The Mythology of Red Bull

https://www.readthegeneralist.com/briefing/red-bull

by jseliger • 5 years ago

54 66 5 years ago

Always funny to read accounts of Red Bull's history which mention that people hate the taste. I recently overcame a 20-year daily addiction to Red Bull (thanks COVID, I guess – only a forced 2-week quarantine keeping me away from the shop worked) and my dependence was based on its taste. It couldn't have been the ingredients, because similar energy drinks just didn’t do it for me. At a certain point I was wishing that all food tasted like Red Bull, and that’s when I decided that my consumption might be a problem.

tylerscott• 5 years ago

Here I thought I was alone in this opinion. I’ve often wished for a caffeine free version of Red Bull so I could drink more without jitters. It is fascinating how divisive that flavor is.

rlaabs• 5 years ago

Have you tried cape gooseberries (Physalis peruviana)? IMO they taste very similar to sugar free Red Bull.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physalis_peruviana

asciimike• 5 years ago

NileRed has a video where he takes the caffeine out of Red Bull (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY8tz1paj6o), though it's unfortunately not super practical :/

cwwc• 5 years ago

Concurred. Would love the flavor in a clean seltzer.

internetslave• 5 years ago

Yeah I agree. For some reason, Red Bull is just better than other energy drinks. The other ones taste “cheap”

DaveExeter2• 5 years ago

Now I'm happy to never have tried it!

Would never spend $2+ for a drink that costs about $0.09 to manufacture.

david_shaw• 5 years ago

Would never spend $2+ for a drink that costs about $0.09 to manufacture.

Sadly, adhering to this rule would prevent buying coffee and beer -- two things I'm looking forward to as the world re-opens :)

staticelf• 5 years ago

I also stopped drinking red bull not long ago because it would mess with my sleep cycle. I would not be tired late at night and stay up way too late. Then I would not get enough sleep and start the viscious cirle to drink more red bull.

I decided to stop when I my heart started racing randomly (im closer to 30 than 40) sometimes so I visited the doctor and they basically told me to stop drinking energy drinks and sleep more.

I have tried before to lower the amount but if I drink energy drinks I always end up in that bad circle. That said I love red bull. I love the taste, how clear my head gets whenever I drink it etc but I cannot drink it anymore because it is very harmful for my health.

nickelcitymario• 5 years ago

I'm in the same boat, although I preferred Monster drinks. They were the most effective (legal) productivity booster that I've yet to find, but eventually I needed 5 just to get through the day and started to notice a lot of side effects to be health, in terms of sleep quality and my stomach.

Sadly, I don't do moderation well, so it's on my list of things I used to love but can no longer tolerate. Right up there with cola, sugar, tobacco, and alcohol.

richm31415• 5 years ago

It's because of the secret ingredient of Red Bull - https://youtu.be/JbBQqMC0Htw

AdmiralAsshat• 5 years ago

YMMV, I guess. Red Bull always tasted like liquid SweeTarts, to me.

matwood• 5 years ago

Same on the taste, although I prefer the sugar free Red Bull. The regular is too sweet. Other energy drinks taste too medicinal to me, and tbh I don't need 24 ounces or however much those giant cans contain. The standard small Red Bull is like the perfect amount of liquid.

amelius• 5 years ago

The acidity of Red Bull is also very bad for teeth.

joncrane2• 5 years ago

I have to admit, Red Bull really knows how to spend their sponsorship dollars.

I practice and am a big fan of two sports they sponsor heavily: skateboarding and auto racing.

They sponsor some of the absolute best and "real" skaters, including Jamie Foy and Zion Wright, among others. They aren't corporate or try to mold fiercely independent skaters into an image. They just pay the best skaters in the world to wear their logo. They also pay to build some of the best skateparks/obstacle courses in the world by sponsoring some of the contest series.

In auto racing they sponsor the iconic Red Bull Racing team, headed by an absolute troll of a human being but also insanely successful. They have the best aerodynamicist in racing history (Adrian Newey) and some of the best drivers in the world. They won 4 straight championships with Seb Vettel, and now look poised to finally challenge Mercedes' dominance this year.

