This is your four minute warning: how can Red Bull make those seconds really count?
In this guest post, Adam Hodge asks what value a blink-and-miss-it event can have for a brand long term, and how Red Bull can possibly recoup its investment.
On Sunday morning Felix Baumgartner stepped out of a pressurised capsule more than 36km above the earth and began a 4 minute free-fall into the record books. But what value can a brand like Red Bull get from an event that is over in a matter of minutes?
Red Bull Stratos is the most recent in a long line of extreme sport and adventure activities that the Austrian energy drink brand has become famous for around the globe. This event saw 43 year old skydiving daredevil Baumgartner jump from a stratospheric balloon on the edge of space in an attempt to be the first human to break the sound barrier during free fall.
The 4 odd minutes of free-fall were viewed live around the globe via the 100+ media partners of the mission, including the BBC, Discover Channel, ABC (US), TVNZ and our own 7Mate and Yahoo!7.
YouTube’s live stream of the event racked up over 8m viewers just before Baumgartner took his death-defying plunge.
According to AllThingsD, the previous record for a single Web video service was “around 500,000 concurrent streams, which Google served up during the Olympics this summer.”
These media numbers would suggest this was a big success for Red Bull, but I reckon the real value can only be calculated once you consider the likely cost. While there has been no official release of the 5 year mission budget, news outlets have suggested that the first aborted jump cost the project over $60,000 in helium alone and that a single balloon (of which they had more than one) cost several hundred thousand dollars.
Let’s guess that the mission has cost Red Bull $10m over the entire 5 year period. Conservative, I reckon.
Considering a 30-second commercial in the US during the Super Bowl (the most expensive ad spot in the world) is around $3.5m, a little under three times this investment has garnered Red Bull not only a LOT more eyeballs and time on screen for the jump itself, it has also produced hundreds of hours of video content, several years of PR attention and a massive amount of social media fodder.
The day after the jump, the Stratos Facebook Page has 629,579 likes and a massive 277,363 people talking about it. This ‘talking about ratio’ of 44% is 10 times higher than the Red Bull main profile (4.44%) and 20 times more than Coca-Cola (1.98%), suggesting that it is actively engaging its audience rather than just generating millions of static likes.
Stratos is a perfect example of the sometimes overlooked pre-event amplification value of sponsorship. Given the ‘moment in time’ nature of the mission, Red Bull has capitalised on the multi-year build up to extract every drop of promotional value from the event before Baumgartner even stepped into the jump suit. Some might even say the first aborted mission was an (unexpected?) boon for the brand attracting additional attention (a bit like a preview screening) and boosting viewers for the subsequent successful jump.
While the news and interest in the mission is likely to now die off quickly, I would 
say that Red Bull have gained all the value they could have ever wanted and more. Once again they have proven the power of unique and dedicated sponsorship in garnering maximum attention and all while using a platform that both emotionally and rationally reinforces their ‘gives you wings’ positioning.
Congratulations Felix.
And congratulations RedBull.
Adam Hodge is strategy director at Octagon Sydney. This article first appeared on the Octagon blog.
Thanks for the great post Adam!
Having worked on Red Bull Stratos for four years, I can confirm that the project was certainly not encapsulated by the several minutes it took him to descend, or the 2.5 hours of live coverage seen by millions, or even by the BBC documentary and countless hours of media coverage over the past 3 years.
What Red Bull Stratos proves to me, is that an idea that gets inside the mind, and inspires and excites people, will pay you back. Provided you can ensure everyone knows about it!
cp
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A documentary was also made about the mission and will be airing on BBC and National Geographic sometimes this year (unsure if it has a sale in Australia).
There is a potential for interest to spike again surrounding the program and on subsequent repeats as well.
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Great article. Absolutely agree.
It would be interesting to see research on whether Red Bull is recalled as the sponsor.
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All credit to Red Bull for breaking the boundaries again and continuing their legacy as the kings of producing engaging content through sponsorship. With their worldwide media exposure there is no doubt that this was a valuable commercial exercise for them. (their Facebook page alone has almost 33 million fans!) Am I alone in wondering why they do not use this mass exposure to benefit the human race through affiliation with a good cause or charity??? Surely that would do more for the brand longer term and justify the $$$….
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Today’s Mumbrella story is the first I knew about Red Bull’s association with this event, and I’ve seen it probably 8 – 10 times on free to air TV. Not once did I notice Red Bull branding or hear about its funding (and I look for that sort of stuff), or were FTA news viewers not the target? Sorry to be a party pooper, but eyeballs are just eyeballs unless there is some recognition or action outcome, otherwise its just generous philanthropy.
