Running head: MARKETING PLAN: PRODUCT IDENTIFICATION AND SWOT ANALYSIS 1 Product Identification and Swot Analysis: Red bull GmbH Stephanie Hicks Ashford University BUS330: Principles of Marketing December 11, 2016 - 1 - [no notes on this page] Marketing Plan: Product Identification and Swot Analysis 2 Red Bull GmbH Red Bull GmbH is an energy drink manufacturing company based in Fuschl am see, Austria (Bodner, 2011). Red bull’s main product is the Red Bull energy drink. It is a multinational with branches in over 169 countries in the world. Red Bull as an energy drink was established in 1987 in Thailand by an Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz and a Thai business person Chaleo Yoovidhya, (Pahl & Richter, 2007). Although red bull is currently the market leader in sales of energy drinks, its sales can be significantly boosted by targeting a different demographic. Red Bull was founded in the mid-1980 from inspiration by other energy drinks in the Far East and especially in Thailand. Red Bull energy drink was sold for the time in its home market of Austria on April 1st 1987 and this has seen it grow to a multinational with millions of euros in revenue annually. It is estimated that as at 2016, over 60 billion cans of the energy drink have been sold worldwide (Bodner, 2011). Apart from energy drinks (which is red bulls primary output), red bull also distributes other products including the drinks ‘simply cola’, the Cape Diem range of herbal soft drinks and the Sabai wine spritzer line of winery (Rendle, 2011). Red bull’s main competitor is Monster energy drink made by Monster Beverage Corporation based in California, USA. According to time magazine, Red Bull enjoys about 43% of the American soft drink market with its closest competitor Monster commanding about 39% of the market share. The number 3, but the relatively distant competitor is ‘Rockstar’ which - 2 - [no notes on this page] Marketing Plan: Product Identification and Swot Analysis 3 commands a 3% market lead. Coke owned NOS and Pepsi-owned Amp are also players in the energy drink market although commanding a very small portion (Pahl & Richter, 2007). Red Bull energy drink is an interesting choice of product to conduct a strength, weakness and threats analysis on given its current market share. Red Bull commands a significantly huge market space, but there is still much to be improved upon. The market segment it majors on is small and can be significantly increased to target different areas of the demographics in exchange to better profit margins. Strengths The main strength displayed by Red Bull is its stature in the current energy drink market. Red Bull has stood for years as the number one energy drink across t ...

1. Running head: MARKETING PLAN: PRODUCT
IDENTIFICATION AND SWOT ANALYSIS
1
Product Identification and Swot Analysis: Red bull GmbH
Stephanie Hicks
Ashford University
BUS330: Principles of
Marketing
December 11, 2016
- 1 -
[no notes on this page]
Marketing Plan: Product Identification and Swot Analysis
2
Red Bull GmbH
Red Bull GmbH is an energy drink manufacturing company
based in Fuschl am see,
Austria (Bodner, 2011). Red bull’s main product is the Red Bull
energy drink. It is a

2. multinational with branches in over 169 countries in the world.
Red Bull as an energy drink was
established in 1987 in Thailand by an Austrian entrepreneur
Dietrich Mateschitz and a Thai
business person Chaleo Yoovidhya, (Pahl & Richter, 2007).
Although red bull is currently the
market leader in sales of energy drinks, its sales can be
significantly boosted by targeting a
different demographic.
Red Bull was founded in the mid-1980 from inspiration by other
energy drinks in the Far
East and especially in Thailand. Red Bull energy drink was sold
for the time in its home market
of Austria on April 1st 1987 and this has seen it grow to a
multinational with millions of euros in
revenue annually. It is estimated that as at 2016, over 60 billion
cans of the energy drink have
been sold worldwide (Bodner, 2011). Apart from energy drinks
(which is red bulls primary
output), red bull also distributes other products including the
drinks ‘simply cola’, the Cape
Diem range of herbal soft drinks and the Sabai wine spritzer
line of winery (Rendle, 2011).
Red bull’s main competitor is Monster energy drink made by

3. Monster Beverage
Corporation based in California, USA. According to time
magazine, Red Bull enjoys about 43%
of the American soft drink market with its closest competitor
Monster commanding about 39%
of the market share. The number 3, but the relatively distant
competitor is ‘Rockstar’ which
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[no notes on this page]
Marketing Plan: Product Identification and Swot Analysis
3
commands a 3% market lead. Coke owned NOS and Pepsi-
owned Amp are also players in the
energy drink market although commanding a very small portion
(Pahl & Richter, 2007).
Red Bull energy drink is an interesting choice of product to
conduct a strength, weakness
and threats analysis on given its current market share. Red Bull
commands a significantly huge
market space, but there is still much to be improved upon. The
market segment it majors on is
small and can be significantly increased to target different areas

4. of the demographics in exchange
to better profit margins.
Strengths
The main strength displayed by Red Bull is its stature in the
current energy drink
market. Red Bull has stood for years as the number one energy
drink across the major markets in
the world (Bohm, 2009). This is a unique force of influence. It
was the first energy drink to bë
developed, and it has stood as a force to be reckoned with ever
since. This partly means that the
red bull brand is synonymous with the energy drink industry.
This makes marketing the energy
drink a relatively easier job as compared to other relatively
unknown energy drinks (Pahl &
Richter, 2007).
Another Red Bull’s strength is its presence (Rendle, 2011). Red
Bull is present in almost
all major countries and sectors across the world. Apart from the
energy drink market, Red Bull is
a known major sponsor and stakeholder in the world’s major
sporting events (Bodner, 2011). RB
Leipzig, a German football club purchased by Red Bull in 2009

