to make the dreams come true. ( Monster Energy )

They use athletes as brand representatives to make their success associated with the use of
their product. At first, they started to sponsor motosports but through the time they enhanced
their portfolio by the action sports, MMA athletes and also they started to use some
musicians, TV stars, gamers, and just bright personalities (bloggers, video makers…) Knower
days it includes more than 178 athletes, a lot of other famous people, they organize massive
organizations. They managed to grab a 5.9% market share. (abullburnedbymonster)
POD’s for Monster Energy

 Low Price for Brand

 Large size of Can
 Dark Side
 Athletic Performance
 Several Timber Products
 Strong Taste
 No Direct Ads

POP’s for Red Bull and Monster Energy

 Target
 Ingredients
 Extreme Sports
 Coolness
 Energy
 Values Around Fun and Excitement
 Masculine Nature of Brand

Studies show that when consumers talked about these two brands, most of them have talked
about energy and party but then they segmented their brand image. Consumers have spoken
about the emotional part with the Wings that Red Bull gives and the Dark Side that Monster
Energy offered.

Also, it seen that Red Bull and Monster Energy, leader on the energy drink market,offer more
than a simple product because bot hare implicate in sports.These events show that consumers
can appreciate the brand more than their cans.

Moreover, because Red Bull is leader in the worldwide energy drinks market (%40) it has the
possibility to have a skimming pricing whereas, Monster Energy tries to be more attractive by
price and quantity (bigger can)

(Anatomy of Red Bull and Monster Energy Positioning and the Points of Difference and
Points of Parity, December, 6)

There is a table that shown the POD’s between Red Bull and Monster Energy
 References

MONSTER. (n.d.). WordPress.com.

https://abullburnedbymonsters.wordpress.com/category/monster/

Anatomy of Red Bull and Monster positioning and the Points of Difference and Points of

Parity. (n.d.). http://powermonsterbull.blogspot.com/2013/12/anatomy-of-red-bull-

and-monster.html

Analytical Essay on Brand Management of Red Bull - Edubirdie. (2022, September 28).

Edubirdie. https://edubirdie.com/examples/analytical-essay-on-brand-management-of-

red-bull/

Hj, M. (2014, May 25). Assignment on A case study of Red Bull Company. Northampton.

https://www.academia.edu/3696452/Assignment_on_A_case_study_of_Red_Bull_Co

mpany

Comparison | redbull-vs-monster. (n.d.). Redbull-vs-monster.

https://gladyscarponcin7.wixsite.com/redbull-vs-monster/comparison