Market strategy for Red Bull

As everybody knows that marketing strategy is changing, so we need a marketing strategy for each product. In this assignment we are going to develop a marketing strategy for a product from our current industry.

We choose Red bull drink to be our product in this assignment. Red Bull is an energy drink sold by the Austrian Red Bull GmbH. It is the most popular energy drink in the world. This product is sold as an energy drink to face the mental problems and protect the body from the daily weariness because of work. It gives the body high energy in order to enable people to continue their works in the life. There are many people who prefer red bull from the other drinks in the world.

National Mineral Water Co. SAOG (NMWC) is the official dealer of Red bull energy drink in Sultanate of Oman. This company was established in the year 1979 with technical expertise from Evian, France. The company represents Tanuf Water, El Jabal El Akhdar, Salsabeel and Assaha brands in the mineral water industry. All these products are bottled in an integrated, fully automatic plant with machinery from suppliers in Europe and USA. National mineral water co. has also accredited with ISO 22000 HACCP certification in backward integrated manufacturing facility with the capability of producing packs from 100 ml to 5 gallons. It has a wide spread distribution network across the whole region of the country. It is one of the biggest natural mineral water distribution company in Sultanate of Oman. The agency of red bull was taken in the year 2007-2008 by NMWC. With the vast network the company is having it is becoming easier to distribute the Red Bull to all parts of the country.

Red Bull took many marketing and ingredient ideas from an energy drink in Thailand called Krating Daeng. Dietrich Mateschitz, an Austrian entrepreneur, developed the Red Bull Energy Drink brand. Mateschitz was the international marketing director for Blendax, a toothpaste company, when he visited Thailand in 1982 and discovered that Krating Daeng helped to cure his jet lag. In the 1989, the product was expanded to its first international markets, Hungary and Slovenia. It entered the United States market (via California) in 1997 and the Middle East in 2000.

We have assumed that my product is targeted at people that have similar situations to the ones used in advertisements for red bull. We will be looking to spot if the strategy used is based on the principles of marketing:

1-Understanding consumer wants: to become successful, it is vital for a business to understand the wants and needs of its target audience. For example the needs and wants of a target audience for a high street retail store depend upon the age, style and income of its customers.

2-Understanding and keeping ahead of competition: businesses must consider their competitive markets as well as the products and prices provided by their competition in order to gain customers and provide a better standard of services and goods than other companies. This can be done through devising strong, different marketing strategies and by selling a product that is unique and efficient.

3-Communicate effectively with its customers to satisfy customer expectations: communication with customers is vital for a business to understand the wants and needs of their customers. A good relationship must be continuously created between a business and its customers to maximise its success.

4-Co-ordinate its functions to achieve marketing aims: co-ordination of functions is key to efficiency and therefore success. To maximise the success of a business, all of its marketing aims should be met.

5-Be aware of constraints on marketing activities.

Marketing strategy

Marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. A marketing strategy should be centered around the key concept that customer satisfaction is the main goal. A marketing strategy combines product development, promotion, distribution, pricing, relationship management and other elements; identifies the firm’s marketing goals, and explains how they will be achieved. Marketing strategy determines the choice of target market segments, positioning, marketing mix, and allocation of resources. It is most effective when it is an integral component of overall firm strategy, defining how the organization will successfully engage customers, prospects, and competitors in the market arena.

Marketing is one of the important element for any successful business because it is all about letting people know what is the products/services of the company, and how do you persuading them to purchase your products/services.

RedBull is well known for extensive marketing and branding. Some called RedBull’s branding an ‘anti-brand’ strategy. This is because it didn’t use the usual methods of marketing. Instead it uses the marketing strategy called ‘buzz marketing’ as well known as word of mouth. The brand image was created as the drink for young people with adventure-related sports.

