[Closed] I really don't understand 'Red Bull'

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:

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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.

ads678
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....

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 [i]obviously [/i]

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

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

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 [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull ]here[/url]

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.

[i]Yeah I've explained it badly.[/i]

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.

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.

I'm 46, in the 70's my Unigate milkman used to deliver pop, Corona in glass bottles. So it's not just kids of today who have been brought up on "Cola and other sugar-laden gloop"

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I'm 46, in the 70's my Unigate milkman used to deliver pop, Corona in glass bottles. So it's not just kids of today who have been brought up on "Cola and other sugar-laden gloop"

Don't forget soda stream too. 😀

I watch the F1 quite a bit and you often see the red bull drivers sipping stuff from the red bull sponsored bottles. I can't imagine that it would be red bull in there but i wonder if Seb Vettel could claim he won all those titles whilst off his biscuits on red bull??

Don't forget soda stream too

I'm getting busy with my fizzy as we speak 😛

I read a case study on Red Bull about 14 years ago for a Buisiness Studies class and it showed that they invested 60% of their net profit into new extreme sports ventures, and that was a figure that kept rolling and increasing year on year.

More than just a marketing ploy, the owners had a massive interest in sports and wanted to support funding for things that otherwise would stay on a smaller scale.

Red Bull are as much a marketing company as they are a soft drinks company. All the camera footage you see of their athletes is owned by them, provides them with cheap and effective marketing and is available for resale to TV channels (e.g. Dave showing Imaginate or the Red Bull Cliff Diving). The Redbull Youtube channel has 3.5m subscribers, compared to Coca Cola's 277k. They market a lifestyle as much as the drink.

Marketing wise they're probably the cleverest I've ever seen. The Red Bull Stratos mission (the dude that sky-dived from the edge of space) cost circa US$30m and garnered huge amounts of publicity from broadcast, print, digital, radio media outlets for months in advance of the jump, during the jump and months after. Compare this to $4m for 30sec during the Superbowl and you can see how wisely they've spent their money.

I don't drink the product at all but I can't help but be impressed by the marketing and their contribution to niche and extreme sports.

You can't really compare it to coffee can you

Coffee is thing of a plant and milk comes from cows

Coffee made at home is cheaper than Redbull. But the RAW ingredients cost more than for Redbull (I made that up but I'm sure its true)

Buying a coffe in Costa again involves work, raw materials and a leather sofa

I don't hate Redbull. I suppose I'm jealous of the mark up...

I like Red bull, I don't buy it often, because I'm poor and prefer the huge cans like monster. I'm not that young (31)

I remember at Bike 95 or 96 (the last one at Olympia) they were giving cans of Red bull out for nothing, it wasn't fizzy and it was more like a thin syrup. I guess they realised they could just water it down, and keep the can and the price the same and make shed loads more money.

Jagerbombs are stupid though, me and the wife used to drink them as a nice sipping drink years ago, who wants a shot glass in there drink?

AS above, a truly brilliant form of marketing.

Plus, if you're flagging on a proper binge, it does pick you up out of the gutter and get you to the next place to further kill off a few brain cells.

I did the TMB with an Austrian guy who was an events organiser for red bull. He spent his life travelling around the world sorting out extreme events and pretty much got to try out what ever he wanted. Unsurprisingly, he kicked our arse very severely on the ride.

I'd love to have hated him - but he was a really nice bloke as well.

I heard they were a shit company to work for - not sure how reliable that was.

Can't stand the stuff myself but they are masters of branding and marketing. Was shocked to hear that Cam Zonk only won 5k for coming third in Rampage and another 5k for best trick. Not a lot of money for risking breaking your neck/spine.

Not a lot of money for risking breaking your neck/spine.

AFAIK tournament prize money is rarely the big income stream for pro athletes. Sponsorship deals win hands down...

Even something with massive prize funds like winning wimbledon pales into comparison beside the sponsorship you'd accrue afterward. IIRC Murray was tipped to be on for a £15mil deal after winning - prize money was £1.6mil.

