*supercollider

There are few brands that can offer more lessons in how to approach the next generation of marketing than Red Bull. Focusing their strategy on earned media, cultural integration and value creation, Red Bull’s approach is pioneering, and a template that many brands would love to follow.

However it’s also proven a difficult strategy to replicate, specifically because just how different it is from the traditional marketing model. It’s definitely not just about sponsoring a couple of youth events and calling it a day. The scale of Red Bull’s commitment to non-traditional marketing is unprecedented. As far back as a decade ago, Red Bull was spending more than 80% of their significant marketing budget on non-measured media. That’s completely inverse to the traditional marketing formula of focusing on packaged communication messages and the broadcast media to spread them.

Core to Red Bull’s success has been their unique strategy of focusing on brand-owned events. It struck me that one of the best ways to make the point about what it takes to seriously succeed at their level and at this game was to show the scale they are operating on. To this end I’ve gone about finding every Red Bull event I could, as well as how long they were run. So far I’ve got ninety, and this is far from a complete list. Note also this list does not include team and individual sponsorships, of which there are many.

I think the list makes some self-evident points, including the incredible breadth and depth of these events, the creativity that infuses them, and the admirable long-term commitment and focus Red Bull has shown in sustaining these events as using them as a platform for all of their marketing activity. However in part II, we’ll take a more in-depth look at lessons from Red Bull’s success with these events. It would be great to hear your thoughts as well.

Action Sports - Events

Art, music and culture

Next up is Part II: The Lessons from Ninety Red Bull Events.