RedBull developed its brand image by using many strategies which have the main point of making the brand visible and recognizable by people. The RedBull is promoting directly to Generation Y. It uses ‘student brand managers’ to promote the products by encourage teenagers or the university students to organize parties that Red Bull would be distributed. This strategy is called ‘viral’ marketing. In other words, Red Bull used the youth ‘underground’ to spread the popularity and reputation without having to use traditional informative or persuasive communications. This strategies have led Red Bull to become a clear market leading position with 70% market share.

Marketing mix is a basic tool which has the combination of 4’Ps of marketing. Product, Price, Place and promotion. This 4 p’s are in the control of the organization and are the pillars for any business which will be success.

Product : The brand name itself displays the strength of the drink. The quality of the drink is fine. Over 60% of the under 30 year old Germans recognise the brand unassisted. People are happy with the product. Only the image can be strengthened. The labeling and packaging shows the external appearance of the product. The readings and the picture is clearly visible and just by seeing the packaging one will know that this is Red bull brand.

Place : Distribution channels plays a role in selling the product to the customer. The product Red bull is sold through super markets / petrol station and retail shops. In 1998 only 20% of Red Bull’s sales were distributed through retail. As Red Bull is an utility drink, consumers only buy it occasionally. Therefore they do not necessarily buy the drink in supermarkets, but rather at petrol stations or off-licence retailers.

Price – This is one of the most important factor for any business. This is the amount which the customer is ready to pay for getting the desired product or services. The pricing of the same product can be different from country to country. It is because of the local factors prevailing in that country. The retail pricing is different from the penetrating pricing.

Promotion : Red bull has done many promotional strategies for promoting their product. One of the strategy was to distribute the Red bull for free of cost to the 2 rated Offices where there are educated people. Advertisement were put in the newspapers where in the importance of stress and having the drink was discussed.

Marketing positioning

Marketing positioning means the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. Although there are different definitions of Positioning, probably the most common is: identifying a market niche for a brand, product or service utilizing traditional marketing placement strategies such as price, promotion, distribution, packaging, and competition. Also positioning is defined as the way by which the marketers creates impression in the customers mind.

Generally, the product positioning process involves:

Defining the market in which the product or brand will compete (who the relevant buyers are)

Identifying the attributes (also called dimensions) that define the product ‘space’

Collecting information from a sample of customers about their perceptions of each product on the relevant attributes

Determine each product’s share of mind

Determine each product’s current location in the product space

Determine the target market’s preferred combination of attributes (referred to as an ideal vector)

Examine the fit between:

The position of your product

The position of the ideal vector

Position.

Product quality

The collection of features and characteristics of a product that contribute to its ability to meet given requirements. Early work in controlling product quality was on creating standards for producing acceptable products. There are three views for describing the overall quality of a product. First is the view of the manufacturer, who is primarily concerned with the design, engineering, and manufacturing processes involved in fabricating the product. Quality is measured by the degree of conformance to predetermined specifications and standards, and deviations from these standards can lead to poor quality and low reliability. Efforts for quality improvement are aimed at eliminating defects (components and subsystems that are out of conformance), the need for scrap and rework, and hence overall reductions in production costs. Second is the view of the consumer or user. To consumers, a high-quality product is one that well satisfies their preferences and expectations. This consideration can include a number of characteristics, some of which contribute little or nothing to the functionality of the product but are significant in providing customer satisfaction. A third view relating to quality is to consider the product itself as a system and to incorporate those characteristics that pertain directly to the operation and functionality of the product. This approach should include overlap of the manufacturer and customer views.

Red bull is a conditionally essential amino acid which is naturally occurring in the human body. “Conditionally essential” means that in some situations or under certain conditions, as for example, in situations of high stress or physical exertion, increased amounts of this product are eliminated from the body and cannot be replaced by the body in sufficient amounts.

As Red bull is a high quality product my recommendation is that some more features be added within this drink and has to be offered to the customer for solving some of the medical issues related to them. The doctors has to prescribe it as a medical substitute. By this the quality of the product will be increased and automatically the sales of the product will be increased.

