We know energy drink “Red Bull” is a globally recognized brand with a very simple product line i.e. normal and sugar free energy drinks in four can sizes. Originally called “Krating Daeng” or “Red Bull” in English, sold in Thailand being popular with truck drivers and laborers. So the product story is quite impressive but most would agree that there are many such stories told in the world today. Many stories of products that have done a pretty fine job of identifying their target market and then applying every marketing principle and innovation available to ensure they drive demand for a global product. Today the sports world is where they have built a tremendous amount of id
entity and brand awareness. They are involved in motor sport, biking, surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding adventure, games and music. Champion athletes wear the Red Bull brand every day and you will see the famous logo at many events throughout the year.
You are by now wondering what I am on about? Well it is this…. What in the world has the Red Bull organization done to be so dam good at what they do outside of their core business – making and selling a very simple product range of energy drink. Being a Formula 1 (F1) fan (proudly Ferrari from 1978) and follower for many years now I will use this sport as an example of the point I’m making or more specifically the question I’m asking.
Infiniti Red Bull Racing (IRBR) was started in November 2004 after purchasing the F1 team of Jaguar Racing (Ford Motor Co. owned). The Jaguar team, powered by Ford engines, was at the end of an unsuccessful bid in the F1 championship and apart from some pretty basic structures the IRBR team had very little to go with, not even a successful legacy from the motor companies that ran the original team. Here’s the thing – within 4 years (a very short time frame in F1) IRBR were the runner up team in the F1 championship and thereafter won the team championship for 4 consecutive years. This is an untold story in sports never mind the ridiculously competitive and corrupt world of Formula 1 racing.
This is what they had to do:
– Put a top notch team structure together.
– Find some funding and marketing partners.
– Employ the best talent the sport had to offer (away from the iconic teams like Ferrari, McLaren etc).
– Partner with manufacturers that had a racing pedigree.
– Engineer a complete racing car basically from the ground up (Jaguar was poor).
– Integrate with the principles in the sport like the FIA, F1 Inc. and more (a political mine field).
– Get on top of the extreme level of technology involved in racing F1 cars.
– Oh and…. find some young or retiring drivers that would chance a drive in a new car (they exist BUT good luck).
Note: this is the shortlist.
All of this puts the team on the grid with two cars on day one, nothing else. No problem for IRBR because they did all of this and then one year later in 2005 promptly bought another failing team and launched it under the name – Toro Rosso.
The technology involved in this level of the sports is immense covering areas like engines (Renault and Ferrari), engine management systems, aerodynamics, metal and carbon fiber compound materials, transmissions and related software, and some pretty serious software to run the race operations. These skills are not lying around on the street corners, they are extremely expensive and they are constantly developing at the bleeding edge of the various techn
ology area.
Folks, this is a drinks company. A very successful one with deep pockets I admit but none the less they make energy drinks. Their attitude towards failure is simply amazing, it truly is not an option. You and I would think “surely there are easier ways to build and leverage your brand than to get involved in the most competitive and complicated sports on the planet?” The ability to build this type of organization is remarkable but, they did not stop at doing that they also dominated completely and utterly. This story in the F1 world did not exist prior to IRBR and that since 1950.
As special as the sports story is with IRBR I think the business story is one that deserves analysis and provides important learning opportunities for most of us business leaders today. I hope to build on this piece over the coming months to provide further food for thought on this question. It truly is a “How did they do it?”
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