Red Bull Maketing Plan free essay sample

Red Bull is an energy drink found by Dietrich Mateschitz in Austria in 1984 and began to sell there in 1987 with special marketing strategy, which opened up a new product category in the world in the meantime. Red Bull now contains four types including the original Red Bull energy drink and the other one of sugar-free, the Red Bull energy shot and Red Bull Cola. With increasing demands of Red Bull, it soon expanded to more regions leading to more than 162 nowadays. In Hong Kong, Red Bull energy drink has been available since 1999. Red Bull believes its unique marketing concept can conquer the world. This marketing plan outlines the Company marketing strategies as follows. (10) 3. Strategic Focus and Plan Three aspects of corporate strategy that affect the marketing plan are: i) the mission, ii) goals, and iii) core competency of Red Bull. Mission The mission of Red Bull is to be a premier marketer that its products are distributed across the world (Europe, US and Asia). We will write a custom essay sample on Red Bull Maketing Plan or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Hong Kong is the stepping-stone to China helping achieve the mission. Goals (1) * To be the leading position in selling functional beverages in Hong Kong * To rebuild customer relationship Core Competency and Sustainable Competitive Advantage In terms of core competency, Red Bull has its well-known sports team and unique appealing wings team as promotion strategies which already gave an impressive image to the public and its slogan is also well-known. Furthermore, the scientific reports of functions about consuming Red Bull. Among unfavourable factors, the main weakness is the high price in selling the product. Threats include the great health concern by the public when they consume Red Bull energy drinks that may lead to easier shift of other brands. Industrial Analysis: Trends(9, 10) There are statistics showing the increasing consumption of functional drinks. For instance, Otsuka Pharmaceutical was the leadership of Sport and Energy Drinks with 46% off-trade volume share in 2010 which implied an increase from 2009 Competitors in the energy drink market. Competitors in functional drinks market (6) The main competitors of functional beverage sellers in Hong Kong are Pocari Sweat (38%), Lucozade (35%), Red Bull (18%) and Lipovitan D (less than 9%) Company Analysis Dietrich Mateschitz has been advised by the highly groups of a marketing firm which created the buzz marketing plan, an unique marketing strategy of driving mini-coopers to give samples to target nightclubs and students. This has been proven to success that encourage them to give out a try the awareness of many college students (4). This is not only cost effective but earns the appeal from the people around. Since 1987, the Company has been the sole supplier of the Red Bull energy drinks with which it helps maintain the consistency of high quality required. Moreover, the great volume (with 4. 2 billions consumed world-wide in 2010) has increased production efficiencies, leading to a gradual decrease in the cost of goods sold. (10) Customer Analysis Referring to customer analysis, the following part portrays (1) the characteristics of customers expected to buy Red Bull drinks and (2) health and nutrition concerns of the general public. Customer characteristics. The major target groups are mainly youngsters and re categorized into sportsman, students, workers, drivers, and people who enjoy nightlife with age from 15 -39. Health and Nutrition Concerns. Basically, Hong Kong people are very cautious about the type of food and drinks they have. From time to time, there were news about drinks of high calories reported in news TV and magazine etc. For instance, Yakult has been accused of containing too much sugar which forced the Company to offer a low-caloric Yahult. (7) Having seen this trend, Red Bull developed a sugar-free version to cater the general public in 2003 with other ingredients being constant. This especially attracts female customers to buy the drinks. 5. Market-product Focus The following describes the five-year product marketing strategies: Marketing and Product Objectives The marketing objective of Red Bull is to distribute the drinks across the world so as to be the premier marketer. * Western markets: current market will continue to be grown by maintaining brand awareness through organizing various extreme sports and fulfilling consumer need such as creating a different formula for taste like Red Bull Cola in 2008. Asian market: current Asian market will be further developed by opening up more markets in different regions and rebuilding the company image in the developed region as well. The ultimate goal is to become the premier marketer of functional beverage within 5 years. Target Market Generally, the target groups of consuming functional drinks should be youngsters aged from 15 to 35 years-old, in particular, people enjoy extreme sports, active nightlife and lifestyles. Indeed, Red Bull has differentiated the market into five groups including drivers, students, people who work in office or go out at day and night as well as playing sports (4). Points of Difference The point of difference of Red Bull to make it become the world No. 1 energy drink and differentiate with other competitors are: * The pioneer of functional drink that makes consumer feel premier and confident. * Being scientifically proved that the energy drink can really increase concentration and reaction speed, and result in increasing performance. * By owning sport teams and organizing events as part of advertising and promotion, Red Bull portrays a scene that drinking a can of Red Bull will contribute to top performance during contests. Positioning Red Bull has a very clear and unique position of Product: it appeals to different high-energy consumption groups that five groups (sports, clubbing, workers, students and drivers) as mentioned before are positioned, in particular, the youngsters aged from 15 to 39 within which 15-29 is the core target customers. Five main functions are also highlighted in consumers’ mind: increase performance, concentration and reaction speed, enhance vigilance and metabolism.