How content power gave wings to Red Bull

Launched in 1987, Austrian energy drink Red Bull is giving a stiff competition to its rivals by setting high standards in content creation, distribution and content collaborations across the world.

Standing as the best example of a brand becoming a publisher and winning the consumer's hearts through content, Red Bull officially formalised its content division with the launch of the Red Bull Media House, 20 years after it came into existence. The company website says, "Red Bull Media House is a multi-platform media company on a mission to inspire with 'beyond the ordinary' stories — both direct-to-consumer and through partnerships."

Red Bull Media House offers content ranging from premium media products spread across TV, mobile, digital, audio and print. In a nutshell, RBMH produces and licenses over 1,250 events in cultures and sports every year, across 100+ disciplines in more than 160 countries by partnering with over 700 athletes and many artists.

The brand is present across content formats be OTT platform Red Bull TV, Austrian TV network ServusTV, print magazine The Red Bulletin, production company Terra Mater Factual Studios and content library for third-party media organisations, Red Bull Content Pool.

The brand creates content around themes that give motivation, a buoyancy force and ideas to follow their interests and passion points adhering to the brand's ethos and tagline 'Red Bull gives you wings'. The jaw-dropping moments they capture in their videos complement the brand propositioning that nothing is impossible when one drinks Red Bull as it gives energy. Images of its famous can, however, are almost always nowhere to be found.

Red Bull is no more just an energy drink, but a content powerhouse with concerts such as Red Bull Sound Select, owning a virtual reality platform and forging partnerships with Shutterstock and Reuters to strengthen itself editorially.

When it comes to the brand's Indian content strategy, it has left no stone unturned to appeal to the youth as a 'Desi' (Indian) and 'Swagger' (Cool) brand. Red Bull understands that to be relatable to the Indian audience, it has to localise its content to suit the taste of its Indian audience.

For the Indian audience, the brand has collaborated with Supari Studios to produce some great content pieces such as Story Behind The Song, which is a series that narrates the story behind the making of a song. The first episode covered the song 'Udd Gaye' by Ritviz and the second episode was on 'Machayenge' by Emiway. The other one is The Mind Behind — a three-episode documentary series that delves deep into the minds of Indian artists and athletes Emiway Bantai, Chef Zac from The Bombay Canteen and CS Santosh, and explores how they react to extraordinary situations unique to their profession.

Some other pieces of content initiatives in India are '" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Once Upon An Idea’, a six-episode series where the Red Bull team interacted with about 50 start-ups across India, bringing about change. Each film captures unique stories of six of these changemakers, and how they turned their ideas into projects that have changed the lives of people in their communities and beyond. Another one is " target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gully Life: The Story of Divine — A documentary on Vivian Fernandes, aka Divine becoming a pioneer of desi hip-hop chronicles and his rag to riches story and others.

On the sports content front in India, the brand has partnered with quite a few athletes like Mira Erda in single-seater racing, Srikanth Kidambi in Badminton, Smriti Mandhana and KL Rahul in cricket, Tania Sachdev in chess, CS Santosh in Supercross and others.

One can't fathom the amount of content the brand produces, but it has made sure that it never sells its products in it. It takes a lot of courage not to mention the brand name or do product placements in owned media. Even posed with the fierce competition with rival brands, it never believed in traditional TV ads and has always relied on creating good content wherever its audience is present.

Red Bull is known to create non-fictional content in the field of extreme sports and cultures of the world. One of its most popular videos was 'Supersonic Freefall', in which the Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner jumped from a helium stratosphere to become the first human to break the sound barrier without the help of an engine.

Red Bull Media House doesn't only produce content for itself, but also for other brands if they wish to collaborate with them. Some of the brands that have partnered with RBMH for branded content in the past are Hyundai, Intel, Jeep and Tag Heuer.

To sum up, for Red Bull, branding is essential. It doesn't talk about the product or place the blue and silver can in content, but makes sure that the brand's presence is felt through either logo placement or content matching the brand ethos. They partner with the right content creators, platforms, events and athletes who act as large content distribution, creation networks and influencers. The most crucial factor that has worked for the brand is its sincere belief in the power of content marketing and the risk involved in doing content across extreme genres targeting the youth.