What do Red Bull do for their Athletes?

Interesting to see in the article/interview with Tahnee[/url] how much support she got from them after her crash earlier in the year:

So, Red Bull. Taking the drink out of the equation, what support do they give you that you couldn’t imagine racing without?

“When I crash, as soon as I hit the deck there are already people hands on, ready to get me back running and back on my bike. They covered my whole process of recovery, I didn’t need to think about a single thing other than getting myself to where I needed to be. Which I think is incredible support. I never would have been able to do what I did this season without that. It’s put a lot of things in perspective for me, for sure, because they were there the whole way. They have surgeons, specialists for every bone, physios, people all over the world if you’re in a different country. They were my safety net for the entire year, and I’m forever grateful for what they’ve done to help me.”

Seems opposite to Brook McDonald who had to seemingly sort out his insurance and get a crowd fund going to help with rehab costs.

Also interesting to see that the Norwegian Freerider Makken has ended his association with them:

I am finally done with red bull!

I made up my mind 6-7 months ago, but i had to wait with telling you due to contracts.
I got tired of promoting a product i dont drink, promoting a company i dont really like and tired of seeing how i affects young kids drinking it.
As a kid I believed that to be successful you need the support that RB claim to provide. Now i want to do my best so the younger generations of shredders stay clear of this company.
At first i actually believed in RB. I believed that they were looking out for me and my sport.
I later realized the corporate greed in a company like this is to strong for them to be able to look out for anyone else then them self.
Here in Norway RB are really frowned upon and was illegal until 2009. On the regular i have had to defend my self for promoting it. Ive been riding for RB the last 7 years and seen enough of it to learn its really not a company i want to defend/promote.
The last year RB sucked the fun out of riding for me. Seeing the blue and silver colors made me not wanting to go ride. This is when I realized things wasn’t worth it. I wont allow a company like this to ruin the one thing that means the most to me, riding!
Now that this situation is finally over i feel real good. I feel light, i feel free and i feel motivated.
Ride Free
Makken

It would also be interesting to see how many of their riders actually drink Red Bull – interesting that Tahnee only has half a can in water as she is sensitive to sugar.
I know also from other blogs etc. that Harry Maine whilst sponsored by Monster never actually drank any and just had water in the bottle etc.

Apart from sponsoring (and sometimes messing up – DH running order etc..) some big events what value do they bring?

They’ve been described as a marketing company that just happens to make fizzy juice.

Could add that Tahnee is possibly more of a golden goose to them than Brook is?…

If it wasn’t for redbull we would not have DH coverage, Rampage coverage and the two F1 teams. Mind you when I used to drink energy drinks it was always Monster for me.

I think we need a bit more info.

Clearly Tahnee seems to have had a good experience, whereas Brook seems to be on his own.
Do they have different contracts ?
Is one of them subcontracting their services to the team who are a RB team ?
Makken does not actually explain why he has had enough of them.
Is it the teams responsiblity to provide support and cover to its riders ?
Do those riders work for the team, or are they subcontractors / suppliers ?
I know (think) British Cycling has been found to not “employ” its riders, so this lets them off the hook with how responsible they have to be.

Sure, it seems wrong for a sugary caffinated drink to promote sports, but where would those sports be without the coverage. Most would still be nich sports with no coverage.

More clarity would help us form a proper opinion.

It would also be interesting to see how many of their riders actually drink Red Bull – interesting that Tahnee only has half a can in water as she is sensitive to sugar.

or she’s just sensitive to trying to exercise with fizzy, sugary, crap in her stomach but can’t say as much in an interview.

A sponsored rider will not complain about their sponsor and will probably have signed a contract to that effect.

Seems opposite to Brook McDonald who had to seemingly sort out his insurance and get a crowd fund going to help with rehab costs.

Rehab is paid for by the NZ government under its Accident Compensation scheme, irrespective of where in the world it happened. The crowdfunding was to “help Brook and Lucy with rehabilitation back home, transport and financial support for Lucy as she will be looking after Brook.”

