Events And Marketing: A Case Study Of Red Bull

Definition and Classification of Special Events

There are several types of events organized by different authorities in different parts of the world. The main aim of any event organized is to implement the sense of brotherhood and togetherness among the different set of people ranging from different type of cultural and social groups. This paper will elaborate on the subject of events and marketing. It will focus on the definition and classification of special events. It will shed light on the key marketing activities that are undertaken by Red Bull and their role in their overall marketing strategy. Furthermore, it will also discuss about the role of marketing mix and the company is using the marketing mix to inform their marketing strategy.

Definition and classification of events

Events are described as public assembly for the purpose of education, reunion, marketing or celebration. The special events are the phenomenon that arises from the non-routine occasions that have leisure, personal, cultural and organizational objectives sets apart from normal day-to-day activities, whose primary purpose is to celebrate, challenge, entertain or enlighten the experience of a group of people (Brown 2014).

Events are classified in terms of their size and type.

In terms of types:

Festival events: They are organized traditionally after a specific time interval for a year or more, but the time and dates of these events are fixed.

Business events: They are organized by different business organizations for their business needs. Example- business seminars and meetings

Sports events: These events are comprised of sports. Example- Olympic events and football world cups

Political events: They are organized by the governments and are associated with national and political environment. Example- election program

In terms of size 

Hallmark events- The events which have large brand value and legacy among the audiences are called hallmark events. Example- Rio carnival in Brazil (Herstein and Berger 2014)

Mega events- The events that are benchmarks in the international event standards and have the potential to draw large number of crowds at any time are called mega events. Example- Olympic games (Grix and Houlihan 2014)

Community events- The events that are limited only to the local areas along with very limited popularity or publicity are called community events. Example- Easter age parade

Major events- These types of events are organized on a national level and have the interest and recognition of the foreign audiences as well. They are usually organized by local institutions and communities. Example- Ocean race stopover 

Key Marketing Activities by Red Bull

Marketing activities of Red Bull and their role

The secret behind red bull’s success is that the company supports near about 500 top class sports athletes which compete in record-breaking events worldwide. The founder of the company- Dietrich Mateschitz says that the Company does not bring its products to the customer; instead it brings customers to its products (Cnossen et al. 2017). Red Bull invests in extreme sports as well. It has long been helping to fund several events itself and then later the funding team of the major events like ESPN’s X-Games (Davis and Hilbert 2013). It has also been a sponsoring member in the NASCAR for many years. Furthermore, it owns several sports team including Scuderia Toro Rosso, EHC Munchen, FC Red Bull Salzburg, New York Red Bulls, Red Bull Brazil etc. It makes its revenues from these brands. Red Bull also owns several media properties including Red Bull bulletin, Red Bull TV, Redbull.com, Red Bull mobile apps, Red Bull Cinema and Red Bull records. Its Red Bull Media House integrates social media marketing into each of its projects. It is highly efficient and experienced in creating successful and innovative media strategies.

Role of Marketing Mix

Marketing Mix is very important for the marketers. It has a great affect on the customer’s decision to buy the products or not (Tapp and Spotswood 2013). The 4ps of the marketing mix stands for Product, price, place and promotion. The marketing mix help in a clean mix creation and helps in the development of new products and services. They also help in increasing the product portfolio and they act as a guide to improve a business. Furthermore, it also helps in differentiation and lifts the organization in being a dynamic one. 

How Red Bull uses Marketing Mix to inform its marketing strategy

Product- The drink is aimed to give the consumers a high energy kick. It is available in 250ml cans and 350ml bottles, in only two flavors. It contains glucuronolactone, taurine, B vitamins and caffeine (Elitok et al. 2016). It has now become the leading energy drink in the world and is a staple in the life of numerous active people.

Pricing- the Company puts its pricing above the other energy drinks due to its quality. The quality of their drink is really great as compared to the other energy drinks. Drinks like Rockstar and Monster though have tried to compete, but they have not been worthy competitors.

Marketing Mix in Red Bull’s Marketing Strategy

Place- the Company place its products in the areas where it is convenient for the consumers to purchase them. Not only through stores and groceries, Red bull also places its products in the casinos and night clubs.

Promotion- The promotion of the company is the most interesting part. Their world famous slogan- “Red Bull gives you wings”, the company take their connection with their customers to a new level (Meier 2013). Right from hosting a wide array of extreme sports event, to forming a magazine named ‘extreme sporters’, Red  Bull is effectively making efforts to become a major part of its target customers.

