CASE STUDY: RED BULL

Abhinav Vashistha

3062, TY-B

1. How will you characterize Red Bulls overall global marketing strategy
(global, glocal or local)?
- Red Bull’s overall global marketing strategy is kind of glocal because on the Global
level, Red Bull distinguishes itself from a lot of the beverage market by only offering
their product in one size, 8.3 ounce or 250ml cans, which is smaller than typical soft
drink. The cans are small, sleek vessels with distinctive printing with more of blue
and silver color with the bull’s logo on it, which have been more of described as the
‘European’ styling. With the exception of warning labels, the can design does not
vary from country to country unlike other beverages and which further helps in
uniformity in the marketing of the product. It also only offers two variants worldwide
i.e. Original and Sugar-free which are same through all the countries. Seeing locally
Red bull targets the small distributors instead of targeting largest distributors who
have larger reach. And further these distributors become the exclusively Red Bull
distributor. Apart from this Company also goes to hire the teenager’s or college
students and giving them vans for distributing and marketing the product. These
students were given the post of student Brand Manager. Initially Red Bull gave its
energy drinks for free to the pubs and clubs only for the promotion even before the
launch of the product.

2. Red Bull is available in large cities in India across supermarkets, restaurants

and bars. Evaluate the opportunities for market expansion in India.

- The growth strategies that seem to offer the most likely opportunities  for  Red
Bull’s
future are their expansion  into  less  extreme  sports  and  the  femalepopulation
 . Because Red Bull is an energy drink, most consumers think that  its
primary purpose is to boost the energy of
those who are hammering it out on  thefield, court, or wherever the action may b
e. 
However, Red Bull can be used as  asimple pick me up when you’re feeling tired o
r just worn  out.  This can occurmostly in the work environment. By carrying a ca
n of Red Bull, you can  boostyour energy level when it seems you’re not going to 
make it through  the  shift.Similarly, Red Bull’s initial target was not towards wo
men. Currently, Red Bull working on expanding their product to women who, just 
like men, can enjoy theboost Red Bull gives you. With
the expansion of their target market, along  with
new advertising techniques, Red Bull can better promote their product  and  keep
up with the competition.

3. Which changes would you suggest for Red bull’s future global marketing
mix, in order to meet the future challenges?

- Current price of the product is really very high as compared to the market. Change in
the pricing strategy would be better as the price compared to the other competitors
is three times higher. Lowering the prices will attract more consumers. The pricing of
the product should be reconsidered without effecting or compromising on the quality
of the product.
And under current marketing strategy, the distribution channel should be changed to
the large distributers instead of taking the smaller ones. Hiring the larger distributors
will take the product to the large masses as there are lot of untapped places where
the product has low or almost no reach. This change can help the product with great
recognition and higher sales. Also by introducing more television commercials will
benefit the product as more population nowadays is on television and internet. Red
Bull is one beverage which has only two variants- Original and Sugar-free. By getting
in more flavors into the market like cola or orange with the same energy boosting
power will really take the brand flying high.

4. Argue for the most relevant segmentation (screening) criteria to be used in

the International Market Selection (IMS) process.

- The most relevant segmentation or screening criteria to be used in the IMS process
for Red Bull would be Psychographic Segmentation. Psychographic segmentation
groups customers according to their lifestyle. Activities, interests, and opinions (AIO)
surveys are one tool for measuring lifestyle. As Red Bull is a Energy Drink and helps
in revitalizing human bodies and the pricing of the product is three times the normal
aerated soft drinks available in the market so it would be suitable for the people with
good lifestyle. In countries where people have good lifestyle and are more kind of
workaholic needs a drink to boost their energy up to work till late.
Red Bull can be used as
simple pick me up when you’re feeling tired or just worn  out.