Don’t forget Brook was receiving specialist treatment in hospital in Christchurch, not in his home town.

Although things aren’t totally clear about who, somebody paid the hospital bills in Canada and repatriation costs. It’s unfair to suggest that Red Bull didn’t play their part without any evidence.

I don’t know the details for either case of Tahnee and Brook but I would say they are 2 different circumstances.

From what I have read Tahnee has used Red Bull UK’s facilities which enhanced her rehab.

Brooks circumstance was very different and from his insta posts red bull have helped but I guess like all great things this is limited and do Red Bull New Zealand have the same facilities as the UK? I think Brooks go fund me page was to fund his girlfriend leaving her job to support his recovery which is something Tahnee didn’t require.

Energy drinks are the big sponsors of today just like tobacco was 20years ago.

Two products that are 100% marketing.

or she’s just sensitive to trying to exercise with fizzy, sugary, crap in her stomach but can’t say as much in an interview.

I’m fairly sure the F1 cars have petrol in the tanks not fizzy pop too.

As a product, mehhh, no more or less an acquired taste than coffee, and similar levels of stimulants. I’ve usually got a few cans of a generic equivalent in the car to rescue me on those day when I’m really not on form and don’t fancy/have access to a coffee.

Always found it curious that they can make enough money to sponsor all these niche sports and 2 F1 teams from selling a low value product with a tonne of competitors. Obviously I am underestimating how much Red Bull is sold in the world.

I’m fairly sure the F1 cars have petrol in the tanks not fizzy pop too.

Que? Nobody has ever claimed the cars run on Red Bull (funnily enough) whereas Tahnee is saying she drinks it while training.

Your quote from Makken doesn’t suggest any problem with the package Red bull offer, just he doesn’t like the company. I’m not sure how that’s relevant to Seagrave or McDonald’s cases?

I think Makken is pretty clear – he doesn’t like the product personally and doesn’t seem to like promoting it to kids.

He might have principles, he might be using it to get publicity for whatever he does next

Always found it curious that they can make enough money to sponsor all these niche sports and 2 F1 teams from selling a low value product with a tonne of competitors. Obviously I am underestimating how much Red Bull is sold in the world.

It’s a huge market, the stuff costs pennies a unit to make and with even the likes of Monster moving on on their turf RB make a LOT of money, they’re a private company so don’t produce accounts as such, but they sold 7bn cans in 2018 and had a turn-over of around €4bn.

If they follow the same typical costs of most canned drinks (Coke / Pepsi etc) then it will only cost 5%-8% of the wholesale price to produce the drink. They do better than Coke and Pepsi on packaging and transport because they sell at a higher price for a smaller / lighter can so packaging and transport might only be another 12.5%

They spend 20%-25% of their TURNOVER on marketing so that’s could be as much as €1bn a year. They seem to have stayed away from the sort of Sports Stars that command massive deals in favour of more fringe, ‘action sports’ cooler stars. It might have cost Gatoraide $20m a year to sponsor Tiger Woods in his heyday, but €1bn a year pays for a LOT of Seagraves and McDonalds.

I wouldn’t be surprised if RedBull racing wasn’t largely self-funding these days, it would certainly be cheaper to own a team and top up what they don’t generate in prize money and sponsorship than pay to be their title sponsor now.

Don’t mistake low value product with low margin. RB is mostly water, a little sugar, colour, flavour, cafine etc. It costs pennies to make, yet sells for £1 or more. Easy money if you convince people to buy it.

As for Seagrave and McDonald.

I would imagine it comes down to what deal they or their management struck with RB, rather than they like Seagrave more than McDonald, maybe Tahnee wanted an deal which came with a lot of support, maybe Brook wanted more money, who knows. I certainly remember from watching ‘The Atherton Project’ back in the day that ‘Conehead’ the injury trainer / physio guy was employed by RedBull to fix up broken sponsored athletes.

