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Corey Greenwood
Case Study
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IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction
Red Bull is an energy drink under the company Red Bull GmbH. It was created in
1987 in Thailand by and Austrian entrepreneur, Dietrich Mateschitz. Red Bull is the most
popular energy drink in the world. The case that will be focused on is their Red Bull
Stratos campaign, and how the successfully incorporated social media to invite and
inform publics of this historical event were used.
The Red Bull Stratos mission was a project on October 14, 2012, that involved
Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner free falling from the stratosphere. Baumgartner
traveled in a pressurized, helium-lifted capsule to a height of 128,097 feet over New
Mexico. Once Baumgartner reach this record-breaking height, he would then leave the
capsule and free fall to Earth, while eventually reaching the speed of Mach 1.24 (833.9
mph), breaking the sound barrier.
AnalysisAnalysisAnalysisAnalysis
The Red Bull Stratos mission involved several avenues as to how they were going to
present this campaign to their publics. Red Bull generally targets "young males" ("Red
Bull", n.d.). However, for this social media campaign, they generalized their targeted
audiences and invited all publics to watch this record-breaking feat. Red Bull did a stellar
job at promoting this campaign and reaching their goals they set forth. Clearly, some of
the goals they wanted to accomplish physically was to break Joe Kittinger's records. Joe
Kittinger was the capsule communicator and mentor through Baumgartner's mission to
the edge of space. Kittinger held the highest altitude jump which he set in 1960. Yet, the
goals behind this campaign itself were quite simple. They also wanted to promote this
mission, inform the publics, and then involve the community. Ultimately, they would also
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come away with a larger fan base in the social media world.
Red Bull Stratos started off this media campaign by promoting what Baumgartner
was trying to accomplish. There were videos, information about the technology that was
being used in this mission, and even a website dedicated to any and all information about
this mission. Throughout the earlier phases of the mission, there was documentation of
Felix's preparation. Before the actual mission, there were two test flights and free falls,
and the Stratos team was there to capture every important moment. Through this
promotion, they were also informing all publics involved. Red Bull Stratos wanted to
make sure that all publics knew the reason behind this mission. The informed the publics
of Joseph Kittinger's jump prior to this mission that set all the bars that Felix was going to
attempt to reach, and shatter.
The social media tools used in the Red Bull Stratos campaign were diverse and used
to inform and involve the publics. The main social media tools used were Youtube,
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I'll start off by explaining how Red Bull Stratos
successfully used Youtube. During the actual mission, Red Bull Stratos streamed the
entire operation on Youtube live. The amazing this is this live stream broke a record in
itself. According to Catherine Smith (2012), during the Red Bull Stratos mission, there
were over 8 million concurrent views before Felix jumped. That broke the previous
record for number of concurrent live streams online that was placed during the 2012
Summer Olympics, which was approximately 500,000, on Google (Smith, 2012). Along
with having an astonishing number of concurrent live views, the number of people
subscribed to Red Bull (Stratos) skyrocketed on the day of the jump from the edge of
space. On October 14, Red Bull accumulated 87, 801 more subscribers, plus an additional
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almost 60,000 on October 10, the date of the canceled jump (Epic , 2012) [see Appendix
A].
The next social media tool that Red Bull Stratos used dominantly was Facebook.
During this mission, the Red Bull Stratos team was efficiently updating their Facebook
page with updates, photos, and information about the mission's progress. Red Bull's
interactions and engagements on Facebook soared on the date of Felix's jump. Since Red
Bull was consistently posting updates and pictures, fans of the Red Bull Stratos Facebook
page had multiple opportunities to interact with the Red Bull Stratos team and share their
ideas, thoughts and emotions about this historic moment. On the day of Felix's jump, the
Red Bull Stratos page received over 900,000 interactions (likes, comments) plus 83,000
shares (Epic, 2012). Along with these astonishing numbers for the Red Bull Stratos page,
the official Red Bull page received 740,000 interactions (likes, comments, shares (Epic,
2012). The status that set itself apart from all the others was the picture of Felix on his
knees rejoicing after he landed safely back to Earth. This specific status gathered over
21,000 comments, 51,000 shares and 489,000 likes (Epic, 2012). In the study conducted
by www.socialbakers.com (2012), they estimate that approximately for every interaction
on Facebook, it reaches 100x more people. For example, they estimate that Red Bull
Stratos' most engaging post where Felix lands, may have reached up to 50 million users
(Epic, 2012) [see Appendix B].
