Red Bull Stratos Reminds us that Content is Still King
This is simply brilliant work by the Red Bull team. If you haven’t heard about Red Bull Stratos, do yourself a favor and watch this 4-minute video trailer. In a nutshell:
- Felix Baumgartner will attempt to free fall then parachute from 23 miles above Earth
- If successful, he will break several 50-year old records held by Colonel Joe Kittinger
- This project is completely underwritten and produced by Red Bull
Yes – Red Bull has upped the ante in the content department with a pretty compelling story. In fact, this trailer feels very much like what you’d expect to see as a high quality movie preview. But what’s most amazing here is that Red Bull is producing this alone – no big corporate media halo, no online media partner to ensure distribution, no A-list Hollywood producer name to lean on. It’s Red Bull’s gig and they’re going all-in.
The “safe” thing to do would have been to partner with some big media outlet, if for no other reason than to guarantee coverage and distribution. But the story is so darn compelling, that Red Bull has the license to go direct.
I see this as the wave of the future — brands investing in world-class content that is intimately linked to their equity and serving it straight up to consumers. Not all brands, but those like Red Bull, Porsche, Nintendo and others that have authentic products, a crystal clear positioning and a base of die-hard loyalists.
Kudos to the Red Bull team and to @kdoohan who leads digital marketing (Kevin is also a ConAgra Foods alum). Should be fun to see this unfold.
Really awesome idea — just in general, but also as a marketing ploy. I’m sure the cost is substantial, but the amount of media they get for it will be even more substantial, and the event (while appealing to me) will appeal even more to their target demographic — it is very much in line with their brand image.
The wave of the future? Could be.
Thanks for the comments, Bob. Agreed that Stratos is totally on-brand for Red Bull — extreme sports in general are in their wheelhouse, and a unique record-setting stunt like Stratos is the pinnacle of exclusivity.
The key for me is that brands like Red Bull who really know their market just ‘get’ what it takes to keep consumers engaged. This is a significant undertaking that simply wouldn’t be possible for many brands. But for those where it does make sense, I see more Stratos-like original content investments on the horizon.