Red Bull: How High are they Flying?
‘Red Bull gives you wiiings,’ once a marketing slogan aimed at enticing customers, has now become a movement synonymous with Red Bull’s social media platforms.
Soaring High or Flying Low?
Beyond quenching thirsts of 33 million people daily, Red Bull creates captivating content across its YouTube and Instagram pages, reaching over 35 million individuals from these two outlets combined. But with only 1.9 million followers on X and less than 250 comments on each post in the last 4 months, we must ask why is this supergiant of energy drinks so successful in some areas of social media and struggling in others?
More than an Energy Drink
Red Bull’s Youtube channel does not conventionally advertise their energy drink, but pushes the message that ‘Red Bull gives you wiiings’ through jaw-dropping content. From flying a plane through a tunnel, to free-falling from space, Red Bull creates content that embodies adventure earning them an unparamounted online presence.
With these videos amassing millions of views, their goal seems to have worked. As each video is plastered in Red Bull logos, the public builds familiarity with their brand and message. One study concluded, familiarity with a certain brand increases your chances of purchasing by 65%, emphasising the potential for Red Bull’s strategy.
Adrenaline Entertainment
Similarly, Red Bull’s message is demonstrated through their Instagram posts of competitions, such as annual the ‘Flugtag’ videos. Here individuals with gliders take off of a 30ft pier, with questions throughout the video asking ‘Are you brave enough to build? Are you brave enough to fly?
This content symbolises competitiveness and excitement of Red Bull’s slogan, as they appeal to the audience of fun adrenaline junkie. This engages the same demographic as their Youtube videos, creating unity between these platforms and solidifying Red Bull as the staple energy drink.
Lifeless Posts
However, this marketing prowess hasn’t carried over to mainstream X. Other than their logo and slogan you’d be forgiven for thinking it is a completely different organisation.
Their audience of adrenaline junkies have little engagement with questions such as ‘tell us the coolest place you’ve drank a Red Bull’. Can you blame them? The message has gone, the daredevil stunts have swapped from engaging their audience, to questions synonymous with a digital survey.
So how can Red Bull’s X soar to the heights of their other platforms? Well, Red Bull’s social media brand is based around stimulating imagery and thrilling competition, and text alone cannot match this. To engage the same demographic they should take snippets and tease upcoming stunts asking their community if they can guess what’s coming next. This would increase comments and hype around these events.
How High can Red Bull Go?
Overall, Red Bull has demonstrated extreme engagement through both their Instagram and YouTube. But to reach unprecedented heights they need to make their X profile more appealing to the same community as their other social media platforms. This would create a unity between their YouTube, Instagram and X allowing Red Bull to fly as high as their wings can take them.
