Red Bull

Red Bull was one of the fastest growing brands in 2007 with sales up by 22.5% to £170.4m.

The performance catapulted it eight places up the Top 100 league and put Red Bull into the top 30 as the 27th biggest grocery brand.

The growth is even more impressive set against the backdrop of the total soft drinks market, where the exceptionally poor summer stunted sales growth to around 3%.

“We had a fantastic year,” says Caroline Jacomb, Red Bull channel marketing manager.

Even more so given Red Bull is not a top 100 debutante, it launched in the UK 12 years ago.

But, while you don't often see that level of growth continuing, Red Bull was one of the most active brands in the marketplace last year.

It invested £24m in a marketing campaign and it translated into sales. Nowhere was that more apparent than with the Air Race in July over the River Thames in London.

“It was a spectacular event and something that nobody thought would be possible,” says Jacomb.

Amazingly, Red Bull reports it sold 32.5m cans in July, not because it was a hot month, but as a direct result of the Air Race.

“You dream of making a second Christmas and the Air Race provided that level,” says Jacomb.

The launch of a larger, 355ml can in January 2007 was another driver, meeting the needs of the heavier Red Bull consumer.

According to latest Nielsen data, the big can was the most successful sports and energy launch of the year and is now one of the top selling skus in impulse.

Additionally, Red Bull 250ml has overtaken Coca-Cola to become the number one sku in impulse by value.

Red Bull is looking to build on that growth in 2008. It is investing £25.3m in the brand with a new event calendar on the cards.

Jacomb reveals it will include the return of the Red Bull Flugtag (German for flying day – Ed) on 7 June in Hyde Park, where teams make home-made flying machines to launch off a pier into the Serpentine. They are judged on how far they can fly, the creativity of the plane and reactions of the crowd.

The last time the Flugtag was held in 2003 some 250,000 showed up and the event was televised.

“It certainly appeals to the English slapstick sense of humour,” says Jacomb.

The Air Race World Series, already dubbed the Formula One of the skies, will also continue at “spectacular locations around the world” and will be televised too.

According to Jacomb, the 'sport' provides the perfect fit with the energy drink. “The key benefits of Red Bull are concentration and reaction speeds and the pilots demand that like no other,” she says.

TV advertising will be pretty continuous for the brand too – 43 weeks out of 52 –and Jacomb reports there will be extra activity on the sugar free variant with a scheduled £1m spend on marketing.

Currently, one in five Red Bull purchases are sugar free and awareness is still relatively low.

“There's a massive opportunity there for people wanting an energy boost but without the sugar,” says Jacomb.

And, as Red Bull already knows, the sky is no longer the limit.

2007 £170.4m
2006 £139.2m
yoy change 22.5%