They spend millions on marketing, sponsoring everything from motor racing teams, to golf players, extreme sports events and a stratospheric skydiver. They even pay for Aviation events. Aviation! Where energy drinks are illegal!

Yet the only product they have to sell is an awful, sugar-and-caffeine infused piss in a can, most commonly mixed with vodka by teenagers.

I just don’t get it.

Red Bull is the highest selling energy drink in the world, with 5.387 billion cans sold in 2013

Red Bull don’t pay for all of that stuff. They are masters of Marketing, promotion and fund raising…

Revenue €4.253 billion
Operating income €1.3 billion
Net income €650 million

Both the founders have a net worth of $5.3billion

Red Bull

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Have you tasted it? It’s absolutely disgusting. All I can say is that those teenagers must have a very different idea of what tastes good – maybe because they were brought up on Cola and other sugar-laden gloop.

The story of Red Bull is interesting though: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_bull read the paragraph on the history and marvel at how rich you can become by selling garbage.

Alcohol companies do the same and some would say its worse than redbull.

History would show you:

I just don’t get it

And?

Their purpose is to make money, all the arms of the business cross pollenate with all the others. Events that appear to be free have lots of income generating advertising so they should in theory be profitable.

The occasional one or two events that don’t make a direct profit will help to grow the brand itself therefore making any future advertising space associated with red bull more lucrative. it’s all very carefully controlled marketing.

The power of marketing + stupidity = ££££££

and with Redbull TV we get to watch UCI MTB events. Everyones a winner, sports enthusiasts get to watch he sport they love, alcoholic/caffeine addicts are happy mixing away and people who need a hit to keep going during the day can put that Sh0t down their mouth.

Red Bull and GoPro are both selling lifestyle, not product. The advertising/events help promote the lifestyle the targeted customers aspire to.

You have the model the wrong way around. Red Bull are a PR and Events company, who produce a drink as they have so much publicity around the name that people will buy it no matter how horrible it is.

sports enthusiasts get to watch the sport they love

which is why I like Red Bull, even if I would never drink it.

I think the OP is seeing it from the wrong angle. I believe that they are primarily a promotions / events company and that the drink is a convenient sideline that happens to sell quite well.

I remember seeing the ‘original’ stuff in Thailand back in the late 90’s. Little bottles of amphetamine based* drinks that just and a picture of a red bull on them and were very popular with Thai taxi drivers.

*I don’t know it was actually amphetamines, but something along those lines….

I moved to Austria shortly after it was launched there, it was a fair bit stronger then (before being tamed down for a wider launch)

I can safely say that winters in the Austrian Alps would have been a lot quieter if they hadn’t been fuelled, day and night, by redbull.

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I remember seeing the ‘original’ stuff in Thailand back in the late 90’s. Little bottles of amphetamine based* drinks that just and a picture of a red bull on them and were very popular with Thai taxi drivers.

*I don’t know it was actually amphetamines, but something along those lines….

Yes, in little medicine bottles. Very different to the cans

It’s a fabulously successful business and very profitable. Huge margins as there aren’t any special or expensive ingredients. They spent a lot of marketing and I’m glad about that as they sponsor lots of cool events/sports.

The drink is terrible but I don’t care as I don’t buy it.

It’s great if you want the squits

Much of the fun I had in my late 20s and early 30s was fuelled by Red Bull. Often with vodka.
It’s not supposed to taste nice, it’s supposed to give you wings 😀

Its interesting that a lot of our sport has benefited tremendously from a product that, at best, is bad for you.

Enjoy the irony.

Have you tasted it? It’s absolutely disgusting.

I actually quite like it. Rarely drink it though.

Beer on the other hand – yuck. If there’s anything that’s widely consumed inspite of its taste, it’s beer. Ok so it’s not directly marketed, but the peer pressure to force it down and ‘acquire’ the taste is huge*

Anyway – re the company, I think they just do cool stuff because they can, and they like it. Like Branson.

* ok so this is tongue in cheek, but how many people didn’t like beer the first time they tried it and carried on becuase everyone else was doing it?

Don’t like the drink myself, so I don’t buy it.

Do like some of the events and promotions.

Everyone’s a winner (apart from the teenagers giving themselves liver problems by drinking vodka + red bull all weekend).

Ok so it’s not directly marketed

It isn’t?

All I can say is that those teenagers must have a very different idea of what tastes good

That’s the funny thing about taste.

how many people didn’t like beer the first time they tried it and carried on becuase everyone else was doing it?

Well yeah – but I felt the same about wine, olives, tomatoes, broccoli, stinky cheese, etc etc all of which I enjoy now.

Whereas Red Bull still tastes like sugary Creamola Foam. And not in a good way.

vodka and red bull? Yagerbombs is where its at!

Redbull is a bit pricey for me but it is drinkable* and “energy” drinks are awesome, have kept me going in a multitude of ventures where a couple of cups of coffee wouldn’t really have been appropriate. Cracking stuff.
*peoples tastes vary obviously

I got a lift with a rep selling Coke once. Its was in the 1980s.

He said that he sold a bladder of coke mix to a pub for I think £20. They would add water and CO2 and sell it £500.

Making redbull costs very little. There are loads of cheaper alternatives. So they spend a proportion of the huge mark up they enjoy creating a global brand

clearly it works

Alcoholic drinks in the Uk at least have much worse margins

Danny likes it.

I quite like the fruity ones

But yeah, only if a late night drive/gig/whatever is on the cards.
However, I do find it quite easy to understand.

Red Bull don’t make it such. They are solely a promotion company, they spotted a lucrative market promote a cheap drink that was made in India. They came up with the name Red Bull and started promoting, the drink is part of that promotion.

Yeah I’ve explained it badly.

Red Bull don’t make it such. They are solely a promotion company, they spotted a lucrative market promote a cheap drink that was made in India. They came up with the name Red Bull and started promoting, the drink is part of that promotion.

Yeah I’ve explained it badly.

better explanation here

Redbull is a bit reactive for the older persons stomach and teeth – kid’s can knock litres of the stuff without too much effort or immediate ill effect.
To all the Redbull haters out there I’d just ask how much overpriced disgusting froth they buy from Costabucks etc.

Yeah I’ve explained it badly.

I found that also easy to understand 🙂

Jager bombs all round!!!

In my industry many head chefs are now banning it from the kitchens as the younger chefs are downing it acting like tits and it screws up the tastebuds.

I don’t even like the smell.

I actually like the taste of the diet version (the only diet drink that taste a better than the normal version) however even a couple of sips triggers my ibs, gives me palpitations and generally makes me feel crap (as do any other drinks that have more caffeine than a mug of tea)

I don’t even like the smell.

Ugh!! The smell is the worst bit IMO. There have been many occasions when I’ve been at the gym and I get a wiff of it, only to find the offending person is standing about 5 metres away.