Red Bull Research

Executive Summary:

From conducting this report it was found that Red Bull energy drink is facing some problems, the main one of which is the negative media that it has been receiving. However both primary and secondary research shown that negative publicity does not affect buyer behaviour to a great extent.

Secondary research clearly states that Red Bull contains excessive amount of chemicals, some publications even compare it to highly addictive drugs as well as blaming the product for some deaths. Secondary data also helped us identify a growing number of competitors that Red Bull has, the number exceeds a hundred. However, surprisingly to most, secondary research reports show that the sales of the product are increasing each year rather than decreasing as could be expected.

Quantitative part of primary research identified that 25 out of 30 participants have bought Red Bull before. Other five participants however stated that the main reasons why they have never bought Red Bull before are the fact that it id damaging for health as well as they do not like the taste of the product. Our questionnaire also found that most of the participants buy Red Bull at least ones a week, which shows that product's popularity is growing. However the majority of participants do not agree with the retail price of the product, twelve (majority) participants stated that the price that they would be happy with is in the range of 70-90 pence.

Our research followed on with qualitative part of primary research which was made up of two focus groups of six people. Here we found that majority of participants still buy Red Bull, however some do not buy it as often as before because of the negative publicity that the drink has been receiving. Others suggested that negative publicity did not affect their buying behaviour in any way, mentioning that there are many other products which are claimed to cause damage to your health however people still buy them. Finally both focus groups brought up a topic of high price for the Red Bull drink, arguing that 'you do not get enough for what you pay'.

After analysing our findings and looking at some marketing models and theories, we came to the conclusion that Red Bull should try to decrease its price in order to maintain the 'rising star' position of the Boston Matrix which it occupies at the moment. Otherwise an increasing competition might push the product out of its 'prestige' position in the market.

Marketing campaigns which Red Bull has today should be kept unchanged, meaning sponsoring extreme sport events etc. these kinds of campaigns represent the brand and its 'energetic' side extremely well.

Nevertheless in the long run the company should be thinking about some ethical aspects such as negative effects it has on health as well as advertising the fact that 'when you want to stay awake - drink Red Bull', which might have negative outcomes when individuals consume excessive amounts of it.

Table of Contents:

* Introduction ___________________________________________4

* Objectives ____________________________________________6

* Research Methodology __________________________________7

* Research Analysis and Findings ___________________________9

* Marketing Recommendations _____________________________14

* Conclusions ___________________________________________16

* Bibliography __________________________________________17

* References ____________________________________________18

* Appendix _____________________________________________20

Introduction:

The product that we have chosen to do our research on is Red Bull energy drink. Red Bull is the brand name of an Austrian carbonated soft drink, founded in 1984 by Dietrich Mateschitz. It is sold as an energy drink to combat mental and physical fatigue, it contains, per 250 ml serving, about 27g of sugar, 1000 mg of taurine, 600 mg of glucuronolactone, B-complex vitamins and 80 mg of caffeine. The caffeine in one serving is a little less than that found in an average cup of coffee or twice as much as found in a can of coke. However a sugar-free version has been available since the beginning of 2003 (www.red-bull.com).

Red Bull's popularity has spawned countless imitations, including Blue Ox, Red Rooster, American Bull, Boost, Red Thunder, Shark etc. Overall, Red Bull has created a category that currently includes 125 products. Several supermarkets groups have created their own house brands. Examples include Tesco's Cranberry Diet Kick and ASDA's Lemon & Lime flavoured version. All of these new brands make up Red Bull's growing competition (www.bandddesign.com/energy)

Another issue which Red Bull is facing since shortly after its launch is the negative publicity about the health risks that the drink leads to. Red Bull has been flagged by some health regulators as a potential danger. Countries such as Denmark and France have banned the drink from their markets, however the popularity of the drink especially amongst students is just increasing. It is now seen as trendy or 'cool' to purchase the drink to 'keep you going'.

Overall we believe that this topic would be of a value because it would be interesting to see whether bad publicity and health scares of this product have had any affect on the consumer behaviour, and their buying patterns. Also with increasing competition coming into the market, it would be relevant to see how, if in any way, the Red Bull has been affected.

To start of this report we will highlight our main objectives, these will be clearly stated and summarised. It will follow on with the 'Research Methodology' section, which will state the type of method that we will be using in order to conduct our research e.g. secondary/primary and/or quantitative/qualitative. In addition we will be explaining our justifications for choosing particular method for our research in this section, as well as describing the sample that we will be using.

Next part of this report is 'Research Analysis and Findings', in this section we will be summarising