Red Bull and Its Viral Strategy-Marketing Assignment Solution Sample

QUESTION

 

Question 1: Red Bull

Under this question, the information should cover the following key areas:

a.       Brief overview of what Red Bull is both as a company and a product.

b.       Red Bull viral strategy: What is it – describe briefly.

c.        Is the Red Bull viral strategy effective? Justify any reason(s) provided

 

Question 2: The video in this link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNDlg1h-za0) describe the Ishikawa fish-bone diagram, which is extremely useful in identifying root cause in a factory or any other environment.

a.       Explain how useful the tool is as well as the methods used in terms of production operations management?

b.       Apply the tool in a hypothetical real-life situation and summarize the findings/outcome.

 

Question 3: Choose one of the following products: Coca-Cola, IPhone, LED TV, 3D printer, and

a.       From the standpoint of industry life cycle, state what stage in the life cycle is the product,

b.       Describe the company’s current strategy, and

c.        Provide arguments whether the current strategy is appropriate to the stage in the life cycle or not?

 

ANSWER

 

Ans 1.a

Red Bull as a Company :

Dietrich Mateschitz while visiting Thailand in 1982 use to have Krating Daeng ( Thai word for Red Bull). This drink was popular among cab drivers there and Chaleo Yoovidhya had introduced that drink. Dietrich inspired by this , in partnership with Yoovidhya founded Red Bull GMBH in 1987 in Chakkapong. The company slogan is “ Red Bull gives you wings”. ( Red Bull n.d.)

Red Bull as a Product :

It’s one of the most popular energy drink in the world with more than 6.7 billion cans being sold in 2018 ( The Company Behind the Can n.d.). It has been in this segment of energy drink for more than 31 years now and has successfully carved a niche for itself. Mark Webber famous Australian racer quoted ‘Red Bull Energy Drink is a great functional drink which can be really handy just before training or competition. Red Bull gives you wings.’

Basically composed of caffeine, taurine, B-group vitamins, sucrose & glucose and alpine water, company brands it as a functional beverage . ( Red Bull Energy Drink n.d.)

Ans 1.b

Red Bull Viral Strategy :

Red Bull basically has opted a viral marketing strategy which is Anti-Traditional. To elaborate it has positioned itself as harbinger of thrill by sponsoring extreme sports- from snow sports to base jumping and now even has its own Formula 1 Team. This has attracted people from all ages and without shelling deluge of money on print , TV or social media ad campaigns it has taken content marketing to next level. Basically it has created its own sporting events and branded its products along with the ownership of events. (Marketing Case Study n.d.)

Ans1.c

Yes its effective and results prove it. Red Bull has 70% market share in energy drink segment and has its presence in 165+ countries. To further elaborate , there was an event Red Bull Stratos where in red bull sponsored Austrian skydiver jumped into stratosphere and safely came back to earth. The live pics as well as YouTube content brought 8 million viewers and since then the video has been watched by 37 million viewers. (Marketing Case Study n.d.).

Red bull is aiming to be positioned as a thrilling and adventurous journey rather than just a commercial or an event sponsor. Thus we can easily conclude that yes the viral strategy was a massive success and has created a new benchmark in the field of content marketing.

Ans 2.a

The tool is highly effective in identifying root cause for any defect in a factory or for that matter production operations management. Its main purpose is to generate list of causes that might be causing a specific problem. Consequently it will lead to remedial steps that we need to take in-order to solve the problem. With particularly 4Ms or 6 Ms ( Methods, Machinery, Materials, Measurements, Manpower, Mother Nature) it’s very convenient to draw out where are we actually defaulting and what can be done to improve the solution. Not all 6 Ms are required ,however it’s a good practice to involve more than 3 Ms in order to gauge holistic image of the problem at hand. ( Jeff Hajek, 2009)

Method

Material

Ans 2.b

Mother Nature

 

Get Angry Easily

Machinery

Manpower

5Ms

Causes

Material

Alcohol, Procrastination

Mother Nature

Changing weather , too cold or too hot, humidity

Method

Taking wrong decision, Pranks

Manpower

Few sets of people

Machinery

High volume music, Computers, Loud voices

Ans 3.a

Well from industry life cycle I believe iPhone is in growth stage. The reasons are as follows :

  • Every year Apple launches new iPhone with bunch of new features that outshine them with models released earlier.
  • They are innovative in every sense
  • No denying the fact that models released 2-3 years ago are at declining state vis-à-vis product life cycle but that’s what apple wants. Customers should constantly upgrade their iPhone with the launch of newer ones every year.
  • From 2007 till date several iPhones have been released but everyone had something different to offer even though it was sure to attain decline state in couple of years.