It’s not that I don’t feel for Brook McDonald, of course I do, but he’d be mad to do what he does, especially the way he rides without the correct insurance. I don’t know, maybe there’s exclusions for pros, but at a quick look Dogtag will sell me an annual Travel Insurance policy which includes competitive DH racing for less than £300 a year, maybe RB just did him dirty for whatever reason, but to me, I’d bet the situation he found himself in post-crash was avoidable, he just chose not to.

The drink is garbage, I think most adults know that, sadly they seem to push a lot to kids. I believe that the whole Caffeine industry will be seen in the same way as the tobacco industry in years to come, after-all it doesn’t matter if you’re selling Pop to kids or Coffee to adults, it’s addictive and sold at huge margins to addicts for huge profits, it just doesn’t kill it’s customers, which it a bonus to them.

Interesting to read this, I’ve been wondering how Redbull’s business model works. Since I don’t drink the stuff I think of them more of a content creator that sells fizz. I get that it’s ultimately all about flogging the product but there must be a significantly larger proportion of their income that goes on all the video and event content compared to plain old advertising for the average drinks company?

I stayed in a chalet in Morzine with a handful of Red Bull athletes a while ago. They said Red Bull wanted to drop the women’s DH race from the live feed. Apparently it was a well known, badly kept industry secret at the time.

This was a couple of seasons ago and it hasn’t happened yet.

Give the teenagers what they want. Let them all drink Redbull so I can carrying on watching events.

In his autobiography, Danny MacAskill talks about how much RB helped with repair and rehab after he broke himself.

Interesting to read this, I’ve been wondering how Redbull’s business model works. Since I don’t drink the stuff I think of them more of a content creator that sells fizz. I get that it’s ultimately all about flogging the product but there must be a significantly larger proportion of their income that goes on all the video and event content compared to plain old advertising for the average drinks company?

Its how they differentiate themselves from Coke who were/are the model for ‘style over substance’ sales.

Basically you can sell 6p’s worth of pop in a 8p can for £1 if you spend 20p a can on marketing.

Coke spend that money traditionally, the sponsor people with broad appeal, they advertise on TV / Radio, Billboards and of course online to build brand awareness. (the addictive nature of their products doesn’t hurt either).

The ‘big thing’ in Advertising in the last few decades have been making your ads look like entertainment, traditional ads don’t work so well anymore, you can’t just have a well groomed man or women holding your product staring down the camera saying “buy this, it’s great” we’re all wise to it.

So at first you got things like the Guinness adverts with the surfer, Dairy Milk with the Gorilla etc. Give the people 30 seconds of entertainment and they’ve happily be glued to your brand message at the end.

RB and other take it further, it’s cheaper for them to sponsor thousands of Tahnee Segaraves and the like, all producing SM output daily to their 300k followers, than paying Cristiano Ronaldo millions for a single SM post or sponsoring events like Rampage and the WC series, it won’t reach the same audience as a 30 second add in the middle of Corrie, but the audience is far more engaged.

I can image that Redbull had cult status before it become mainstream. Redbull still advertise on TV with their cartoon ads that must be cheap too make but expensive to air. They must have one of the most widely recognised brands worldwide .

Redbull still advertise on TV with their cartoon ads

Those ads are terrible. I’ve always thought they clash really badly with the rest of the ‘too cool for school’ output.

Basically you can sell 6p’s worth of pop in a 8p can for £1 if you spend 20p a can on marketing.

I just wish I’d thought of it.

trumpton

Member

I can image that Redbull had cult status before it become mainstream.

Yup, amongst the great number of people mixing it with vodka

They must have one of the most widely recognised brands worldwide .

^^This^^

And although they sponsor lots of different athletes they don’t tend towards many mainstream sports (excluding F1 maybe?) so I doubt the actual “per-athlete” cost is that high compared with TV and print advertising, each of those niche athletes will have their insta and FB followers, plus appearing in other photos and footage wearing a lid in RB colours…

Do people really believe that people sponsored by red bull love to drink the stuff?

