Jeffery Dou
Jingda Whatley
Scholastic Essay Contest
11 October 2021
Red Bull: The Rise
When the subject of energy drinks is brought up, Red Bull is always one of the first drinks brought up. The company employs over 10,000 people and sells more than 7 billion cans across 171 countries. But how did this happen? How exactly did Red Bull rise from regional pharmaceutical drink to one of the largest and most recognizable brands in the world?
Red Bull’s history originally began in Thailand in the early 1970s, when a pharmacist named Chaleo Yoovidhya developed a tonic that would provide much needed energy among working class people, such as truck drivers or factory workers, as their shifts stretched deep into the night. He would call it Krating Daeng, Thai for red gaur or red bull. The drink was relatively a success in Thailand, popular amongst the nation’s blue collar workers. But when an Austrian marketing executive named Dietrich Mateschitz discovered the drink was able to cure his jet lag, Krating Daeng would never be the same.
Mateschitz would eventually reach out to Yoovidhya, and the two would start Red Bull Gmbh in 1984, with the two owning an equivalent 49 percent of the company, the rest going to Yoovidhya’s son. During this period, Yoovidhya’s original formula was altered to cater to a more European and American audience. The new formula had less sugar and more caffeine, plus a new addition in carbonation. Lastly, the container for the drink was changed from the more medicinal glass bottle to the now iconic slender can.
Red Bull would first enter the Western market through Mateschitz’s home country of Austria in 1987, and the product was a hit, selling a million cans in their first year alone. By 1996, the drink was introduced to the United Kingdom, followed by the United States a year later. In the states, the drink was largely marketed to a more white-collar market, compared to the lower class popularity of Krating Daeng. By the end of the millennium, Red Bull was selling more than 600 million cans from about 50 countries, and led both the United States and United Kingdom in energy drink sales.
This massive and meteoric success can partially be accredited to a marketing campaign that largely appealed to fun-loving youth. This was done by sponsoring athletes and events of more extreme sports, starting back in the 1980s, with Red Bull sponsoring the Dolomitenmann, an exhaustive relay race that includes running, paragliding, mountain biking and kayaking, and Gerhard Berger, an Austrian Formula One driver. By the late 1990s, this strategy had grown into the sponsorship of multiple athletes, events and teams of a variety of sports, varying from F1 with Sauber to windsurfing legends Robby Naish and Björn Dunkerbeck. Also during this period, Red Bull were marketing to clubbers, who used the drink that glowed green under nightclub lights as not only an endurance booster after the exhaustion of working, but also as an alcohol mixer for drinks like vodka. Red Bull targeted this market by creating the Red Bull Music Academy, a month long school for DJs, in 1998.
By the early 2000s, the popularity of Red Bull was higher than ever, with the company valued at over 11 billion dollars, making it the most valuable company in Austria. The massive success of Red Bull meant drink giants such as Anheuser-Busch and Coca-Cola were creating energy drinks of their own to counter the only growing energy drink market. Rivals such as Monster Energy and Rockstar were beginning to pop up, trying to take control in an extremely popular and profitable market. But Red Bull still remained the dominant force in energy drinks, with the release of new variations, such as a sugar free version in 2003.
Red Bull still remains the kings of the energy drink. From their invention, Mateschitz and Yoovidhya would become some of the richest men in the world, with Mateschitz gaining a net worth of over 24 billion dollars. Yoovidhya had a net worth of about 5 billion, before his passing in 2012 due to natural causes at the age of 80. The drink he created built a business empire that would sell over 75 billion cans since its first release on April 1st, 1987. From that day, Red Bull has become more than just a drink company. They now operate and manage multiple events and teams, such as Red Bull Racing in Formula 1 or RB Leipzig of the German soccer league, the Bundesliga. Red Bull has transformed itself from a Thai energy tonic to a truly global brand.
Citations
“Red Bull.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, https://www.forbes.com/companies/red-bull/?sh=28e26c0a61ce.
“Red Bull GmbH.” FundingUniverse, https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/red-bull-gmbh-history/.
Hitt, Caitlyn. “Red Bull, Four Loko, and 5 Hour Energy: The History of Energy Drinks.” Thrillist, 12 July 2021, https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/history-of-energy-drinks.
“Red Bull Energy Drink :: Energy Drink :: Red Bull Us.” Red Bull Energy Drink :: Energy Drink :: Red Bull US, https://www.redbull.com/us-en/energydrink/company-highlights.
“Chaleo Yoovidhya Obituary (2012) the Santa Clarita Valley Signal.” Legacy.com, 17 Mar. 2012, https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/signalscv/name/chaleo-yoovidhya-obituary?pid=156526744.