Ans 3.b

Frankly, it’s difficult to pin point a particular strategy apple deploys to maintain its ‘cult’ .Starting from design to utility it has carved niche in every arena a customer would expect. It’s obvious that it is not predominantly relying on ads by google/Facebook, rather on the philosophy that every customer is its brand ambassador and the most important is customer relationship management that triggers positive media reviews. Be it buyback program, lucrative student discount to attractive EMI options -everything attracts its customer like a bee to honey. Apple knows one thing for sure- Without Innovation its going to end up like Nokia , RIM etc. and that’s where Apple invests tremendously without any issues. (7 Key Strategies That…. n.d.)

Apple knows one that future lies in the hand of AI, Neural Networks & Machine learning and its recent acquisition clearly shows why it leads the market and is invincible for the time being.( Apple Strategy Teardown, 2018)

Ans 3.c

From the report as published (Q4 2018 Apple Inc.) its quite evident that the current strategy for iPhone is working absolutely fine albeit with minor turbulence. To support the same , let’s go through following findings:

  • Apple posted 46.9 Million iPhone sales in Q4 2018
  • Year-over-Year basis , iPhone has contributed maximum to the source of revenue
  • In Q4 2018 itself it earned revenue amounting to US $62.9 Billion with iPhone again leading the pack

All of this clearly shows that the current strategy is working well for iPhone. But important question still remains , will it sustain?

No denying the fact that android world suffers from myriad of issues-hardware segregation to easily vulnerable software but Apple need to ensure that it continues to invest heavily on R&D and its band of customers are constantly engaged through enriched experience.

In the Q4 2018, 18.2% of smartphones sold worldwide were iPhone and yes it remains in top 3 brands across the globe. (iPhone Unit Sales ,2019)

So to conclude we can clearly say that iPhone’s strategy is working but need to be revamped as the time and customer evolves. Its brand positioning as well as image are its biggest strength and will continue to be till someone brings out a paradigm shift in the “blank canvas” world.(Tim Bajarin,2017)

References:

  1. Red Bull n.d. Wikipedia, Viewed 27 Mar. 19,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull

  1. The Company Behind the Can n.d. , Viewed 27 Mar. 19

https://energydrink.redbull.com/company

  1. Red Bull Energy Drink n.d., Viewed 27 Mar. 19

https://energydrink-in.redbull.com/red-bull-energy-drink-ingredients

  1. Marketing Case Study , How Red Bull has taken sports marketing to extreme n.d. , Viewed 27 Mar. 19,

http://www.digitaltrainingacademy.com/casestudies/2015/03/marketing_case_study_how_red_bull_has_taken_sports_marketing_to_the_extreme.php

  1. Jeff Hajek, 2009, Cause and Effect Diagram Training Video (aka Fishbone Diagram & Ishikawa Diagram) , YouTube Video, Viewed 27 Mar. 19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNDlg1h-za0

  1. 7 Key Strategies That You Must Learn from Apple’s Marketing, blog, Viewed 27 Mar. 19

https://neilpatel.com/blog/7-key-strategies-that-you-must-learn-from-apples-marketing/

  1. Apple Strategy Teardown, CB Insights ,2018, Viewed 27 Mar. 19

https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/apple-strategy/

  1. Q4 2018 Apple Inc. ,Unaudited report, Viewed 27 Mar. 19

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/Q4-18-Data-Summary.pdf

  1. iPhone unit Sales ,2019, Viewed 27 Mar. 19

https://www.statista.com/statistics/216459/global-market-share-of-apple-iphone/

  1. Tim Bajarin, 2017, Apple’s Strategy Explained in One Simple Idea, TIME, Viewed 27 Mar. 19

http://time.com/4723389/apple-strategy-iphone-ipad-apple-tv/

 

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