When we met up with Om in Bangkok, Helen’s Thai friend with whom she used to be friends at school in England, he spent the evening showing us around Bangkok. Of course we plied him with questions of curiosity about Bangkok and Thailand in general and somehow, the subject of Red Bull came up. Apparently, as Om told us – and I have since read more about it on Wikipedia to confirm the credibility of what we were being told – truck drivers used to drink Red Bull to help them stay awake during the long, late-night drive. Sales of the energy drink soared across Asia during the 1970s and 1980s, and its working class image was confounded further by sponsorship of Thai boxing matches, where the logo of two red bulls charging each other was often on display. But back then it was not the same Red Bull we have come to know today.
The Red Bull we know today in Europe was created in 1987 by the Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz, who was inspired by an already existing energy drink called Krating Daeng, meaning ‘Thai Red Bull’, which he discovered in Thailand. He took this idea, modified the formula and founded Austrian Red Bull GmbH in partnership with Chaleo Yoovidhya who invented the original Krating Daeng. In 2008, Forbes magazine listed both Chaleo and Mateschitz as being the 260th richest persons in the world with an estimated net worth of $4.0 billion. In Thailand today, it is still known as Krating Daeng, but there are a few subtle differences. Whereas Red Bull is carbonated, comes in a 250ml can and costs roughly a pound, its ancestor is still sold in 150ml brown bottles, is non-carbonated and is much sweeter. It also costs the equivalent of about 25pence.
The first thing that occurred to me after being told of Krating Daeng’s origins as a tool used by long-haul truck drivers to stay awake, is just how influential the power of marketing really is. Arguably, if it wasn’t for Dietrich Mateschitz who transformed Thai Red Bull into what we know today as simply Red Bull, it might still be used solely by truck drivers and those who earn a living through physical labour. Today Red Bull enjoys a favourable image within the sports world. It is now the most popular energy drink in the world by market share, which can without doubt be attributed to aggressive and clever marketing through advertising, tournament and event sponsorship, sports team ownerships and celebrity endorsements. In addition, as hard as it is to comprehend, it even has its own record label, Red Bull Records.
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