I personally don't drink any energy drink besides coffee, but two of the big things I'm passionate about are the better for Red Bull's involvement.

Cshelton• 5 years ago

How is Christian Horner (Red Bull Racing F1 team principal) a troll of a human being? He’s one of my favorites in F1. He’s blunt and strictly business, but a troll...?

Edit: Ah, never mind!

dgritsko2• 5 years ago

I thought the same thing at first, but I'm pretty sure OP is referring to Helmut Marko.

tcoff91• 5 years ago

He's talking about Helmut Marko.

at-fates-hands• 5 years ago

Jamie Foy

The dude turned the entire skateboarding world on its head. Guy looks like a varsity football player who quit to skate, but absolutely rips. The guy is the antithesis of what people think of when they think skateboarders. I'm so glad Red Bull sponsored him. Dude won the SOTY in 2017 and is a legit elite skater.

metachris• 5 years ago

Same with climbing. They have been big sponsors, of athletes, competitions and events. And been putting out really great videos.

* https://www.redbull.com/int-en/tags/climbing * https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=red+bull+climbi...

selykg• 5 years ago

I am hopeful for Red Bull finally putting up a real legit fight this year in F1... I am not sure Red Bull won't get in their own way just yet... Too soon to tell.

Maarten88• 5 years ago

I'm also a big Formula 1 fan, they also sponsor some of the best surfers like Kai Lenny and awesome events like King of the Air. I enjoy Red Bull, the marketing.

Not so much the product. The problem I have with them is that they make the money for all this good stuff by selling expensive and extremely unhealthy drinks to youngsters. I'm wondering if they are a net positive for the world, my conscience whispers maybe they are not.

Red Bull may be the only company that I like for their marketing but whose product I'd like to be taxed to oblivion (together with all sugary softdrinks).

verall• 5 years ago

Unlike other energy drinks, due to high price, small size, simpler flavor, it's not the choice for young teens. Young teens are drinking Monster and Fanta and nowadays boba tea.

Mostly grown ups drink red bull. And most that I know drink the sugar free version.

art3m2• 5 years ago

The most toxic team in F1, the only moments I root for Mercedes are when they compete with RBR.

DrSiemer• 5 years ago

What is so toxic about them? I'm from the Netherlands and all we get here is good news.

riffraff• 5 years ago

I just wanted to mention that I remember the Baumgartner freefall for a specific thing: I watched it streaming live on youtube and I remember looking at the number of active viewers climbing above 3M (I think maybe up to 8).

This was 2012, and I realized 1) youtube had insane scalability 2) live streaming was going to be a much bigger thing then I could ever imagine.

jefftk• 5 years ago

This was just after I had started at Google, and I was on the same floor as the YouTube engineers responsible for the CDN. I remember a crowd around their dashboards as the spectacle of "we didn't know our metrics could go that high" competed with a spectacle of someone jumping from space.

ctdonath• 5 years ago

YouTube famously rolled view count of Gangnam Style to negative because long int wasn’t big enough.

anonu• 5 years ago

2 completely unrelated redbull thoughts:

1. I look back at my college years when "Red Bull Vodka" was a thing. I still am a bit in shock that we'd go out and have multiple of these in an evening and then go to sleep... In my later years I've gone to bars and - on a whim - asked for a "red bull vodka" and bartenders would look at me strange and say something like "we dont have redbull here".

2. I've had the extraordinary good luck to visit "red bull island": a private island resort called Laucala, one of the Fiji islands. The owner is the German co-founder. Every mini fridge is stocked with... red bull.

bluedino• 5 years ago

Jaeger Bomb (Jaeger + Red Bull) or Red Bull and Southern Comfort...

My pet peeve from 'those days' were bars that would charge you the 5.50 for Red Bull and then give you Monster or Vault or even worse a dollar-store style energy drink.

ziptron• 5 years ago

Red Bull does not invest in sponsorships, they invest in creating 'history'. This is an example of Red Bull creating history.