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Great post Adam. What was the ‘payback’ on summiting Everest? (I mean Hillary/Norgay rather than Todd Sampson – but well done Todd!)
Inestimable. Irreplacable. Iconic Infinitessimal.
So why did Hillary do it? In Mallory’s original words ..”‘because it was there”. That is all the payback needed.
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The power of it for me is that when I heard something so ‘extreme’ was being attempted I just assumed that Red Bull would be behind it.
To be honest I don’t think I noticed any logos or mentions in the coverage I saw of it, but Red Bull’s position as purveyor of extreme sports is so well entrenched that I’d already automatically given them credit for it and I suspect many others would too.
Consequently, it’s impossible to ever calculate a true ROI for this activity in isolation.
Ironically, it also means they could probably get away without funding stuff like this and still get the credit for it as long as you keep up your less expensive/self-funding extreme sponsorship ventures like AIr Race etc.
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it is HUGE
Put simply, it is what branding is all about…
@Punter… Like
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Great stunt, not so great Facebook comment.
http://lifeissavage.com/2012/1.....viral-pic/
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@Justsaying
That would be a little hypocritical now wouldn’t it? A drink laced with sugar and caffeine, which will reap havoc with the health of those that consume it, giving money to a good cause?
How about Red Bull change the recipe of their product and make it healthy – that would be much better wouldn’t it? Promote a healthy mass marketed drink… (Or would that be too hard?)
Red Bull have worked wonders with their brand and association with extreme – marketing wise have totally killed it. (Rather like the many diabetics who can thank Redbull for their disease and eventual deaths…) Boom, boom. Sorry, however it is true guys!
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A survey from The Medical Journal of Australia:
“Energy drinks were recently shown to comprise 20% of the total convenience store beverage market, with “Red Bull” and “V” accounting for over 97% of sales in this multimillion-dollar industry. Increasingly, toxicity from caffeine overdose is being reported to hospitals and poisons centres.”
https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2012/196/1/energy-drinks-health-risks-and-toxicity
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no-one important,
We’re reliably informed that the Facebook comment is a hoax.
Cathie – Mumbrella
@H2O: What, you never heard of McDonald’s? Beer? Drugs? People have been stuffing themselves with bad things for ages, and it’s not going to stop.
Yes it does have a cost to society (the $billions in taxpayer-funded healthcare), but that’s why governments around the world are looking to levy more taxes on unhealthy products.
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@justsaying – good question. They do quite a bit in charity. Check out: http://www.wingsforlife.com/en/ . Another example of the Red Bull folks creating their own(able) space rather than simply fitting a name to something that exists. Makes a lot of sense too considering their focus on ‘extreme’ sports. They are also great at cross pollinating their various properties and charity. Great example here: http://alturl.com/shnzi
@beery and @punter – you guys seem to the opposite sides of the same coin. I recommend grabbing and beer and discussing. I’ll buy the first round.
@cathie – yep, I heard the same thing, but imagine if it was intentional and just served to drive further attention?
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BEST. BRANDED. CONTENT. EVVEEEEERRRRRR!!!!!
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Ps. Who didn’t notice all the ‘red bulls’ on the suit, the helmet, throughout the video and news coverage? Oh, or that big helicopter that meets Felix at the end… geeze.
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@Bob
I have heard of all of those things thanks. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Red Bull was healthy though?
I find it funny when you watch Mark Webber after a F1 race, drinking what would appear to be Red Bull, out of a Red Bull branded drinks holder. (Tis not Red Bull as of course I am sure marketing professionals would know, it is a fluid that would rehydrate him v Red Bull, which would further dehydrate him.)
Is this misleading marketing? re: drinking something else out of a branded bottle / holder?
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Pssst … H20. Bulls aren’t red either. Pass it on.
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@ John Grono
Nice one centurion. I like it, like it!
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And you know you’ve cracked the Zeitgeist when you get a Lego tribute. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yFU774q6eVM#!
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Red Bull just need to extend the brand into more off the shelf product opportunities.
Food Stuffs, Petrol Stations and an Airline would the top three I would be buying in to.
Worked for Virgin Records.
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Dear Redbull,
Are you aware of the positive impact it would have for our societies and communities if you changed the ingredients of your high sugar / caffeine drink?
Yours,
Science
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