Red Bull has created a niche for itself in the energy drink category by aligning with extreme sports and events. Exclusively produced in Austria and exported worldwide, the brand is wildly popular in 70 countries around the world, including Finland, home of the brand’s Red Bull City Flight snowboarding and skiing competition.
With so many professional skiers coming out of this Scandinavian country (which is roughly the size of Montana) situated between Sweden and Russia and stretching high into the Arctic Circle, it’s no wonder the brand chose to identify with a high-energy event so relevant to its core audience.
According to the Red Bull Web site, all of its ingredients are synthetically produced, and to get the most out of them, “You should drink it in times of increased mental and physical strain, for example, on long sleep-inducing motorways, during intensive working days, prior to demanding athletic activities or before tests and exams.”
The site also claims: “The effectiveness of Red Bull has been proven by a large number of scientific studies and is appreciated by many of the world’s top athletes and drivers, opinion-leaders and hard-working people with active lifestyles. It’s recommended that you drink one can about 30 minutes before the start of a concentration task or the start of a race or game in sports. This is about the time for the ingredients of Red Bull to become effective in the body.” Buzz!
It makes sense then that the brand is all over events that showcase the more extreme variants of skiing, mountain biking, sailing, skateboarding and snowboarding. This year alone, the brand will sponsor events in Austria, Brazil, New Zealand, Switzerland, the USA and, of course, Finland.
In 2000, Red Bull helped inaugurate City Flight, an invitation-only competition that brought together Finnish and Swedish snowboarders to compete against one another for the first time. In addition to showboating for fellow boarders, these athletes had their first chance to show off their skills in front of a major audience. The event drew 4,000 spectators and took place against the backdrop of Helsinki’s House of Parliament. It was the first important snowboarding competition held in Finland, where spectators had not previously had much opportunity to observe the sport.
In 2001, Red Bull City Flight moved to Senaatintori, an area of Helsinki overlooking the Cathedral of Helsinki, an architectural landmark which serves as a symbol of this historic city. The event brought together the best snowboarders in the country for more than 20,000 spectators. In 2002, Red Bull held the event in the city’s market square, located in the heart of Helsinki and overlooking the sea. More than 35,000 fans attended the event.
In 2003, the event graduated to become the first official competition between Finland and Sweden for snowboarding and skiing, drawing 40,000 spectators (roughly 10% of the capital’s entire population). Not bad when you consider that the population of the entire country is only 5 million people.
Elämystaikurit, a leading event marketing and management consultant agency in Finland, created the event and has managed it ever since. The agency helped negotiate partnerships between TV and radio networks to create hype and media support for the program. “City Flight is not just an event that Red Bull sponsors, it’s something completely built and created by the brand and serves as a consumer incentive to get Finnish consumers to experience the product personally,” says Elämystaikurit COO and City Flight project manager, Juha Aalto. “The event is a meeting point for consumers and the brand itself.”
To promote the annual event, Red Bull relies on extensive public relations support, and invites consumers to attend in person or watch via TV and Internet coverage. Two qualifying “jam session” events are held prior to the City Flight competition and are open to any “local heroes” who want to compete against the best for a spot on the team. According to Aalto, “The event really has helped us turn Red Bull into a household name.”
City Flight doesn’t just attract the locals. “It’s gotten so big that individuals are now organizing bus trips for groups who want to attend from hundreds of miles away,” Aalto says. The competition has evolved into a “public celebration day” for the teen and 20-something target, and events such as this are helping the brand sell more than a billion cans of product worldwide each year. This year Red Bull will hold its qualifying event in Lapland, located in Northern Finland.
According to Aalto, “It doesn’t hurt that the sport of snowboarding itself has grown in popularity over the past few years. But we believe the event has had a lot to do with that increase in popularity.”
“With Red Bull City Flight we want to create awareness for the idea that the brand is actively doing things for the people in Finland, and for the brand itself. Awareness for Red Bull in Finland is currently 97% among our target audience, and we absolutely cannot underestimate the meaning of Red Bull City Flight in that number,” says Red Bull general manager Kaj Takolander.
Amie Smith Hughes writes about marketing campaigns that take place outside the U.S. Got a story idea? Contact her at [email protected].
Thrills onboard: A brief history
While some brave souls were known to fool around with a single wide ski back in the 1950s, the first real snowboard hit the market in the 1960’s. Sherman Poppin’s “Snurfer” looked like a cross between a toboggan and a skateboard. A rope attached to the front tip provided some control; tacks in the deck held the rider’s feet in place. Such boards were frowned upon by most skiers and weren’t allowed on ski slopes. Snowboarding gained altitude in the 70’s and 80’s as design and materials evolved into the equipment used today. Analysts expect snowboarding’s worldwide popularity to overtake skiing by 2015.
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