The Journey of Red Bull

Red Bull is a famous energy drink sold by an Austrian company, Red Bull GmbH.  Created in 1987, Red Bull now has the highest market share in the energy drink industry and sells over 6 billion cans worldwide per day.

Red Bull is a modified version of a Thai drink, Krating Daeng, which was created by Thai businessman Chaleo Yoovidhya in 1976.  Born to poor Chinese immigrants from Hainan province, Yoovidhya moved to Bangkok in the 1950s and started working as a pharmaceutical salesman.  He set up his own manufacturing business by 1956, called T.C. Pharmaceutical Industries.  Chaleo Yoovidhya got the idea for an energy drink from a Japanese drink called Lipovitan D, which was quite popular in Thailand.  He worked on a sweeter version of Lipovitan D by modifying its recipe and created Krating Daeng.  However, the energy drink did not see any overnight success in its initial days.  It was Yoovidhya’s incredible business strategies which made the drink gain popularity among the locals. 

Yoovidhya designed the now popular logo of two charging bisons, which brought a lively feeling of a bull fight, which has been quite popular in rural Thailand.  This was a winning formula for Yoovidhya, as the logo helped the locals identify Krating Daeng as a drink, instead of a medicine. The energy drink became quite popular among taxi, tuk tuk, truck and bus drivers and construction workers.

A golden opportunity arrived for Chaleo Yoovidhya when Dietrich Mateschitz, while working for German manufacturer Blendax, travelled to Thailand in 1984.  During his visit, Mateschitz noticed a bottle of Krating Daeng helped to cure his jet lag.  He then met with Chaleo Yoovidhya, formed a partnership with him and founded Red Bull GmbH.  Both Mateschitz and Yoovidhya invested $ 500,000 of their savings to establish the Company. Mateschitz spent a year to change the formulation of the original Thai drink to a version suitable for westerners.  He spent an additional two years perfecting the Company’s marketing and communication strategies. Red Bull finally launched in 1987 in Austrian ski resorts and slowly expanded to other European countries by the end of the 20th century. 

Now, after 32 years of its launch, Red Bull has established itself as one of the most valuable brands in the world.  The popularity of Red Bull made its co founder Dietrich Mateschitz one of the richest people in the world, with a net worth of $ 18 billion.  The success of the energy drink also made Chaleo Yoovidhya the third richest person in Thailand who, at the time of his death in 2012, had a net worth of $ 5 billion.

Red Bull is popular for its innovative marketing strategies and the tagline “Red Bull gives you wings.”  With its presence in 171 countries worldwide, Red Bull is the most famous energy drink in the world.