Of course they sip some from a can on the finish line in front of the camera but doesn’t mean they drink it off camera

Does anyone remember them handing out crates of the stuff for free back in the day at Mountain Mayhem, Sandwell Park?

Do people really believe that people sponsored by red bull love to drink the stuff?

Of course they sip some from a can on the finish line in front of the camera but doesn’t mean they drink it off camera

I reckon some people do but with a lot of sports where the person sponsored is on camera before or after an event opening a can you can tell it’s purely an advertising exercise because they have to and most of them look like they cant wait to bin it once they’re off camera!

I’ve consumed a fair bit of it but mostly with vodka on a night out than for any sporting reasons 😛

A friends wife used to work for one of the other energy drink companies (Think green M logo) in their PR/promotions dept.
She brought a case of ‘athlete issue’ cans over to ours once, they were sealed cans that were ostensibly the same as the retail ones except they had bigger logos, placed higher up the cam so that they were harder to obscure with the hand and were filled with sparkling water…

Does anyone remember them handing out crates of the stuff for free back in the day at Mountain Mayhem, Sandwell Park?

I did Red Bull Time Laps at the weekend just gone. Couldn’t move for the free red bull. Fridges, stands etc everywhere. Having said that, at 1am in the morning when you have to ride 24 miles at race pace, it becomes quite attractive!

She brought a case of ‘athlete issue’ cans over to ours once, they were sealed cans that were ostensibly the same as the retail ones except they had bigger logos, placed higher up the cam so that they were harder to obscure with the hand and were filled with sparkling water

Yeah, I’ve had some of them. Fell off the back of a lorry in South Yorkshire.

“Do people really believe that people sponsored by red bull love to drink the stuff?”

Is that actually a question……of course they do.

The world is a big place and red bull is sold all over it. Have you ever been to mid town USA, urban China or rural Poland? The level of ‘smarts’ is very different to most of the UK. I say smarts because its not just about intelligence. there are plenty of kids/adults in these places that believe literally everything they are told online as its pretty much the only conduit to the outside world they have – they don’t read Guardian’s long story very much or flick through copies of the Economist or even watch BBC news which whilst we might complain about it, is straight as a die compared to news channels in the states or Russia. I don’t mean this to sound condescending -its just about the level and type of info you are exposed to as well as the type of life your community leads.

FFS half this country have been groomed into voting for economic self destruction by a slick advertising campaign so its not too difficult to sell a few cans of fizzy shite

So … to weigh in with some second hand information. I bumped into Brook’s Auntie and Uncle up at Fort William this year and they were saying how amazing Red Bull had been to him during his previous injury period. Things like setting him up with cryo treatment, flying him off to specialists, loads of stuff.

Now, obviously he is having a different experience with his latest injury but it sure sounded like he was getting pretty good support before.

That said, it was second hand and not from the man himself but it does appear that Red Bull do support they folk they sponsor far more than a normal employer would do.

Exploit them. Pressure them to perform outside of their safety/comfort zone.

Way way back in the day…I think 1996 or 97 National Champs was in jeopardy of being cancelled as the main sponsor (7up) pulled out. RB stepped in with a load of cash and free cans. The event went ahead. They got my respect for that and still have it.

Now we have the DH/XC coverage, rampage, fox hunt, hardline etc etc. They iz awesums

didn’t Red Bull step up in teh same way each time the Athertons spannered themselves including when Dan broke his neck and was not even sponsored by them?

It is in their best interests to have their human billboards out there representing the company rather than at home recuperating at a potentially slower rate. I also suspect that each Red bull athletes level or sponsorship and care differs from the next which probably has a bearing on things.

And although they sponsor lots of different athletes they don’t tend towards many mainstream sports (excluding F1 maybe?)

Football? They own ( not sponsor) three football teams RB Salzburg, RB NY and RB Leipzig. Maybe not on the scale of money pit of the EPL but judging by what they have done here in Leipzig they have invested millions and millions ( they have the most advanced training Centre in Germany which cost over 30 million), they bought the stadium they play in and the wages of their Bundesliga stars.