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.
Exactly.
I don't find Red Bull objectionable, and I've drunk a can when I needed a pick-up, but I prefer the taste of Relentless.
And I [b]love[/b] the taste of beer! Well, proper beer, not the fizzy watery crap that many drink.
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 😉