AFAIK tournament prize money is rarely the big income stream for pro athletes. Sponsorship deals win hands down...

Yeah I guess so - still would have imagined it would be a lot more than that though.

Just noticed I put Zonk. 😡

I'll use a supermarkets own sugar free stimulant drink if I'm driving or in need of a kick on the morning (I'm up at 5) but I don't have it that often, don't really like the taste and I'd certainly never mix it with alcohol.

I heard they were a shit company to work for - not sure how reliable that was.

Heh.

Will a shot of Red Bull help me beat my cycling buddy in a sprint? That's what I want to know.

Much of the fun I had in my late 20s and early 30s was fuelled by Red Bull. Often with vodka.

Same here but replace the word often with always 😆

I love the taste of Red Bull and vodka makes it even better, I hardly ever drink the stuff on its own though and when i do drink it with vodka on a night out i try to limit it to a couple cans as I'm sure every can makes a hangover ten times worse!

I see a lot of people at work drinking 4 or 5 cans of Red Bull/Monster/Rockstar etc like its normal these days, can't be doing them any good 😐

My running training partner used to consume lots of this stuff. He ended up with a racing heart rate (tachycardia). I wouldn't exactly point the blame at this caffeine laden drink, but I wouldn't touch it.

Horrible taste, have only drunk worth about one can during last 20 years.

However, I do have lots of respect for what they are doing for injured athletes in their medical centres.

One night at the first fire station that i was posted to we had two Red Bull reps turn up in a Red Bull logoed mini with a large can on the back, wearing hot pants and bikini tops and they filled our fridge up with cans of the stuff for free, always been a fan since then!

I can't understand why a drink that gives you so much energy results in so many leaving their empty can on the trails.

Having picked up lots of these cans during litter picks, on my local trail, the smell of the dregs left in the can puts you off ever wanting to drink the stuff.

The most common energy drink bottle left on the trails however is lucozade by a big margin.
Is this because it's the most popular energy drink or is it that people who drink it are just litter louts?

Will a shot of Red Bull help me beat my cycling buddy in a sprint?

No, but it's bloody excellent in 24hr races.

A line of pro plus with a redbull chaser through the eyes, plus hookers, FTW

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.

About 10 years ago a sudden death in the family meant I had to drive to the midlands and back after what had been an already long day at work. About 70 miles from home, and very late at night, I hit the wall with fatigue. I stopped at the nearest services, bought three cans of Red Bull and necked them on the way back to the car park.

I was driving my mums little Fiat Punto and I can honestly say nothing got past me during the remainder of the drive home. With bulging eyeballs I hit warp speed as I left the car park and only slowed down to pull into the driveway at home. Haven't touched that vile red drink since. I had a crushing headache for hours afterwards.

Can't fault their marketing nous or the money they put into niche sport, but won't touch their product. Only ever tried the drink once years ago and found it horrible. Couple of years ago had a scare with arrhythmia and was going through possible triggers with the consultant. Talked about alcohol and caffeine and she mentioned that they saw loads of heart rate/rhythm issues in A&E at the weekends with people who had been hitting the vodka and Red Bull.

I keep a can in the car/van in the event I'm feeling tired, am not far from home and need a little boost. Having said that, I've only used it a couple of times and I'm pretty sure the current supplies are well passed their use-by dates. It probably helps that I don't like the taste, so I'm not tempted to drink it unless I really need to 🙂

It's for kids not cool enough to drink double espressos.

http://www.cspinet.org/new/cafchart.htm

Lifestyle brand that sells (but doesn't make) a drink as a by-product.

I think what you can't argue with, is that they do cool things with the money and generally make the world a bit more interesting. There was a great interview with one of their top boys just before the Balloon To Spaaaaaaace thing, where he said something like "We came up with the idea, and everyone said "That's impossible". We can sell a tin of water and additives for a dollar- now THAT should be impossible. Everything else is simple after that!"

Bimbler it was Ben Shaws with us 😀

Redbull and Monster- Ive seen people drinking it for breakfast

I prefer amphetamine myself. Probably cheaper too.

Base is where it's at 😉