Red Bull hit the European market in 1994 and now sells over 12 billion cans per year. It has 94% global brand awareness and has paved the way for the thriving international energy drink market we experience today.
Red Bull’s story began in 1982 when soon-to-be CEO Dietrich Mateschitz landed in Bangkok in search of a jet lag cure. He discovered Krating Daeng, an energy drink popular with nightshift workers, and believed he could create something similar in Europe.
Before launching Red Bull, Mateschitz tested the product in 11 different countries and almost everyone hated it. Feedback included the product tasting ‘chemical’ ‘dangerous’ and ‘like medicine’. It was also viewed as too expensive with its smaller can and 300% higher unit price than Coke.
Despite the poor feedback, Mateschitz decided to launch anyway, exactly as it was with no changes. He argued that the drink’s ‘negative’ attributes could actually be selling points with the right marketing, for example that the poor taste could signify potency, the can size could indicate its effectiveness in small quantities and the price that its a premium product.
Knowing that the usual definitions of success in the drinks market were unlikely to persuade consumers, the Red Bull team adopted a series of guerrilla tactics such as littering empty cans in nightclubs to create the illusion of mass adoption and creating an experiential media agency that celebrated elite athleticism and daring stunts.
By adopting this memetic approach, Red Bull created an aspirational feeling so strong that consumers became increasingly willing to drink something they didn’t like to avoid being someone without ‘wings’.
When thinking about the lessons Product Managers can take from Red Bull’s example, a few highlights come to mind:
- A high degree of clarity on the vision
- Commitment to solving a single problem
- Acceptance that behaviour may differ from sentiment
- Bravery to invent a different game with entirely new rules
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