Visit: Red Bull

How does the company plan to prolong its product's lifespan?

In November 2004, it became clear how Mateschitz intended to extend the 'natural' lifecycle of his groundbreaking product. For years, the firm has sponsored sports that fit well with Red Bull's image as unconventional and edgy: windsurfing and hang-gliding being two examples. So there was a certain caution among industry watchers when Ford announced that it was selling its Jaguar Formula One team to Red Bull.

Image: David Coulthard Formula One testing for Red Bull in Valencia, Spain, January 2005. Copyright: Sutton Images, reproduced by kind permission of Red Bull

The dangers of motor sport seems to match Red Bull's image, just as its sponsorship of extreme sports such as rock climbing helped to enhance the firm's reputation among its target consumers. But there are huge sums of money involved in running an F1 team and some in the industry questioned the wisdom of Mateschitz's plan.

It is possible that as Red Bull's core market matures, the company needs to broaden its appeal to these mid-20 to 30 year olds, whilst retaining its appeal amongst 16-24s. Vodka and Red Bull is still the most popular alcoholic drink amongst young people, but we will have to wait to see if the firm's attempts to reach out to more consumers works.

| Index | Previous Question | Next Question |