5. is the current leader of the
German top flight football league the Bundesliga. This is a
unique marketing platform for red
bull as its brand exposure through sports is huge. Apart from
football, red bull also sponsors and
owns stakes in other sports such as racing, hockey and
Motorsports (Rendle, 2011).
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1
1. Apart from the energy
drink market, Red Bull is a
known major sponsor and
stakeholder in the world’s
major sporting events
Never underestimate the
marketing value in
sponsorship. There is
perhaps no better way to
build brand recognition.
[Cynthia Goussak]

6. Marketing Plan: Product Identification and Swot Analysis
4
Red bull’s current partnership with Coca-Cola was a bold move.
By utilizing coca cola’s
major outlets and market shares in the world of soft drinks, Red
Bull is looking into market
penetration frenzy (Bodner, 2011). Coca-Cola is basically in all
the markets in the world except
from north Korea and Cuba which are both under a long time
United States trade embargo. This
is a unique opportunity for the company to expand to new
horizons and establish itself firmly at
the top of the energy drink market (Pahl & Richter, 2007).
Weaknesses
Potential health threats. The major weakness in the energy drink
market and which has
weighed down Red Bull is the recent USA food and drugs
administration scrutiny into the major
energy drinks (including Red bull). According to the FDA, Red
Bull’s consumption has been
associated with increased cases of diabetics amongst teenagers
as a result of its unusually high

7. levels of caffeine (Pahl & Richter, 2007). This has threatened
red bulls market share and more so
because it targets the younger generation. The FDA made
recommendations for the energy drink
to be banned in schools and universities, a move that will
jeopardize red bulls stand in the market
(Rendle, 2011).
Change in customer taste. This has been another nightmare in
red bull’s ranks. In the
past, red bull commanded comfortably the upper market in the
energy drink industry, this has
been drastically changing in the near past (Bodner, 2011). The
introduction of other high-end
products like Monster has significantly dwindled red bulls stand
as the de facto energy drink
market leader.
Non-patented recipe. Unlike its marketing partner Coca-Cola,
red bull’s recipe is not
patented and this paves the way for other market players to copy
its manufacturing and produce
similar or close products which may put Red Bull’s market
stand in grave danger (Rendle, 2011).
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8. 1
1. Non-patented recipe.
Interesting weakness
consideration, that many
would overlook. [Cynthia
Goussak]
Marketing Plan: Product Identification and Swot Analysis
5
Opportunities
Geographical expansion. With its new partnership with coca
cola, red bull is looking to
new marketing horizons. Coca cola’s worldwide marketing
share is smiling back at red bull’s
management, and this offers a unique marketing experiment. For
the first time in history, Red
Bull could become an international distributor with subsidiaries
(thanks to coca cola) in all the
markets in the world (Rendle, 2011). This holds a promising
growth for red bull.
Enhancing Red Bull’s nutritional aspects. To successfully fight

9. the FDA, the red bull
could revise the energy drink’s nutritional capacity (Pahl &
Richter, 2007). This could go miles
in restoring public confidence and especially after the past
reported deaths linked to red bull
consumption. The red bull could revamp the amount of caffeine
content in their drinks and thus
lowering the health risks in the drinks. This could mean
increased intake by the current
consumers since the health question is out of the equation.
Threats
Competitors (Shawn Milligan, August 12, 2015). Thee major
threat in red bull’s
existence as a brand is competition. The rise of Monster as a
significant market share holder have
proven a marketing nightmare to red bull. Red Bulls market
share can be directly mapped to
monster’s growth, and this is worrisome to red bulls marketing
team (Bodner, 2011).
Negative health implications. This is the major threat
concerning red bull’s existence.
Although competitors like Monster have taken a bigger hit, red
bull is under FDA scrutiny over

10. reports that consumption of their energy drinks has been linked
to major health issues and some
instances as grave as death (Pahl & Richter, 2007). This is
particularly worrisome as it may lead
to not only reduction in the market but total withdrawal of the
product from the market.
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[no notes on this page]
Marketing Plan: Product Identification and Swot Analysis
6
From what we have observed, it is pretty clear that Red Bull as
energy drink more than
deserves marketing investment on its own. This is expected to
significantly boost red bulls stand
as a market leader and increase its sales drastically. This should
also aim at re assuring its current
consumers of its safety and nutritional value. Advertising red
bull to the middle-aged
demographic as a ‘work booster’ and as a health sanctuary will
go miles in selling red bull as a
niche.
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11. 1
1. Advertising red bull to
the middle-aged
demographic as a ‘work
booster’ and as a health
sanctuary will go miles in
selling red bull as a
niche.
Well considered strategy,
given your SWOT
observations. [Cynthia
Goussak]
Marketing Plan: Product Identification and Swot Analysis
7
References
Bodner, B. (2011). Company Analysis of Red Bull. Munich:
GRIN Verlag.
Bohm, A. (2009).̈ The SWOT Analysis. Munchen: GRIN

12. Verlag.̈
Pahl, N. & Richter, A. (2007). SWOT analysis: idea,
methodology and a practical approach.
Munchen: GRIN Verlag.
Rendle, S. (2011). Red Bull racing F1 car: an insight into the
technology, engineering,
maintenance and operation of Red Bull Racing. Sparkford:
Haynes.
Shawn Milligan (2015, August 12). Ashford University.
Retrieved December 10, 2016, from
https://www.ashford.edu/online-degrees/business/strategic-
planning-and-the-swot-
analysis
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1
1. References
Center [Cynthia Goussak]