They do this also by buying sports teams. You can blow 200M on side line advertising throughout several soccer seasons, or you can buy an entire soccer team. When that team wins, you build history.

Its brilliant marketing.

gdubs• 5 years ago

Back in 2000 I went to the Edinburgh film festival. There was buzz about a film called “Battle Royale”. None of us had any clue what to expect. But one of things I remember to this day about the experience was they served the audience Red Bull and Vodka — and the Red Bull was in these commemorative cans. Brilliant marketing, all the way back then.

Everyone was ordering Red Bull and Vodka all week. There were lots of tales about people having heart attacks from that combo (not that week, but from around that time). I wonder how true those stories were — or if they were mostly urban legends spread by the company themselves to seem more powerful, and appeal to young thrill seekers.

GVIrish• 5 years ago

My first memory of Red Bull was in game advertising in the PS1 game WipeoutXL. As a teenager living in Panama at the time I had no idea what it was, I thought it was a made-up product just for the game. Looking back they were way ahead of their time even then.

drhitchcock• 5 years ago

Similar experience here, I first came across the Red Bull advertising in Wipeout 2 on the PS1 in New Zealand. I don’t think you could even buy it here at the time.

reducesuffering• 5 years ago

I'm inclined to go against the grain and say that the alcohol-and-energy-drink combo causing heart attacks is more urban legend and "the dangers of sugar+caffeine", i.e. soda, than anything particular to energy drinks. Red Bull, and other energy drinks, are essentially an extra-caffeinated soda with taurine and B-vitamins. Still less caffeine than a cup of coffee at that.

So ya, it'd be healthier to stay away from 5 shots of vodka and 5 sodas at once. Nothing too particular about energy drinks that make you overdo caffeine+sugar+alcohol.

45ure• 5 years ago

I discovered it in après-ski bars of Kitzbühel, where it was given away liberally with shots of vodka (almost for free). It was hard to refuse it, as alcohol/socialising costs accounted for a significant budget of a skiing holiday.

narrator• 5 years ago

The 2+ hour documentary about the Red Bull jump from space project was great -- lots of low budget space engineering fun.

https://www.redbull.com/us-en/films/mission-to-the-edge-of-s...

jariel• 5 years ago

RedBull is a master class in marketing, from top to bottom.

Etheryte• 5 years ago

For anyone travelling to Southeast Asia, I strongly urge you to try out Krating Daeng, the predecessor of Red Bull. It's an interesting experience in that it's both similar yet completely different — and not carbonated. Whatever the reason, almost all energy drinks and the like are carbonated in the west. It's an interesting contrast and well worth the try.

0b012• 5 years ago

You should try Baba Roots, also not carbonated and has a similar taste.

xzel• 5 years ago

I spent a few weeks living in Bali and these were so much better than the Red Bull back in the states. I don't even think I've had a Red Bull since I've been back (almost 5 years) because I know I'd rather have a Krating Daeng.

ufmace• 5 years ago

The marketing side is pretty impressive, but it seems like the logistics side might be even more impressive. I'm not sure how they manage this, but it's the only consumer product that seems to be virtually impossible to purchase in bulk at a reduced price, at least in any quantity below a full pallet. The price per can is remarkably consistent even in widely varying geographic areas.

0b012• 5 years ago

Little do people know Red Bull is originally a Thai energy drink: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krating_Daeng

Tastewise I also enjoy Jamaican Baba Roots: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Roots

Mediterraneo103• 5 years ago

The price per can is remarkably consistent even in widely varying geographic areas.

Indeed. It amazed me that Red Bull costs the same in Europe and Madagascar, in spite of the distance to transport it from Europe to the latter. I suppose that the cost of producing a can is tiny, and so Red Bull makes a huge profit in Europe, while in the developing world it is content to make lesser profits as it plays a long game.

