Consider the following: Red Bull started life as a truck drivers’ pick me up in Thailand called Krating Daeng, which translates as ‘Red Bull’ in English. Based on market share, it is the most popular energy drink in the world. Nowadays in Europe when served with Vodka it is seen as a very trendy drink. Red Bull was initially developed in Thailand, and the rights were then bought by Austrian born Dietrich Mateschitz to market it worldwide excluding Thailand. Thailand continued producing its own brand which has a different formulae and marketing plan to the non-Thailand version.
The internationalisation strategy of Red Bull was to open up new markets by securing unusual distribution channels. In the USA a Red Bull sales rep would contact a small distributor to persuade them to sell Red Bull. If they did not persuade anyone they would set up a warehouse and hired younger people to load up the vans and deliver the product. These start-up distributors could focus their entire energies on getting Red Bull fully stocked in stores with prominent shelf placement. In Europe the was built through clever repackaging and by developing a niche marketing strategy for the drink as a trendy vodka mixer to the club circuit in Europe. The sales team visited key on-premise account: hot clubs and trendy bars to establish distribution. When owners began buying a few cases, they would receive a Red Bull branded cooler and other attractive point of purchase items. Last year, Red share stood at 43 percent , with company sales being reportedly in the region of $1.3 billion dollars.
Question
In your response, what are the key lessons managers can learn from the building of Red Bull as a worldwide brand ? (6 marks)