STP Red Bull

Types of segmentation	Segmentation Criteria	Target customer segment of Red Bull
Red Bull Simply Cola	Red Bull Zero Calories; Red Bull Sugar free	Red Bull  Energy Drink	Red Bull Editions: lime, tropical fruits, cranberry, blueberry
Geographic	Density	Urban and Rural	Urban and Rural	Urban and Rural	Urban and Rural
Region	Domestic and International	Domestic and International	Domestic and International	Domestic and International
Demographic	Age	16 to 40	26 to 45	16 to 30	18 to 36
Income	High	High	High	High
Occupation	Students, professionals and employees	Professionals and employees	Students, professionals and employees	Students, professionals and employees
Life cycle	Newly married couples	Newly married couples	Bachelor people	Bachelor people
Behavioral	Personality	Easygoing	Ambitious	Ambitious	Determined
Degree of loyalty	Switches	Hard core loyal	Hard core loyal	Soft core loyal
User Status	First time users	Non-users; regular users	Non-users; regular users	First time users
Benefits sought	Sense of belonging	Sense of belonging Enhanced performance	Sense of belonging Enhanced performance	Sense of belonging Enhanced performance
Psychographic	Life Style	Succeeders, explorer,	Succeeders, explorer	Explorer and reformer	Succeeders, explorer

Table 1: STP of Red Bull

Segmentation- Red bull avoids the use of usual or traditional methods of marketing, depending on what is called as buzz marketing or word of mouth marketing (Freeman et al., 2014). It advertises directly to the Y generation who are the so called people who born after the year of 1091. It uses the mono segment kind of positioning.

Targeting- The company targets the customers who are between the years 15 to 30. It is very image conscious (Teigeler and Hahne 2014). Its energy drinks that consists of high sugar level and are therefore, more popular among the women and children, while the energy drinks that are with strong flavor and taste are more preferred by the male customers. In fact, according to the recent study, 65% of the market of energy drink consists of male customers (Bunting, Baggett and Grigor 2013).

Positioning- Red bull is positioned in the list of premium category of beverages because of it unique taste. It is relevant to the targets. As mentioned above, Red bull has also sponsored several games such as Golf (Farris et al., 2017). Furthermore, the company arranges rallies in several countries like that in Pakistan’s Jhal Maksi rally and Thar Desert rally. Its perception is of a lifestyle and inspirational brand. 

Risk management consideration to be taken

• Proper handling and preparation of the beverages is very important. The people who are hired for the process involved in the manufacturing and production to the packaging of the beverage needs to have a health permit
• The workers need to comply with the health related laws and regulations in order to ensure that the prepared drinks are safe to consume.
• The ingredients that are use must be listed in the patron along with food allergies and dietary requirements.
• The place for the production of these drinks must have sufficient security procedures.
• The beverages must be packed in non-breakable containers.
• Educate the leaders of the company regarding the potential and existence of risk
• Monitor each of the manufacturing and production stages through using the technology effectively
• It must develop a contingency plan
• Red Bull must also design a policy for risk management which supports the vision and policies of organization and with the same, it must be in tune with the resource capabilities
• The company must perform internal audit of long-term as well as operational strategies and activities.  

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it is to be concluded that Red Bull is demonstrating a novel approach for its event and marketing activities. It has introduced several products in the market that has spawned a whole new category of products. Due to its efficient activities and actions, the company has achieved a great success in the current market and has become one of the great market leaders in its sector. The present position of Red Bull is strong in the market sector. However, there are several risks management considerations mentioned above that red bull must always take into account in order to remain in the top position in the coming year as well 

References: 

Brown, S., 2014. Emerging Professionalism in the Event Industry: A Practitioner’s Perspective. Event Management, 18(1), pp.15-24.

Bunting, H., Baggett, A. and Grigor, J., 2013. Adolescent and young adult perceptions of caffeinated energy drinks. A qualitative approach. Appetite, 65, pp.132-138.

Cnossen, C., Li, Y., Sampath, N., Taylor-Maisano, W. and Tsonev, V., 2017. What gives Red Bull wings: Creating a successful market-oriented organization.

Davis, J.A. and Hilbert, J.Z., 2013. Sports marketing: creating long term value. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Elitok, A., Öz, F., Panc, C., Sar?kaya, R., Sezikli, S., Pala, Y., Bugan, Ö.S., Ate?, M., Par?ldar, H., Ayaz, M.B. and At?c?, A., 2016. Acute effects of Red Bull energy drink on ventricular repolarization in healthy young volunteers: a prospective study. Anatolian journal of cardiology, 15(11), p.919.

Farris, P.W., Shames, E.R., Johnson, R.R. and Mitchell, J., 2017. Red Bull (Abridged). Darden Business Publishing Cases, pp.1-8.

Freeman, B., Kelly, B., Baur, L., Chapman, K., Chapman, S., Gill, T. and King, L., 2014. Digital junk: food and beverage marketing on Facebook. American journal of public health, 104(12), pp.e56-e64.

Grix, J. and Houlihan, B., 2014. Sports mega-events as part of a nation’s soft power strategy: the cases of Germany (2006) and the UK (2012). The British journal of politics and international relations, 16(4), pp.572-596.

Herstein, R. and Berger, R., 2014. Cities for sale: How cities can attract tourists by creating events. The Marketing Review, 14(2), pp.131-144.

Meier, B., 2013. Energy Drinks Promise Edge, but Experts Say Proof Is Scant. Energy.

Tapp, A. and Spotswood, F., 2013. From the 4Ps to COM-SM: reconfiguring the social marketing mix. Journal of Social Marketing, 3(3), pp.206-222.

Teigeler, J. and Hahne, A.K., 2014. Market Analysis of Red Bull based on the countries Germany, Switzerland and Austria.