I saw a similar situation with a Peru-made milkshake-in-a-can that is the same price in Peru and in West Africa.

dublinben• 5 years ago

Disclaimer, I don't speak German, but according to this weeks flyer from the Spar grocery store in their native Austria, you can apparently buy a 6-pack of Red Bull for 0.89 EUR each. That's roughly $1.05, so significantly cheaper than the $1.40/can it goes for at Walmart in the US.[1]

[0] https://www.spar.at/aktionen/salzburg/spar/flugblatt-kw-13?p...

[1] https://www.walmart.com/ip/12-Cans-Red-Bull-Energy-Drink-8-4...

albntomat0• 5 years ago

I'm a fan of multiple big projects of Red Bull, including Formula 1, skydiving and Flugtag.

I've honestly looked for ways to support their activities, as I enjoy this "advertising", but dislike their drink.

dustinmoris• 5 years ago

Red Bull is one of the greatest examples of successful marketing of all times. They brought extreme sports to the forefront of mainstream media and have built a brand like no one else. Before Red Bull people didn't really know much about various niche extreme sports, but today everyone knows what a wing suit it, what base jumping is, big wave riding or the that you can fly with a jet pack next to real fighter jets.

polygotdomain• 5 years ago

Red Bull operates under a fundamentally different principle than other brands. Other brands look for something to sponsor that aligns with their brand ideals or image. Red Bull creates the sponsorship opportunities for their brand. In doing so, Red Bull creates a) a much deeper connection with the activities and athletes they sponsor, and b) creates a brand that feels far more genuine than simply slapping their name on something.

The result is not something that's "brought to you by" or "in partnership with". The sponsorships, the teams, the athletes; they _are_ Red Bull. That sort of identity has an incredible connection, and one that can drive it's own revenue in addition to driving fizzy drink sales.

nonick• 5 years ago

In the town that I live in, Red Bull is the sponsor of what they call "The World's Toughest Hard Enduro Rallye". Every year it draws a crowd of tourists to the city and produces some great entertainment. https://www.redbullromaniacs.com/

bumbledraven2• 5 years ago

“Like one of Darwin's long-beaked finches, Red Bull bears the marks of a business with one specific attribute selected for over and over again: garnering attention.”

bumbledraven2• 5 years ago

https://archive.is/2021.04.05-180259/https://www.readthegene...

schnevets• 5 years ago

I never realized it, but Red Bull spends money similarly to Google's early days. They have their "cash cow" revenue stream and a bunch of seemingly unrelated explorations that may burn capital or prove to diversify the portfolio.

By keeping the logo so prevalent, it mitigates customers from developing brand judgments. I'm not going to judge a coworker for drinking a Red Bull because the brand is equally associated with European soccer, quirky commercials, flugtag, and celebrity. In the same way, Google became associated with Google Earth, Google Glass, lush office campuses, and "don't be evil" (remember those days?).

GuB-42• 5 years ago

Maybe it is behind the paywall but one interesting technique used by Red Bull is that they marketed themselves as a hard drug.

Red Bull is actually a rather tame drink. It has a lot of caffeine, but not more than a typical cup of coffee. It has a few fancy ingredients like taurine, but these don't amount to much. If anything, the most harmful/addictive ingredient of it is sugar, and the actual "energy" part of it.

But it is the way they marketed it. It "gives you wings". They have representatives give out the first dose for free at schools. It is associated with the rave subculture. It is sometimes consumed in association with alcohol. If people didn't know it was just a soft drink, they would think about something like ecstasy.

And it worked. People bought these overpriced soft drink cans as some kind of forbidden substance with powerful effects, kids loved that. I was one of these kids BTW.

I worked somewhat too well as government banned them in some countries, before they realized wasn't as harmful as it sounded, so they reverted to taxing it. Fun fact, in France (I don't know about other countries), they made a special tax for energy drinks, defined as soft drinks with more than a certain amount of caffeine. As a response, Red Bull silently reduced their amount of caffeine in order to stay under the limit, making it barely higher than a typical soft drink.

doublejay1999• 5 years ago

I never really bothered with it in my youth. Now I'm nudging 50, there's many a bike achieved with red bull & ibuprofen.

i dont mind the taste, but the the smell is pungent and it always repeats on me something awful.

The Mythology of Red Bull

Related Stories