Red bull is involved in vital functions of the human body. It acts as an antioxidant and has been shown to promote detoxification by binding together with harmful substances and thereby accelerating their excretion from the body.

It is also contained in different foodstuffs like scallops, fish or poultry and is added to most baby food.

Branding

A brand is the identity of a specific product, service, or business. A brand can take many forms, including a name, sign, symbol, color combination or slogan.

brand image was created and cultivated which associated the drink with youth culture and extreme and adventure-related sports, such as motor sports, mountain biking, snowboarding and dance music parties. In other countries Red Bull’s target consumer segment began to adopt nicknames for the product such as ‘liquid cocaine’ or ‘speed in a can’, thus spreading its left-field appeal.

A strategy can be applied where in the advertisement states that the drink is meant for getting extra energy and can be deprived of mental stress. A slogan RED BULL is for BRAVE and ENERGETIC people can be adopted. With this statement any person who does not drink this product is not brave or energetic. This can help the company in increasing the sales.

Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of design, evaluation, and production of packages. Packaging can be described as a coordinated system of preparing goods for transport, warehousing, logistics, sale, and end use. Packaging contains, protects, preserves, transports, informs, and sells.

How does Red Bull package its product?

In the earlier market analysis of the soft drinks market, Red Bull appeared in the list of the main soft drinks suppliers by value, but not by volume. The reason why this is the case is due, in part, to the large number of cans sold by the firm, but also it is due to the unusually small size can in which the drink is packaged. Greater sales are achieved, but due to the smaller size can, they do not equate to proportionally high volumes of the drink being sold. Red Bull’s cans are supplied by Rexam, which is the world’s biggest supplier of beverage cans. Rexam makes all sorts of different types of packaging, for companies ranging from butter producers to perfume makers. But the market for packaging non-alcoholic beverages is responsible for the majority of Rexam’s revenues.

Red Bull has a great image and is the market leader. Therefore we have two objectives:

Maintaining the lead

Trying to extend it by creating further consumer needs for Red Bull

CONCLUSION

Red Bull was founded by Dietrich Mateschitz and officially launched in 1987. Ten years after its launch Red Bull was finally brought to the United States first being introduced in California.In 2000 Red Bull had approximately $1 billion in worldwide sales. n 2006 more than 3 billion cans of Red Bull were sold in over 130 countries. Red Bull now accounts for approximately 50% of the energy drink market in the United States and up to 80% in other countries with an approximate 65% overall market share.

Those are just some quick and dirty facts about Red Bull to help frame the what is really interesting about Red Bull.I think one of the most interesting aspects about Red Bull is how their brand has become the product (energy drinks).Even though there are now over 150 competitors in the energy drink space, most people I know still refer to energy drinks as Red Bull. In my opinion this is one of the best things that can happen for a brand.Since the brand becomes the product, the demand for the brand increases.

One of the reasons for Red Bull’s success, besides being the first to this niche market, is how good they are at buzz marketing.Red Bull sponsors events such as windsurfing, snowboarding, cliff-diving, break dancing, art shows, music concerts, video games and several other sporting/social events.Red Bull also hosts the Red Bull Flugtag which can be best understood by watching this video:

So what can we learn from Red Bull? Of course, most of us can’t afford to sponsor extreme sporting events, art shows or the like but we can do things differently than the rest of our competition.

The Red bull company must use all the types of advertisement to attract the people. The quality of the drink is good but the advertisement needs to be focused. The sales of the business has to be increased. The other important factor for the decrease of sales is one of the 4 p’s of marketing i.e. pricing. The price of the product is more, for that reason only one section of the society purchases this product. It has to be in the reach of middle class people which is the large portion of the society. In order to sell the product in the quantity the distribution channels has to be increased. The places were the Red bull are sold has to be increased. Red bull must concentrate on sales without compromising on the quality.