Twitter also made quite an impact on how Red Bull branded their name to this epic
event. According to www.socialbakers.com (2012), although the official Red Bull page
didn't receive any type of influx of interactions on Twitter, the official Red Bull Stratos
page's interactions increased exponentially on October 14 and October 15. A combination
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of 20,000 interactions were recorded on October 14 and October 15, which would mean a
user would include the Twitter handle @redbullstratos (Epic, 2012) [see Appendix C].
Although these numbers may not seem that impressive, where Red Bull really shined on
Twitter was the amount of interactions they had involving hashtags. The hashtag
#Livejump was used in over 600,000 Tweets (Boies, 2012). Following #Livejump, the
hashtags #Stratos and #felixBaumgartner were Tweeted over 300,000 times each, while
the hashtag #redbullstratos was Tweeted over 400,000 times, which is as good as
including the actual @redbullstratos handle (Boies, 2012). Other hashtags that were
popular on Twitter were #spacejump, generating over 175,000 Tweets, and #redbull,
gathering over 75,000 Tweets (Boies, 2012) [see Appendix D]. Another way Red Bull
really shined on Twitter was how followers and/or publics could Tweet a question they
wanted asked at the press conference after Felix landed. A user could Tweet
@redbullstratos, and three questions would be answered live at the press conference.
A few other social media sites and tools Red Bull Stratos used were Instagram and
their own website, www.redbullstratos.com. On Instagram, Red Bull posted great photos
of the preparation of the mission and the mission in progress. On Red Bull Stratos
website, they posted all possible information about the mission, including a timeline, full
gallery, and comprehensive information about all aspects of the mission. Some of these
aspects include information about the entire team involved, the technology used,
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information about Felix Baumgartner, information about Joseph Kittinger, and
information about each stage of the successful jump (see Appendix E).
Red Bull used the same tools to monitor the publics' interaction that they used the
inform and involve those same publics. On Youtube, they were able to see how many live
streams were going on at one time and could calculate how many eyes were on Felix and
the Red Bull Stratos team. On Facebook, they could see specifically how many people
interacted on the page, through likes, comments and shares. They could also estimate how
many people even viewed their page. On Twitter they could monitor how many people
would ReTweet, share, quote their Tweets and follow their Red Bull Stratos account.
ConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusion
The final results and statistics I found about this case study were referenced in the
Analysis section above, pertaining to Appendices A-D. The statistics that were provided
were how followers and fans grew in all aspects of Red Bull's social media platforms
through this Red Bull Stratos campaign.
I found this campaign to be extremely successful. Some say it was just a publicity
stunt, but I disagree. It sparked and interest in many of Red Bull's fans, and created
platforms for publics to interact and be involved during this historic event. Their
pre-promotion was successful because I know many people were anticipating this jump
since the first cancelled date up until the actual jump. They really invested well since
NASA didn't take the reigns on this one. They also did a great job at sticking to one of the
aspects we have covered in class; storytelling. They "wrapped Stratos in a compelling
story of passing the torch from the old veteran to the young adventurer" (Matthew, 2012).
They included Kittinger's story and how Baumgartner continues this amazing feat. The
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human interest aspect of it all drew many people in, and gave it a different edge for how
they portrayed this jump. Overall, this was a very successful and intuitive campaign,
especially if you look at the statistics.
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RedRedRedRed BullBullBullBull StratosStratosStratosStratosWorksWorksWorksWorks CitedCitedCitedCited
Wikipedia, Red Bull Stratos. (n.d) from Red Bull Stratos Web Site:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull_Stratos
Red Bull Stratos. (2012). Retreived October 19, 2012, from www.redbullstratos.com
Smith, C (2012, October, 15). Red Bull Stratos YouTube Live Stream Attracts RecordNumber Of Viewers (UPDATE). retrieved October 19 2012, from Huff Post TechWeb Site:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/14/red-bull-stratos-youtube_n_1965375.html#slide=1641992
Red Bull Stratos. (2012). Retreived October 18, 2012, fromhttp://www.redbullmediahouse.com/products-brands/online/social-media.html
RedBullStratos (2012, October 14) Questions for Felix? Tweet @redbullstratos and 3 willbe answered live at the press conference. (Twitter post) Retrieved fromhttps://twitter.com/RedBullStratos
Boies, J (2012, October, 15). How Red Bull Stratos Successfully Soared Across SocialMedia. retrieved October 19 2012, from Sales Force: Blog Web Site:http://blogs.salesforce.com/company/2012/10/how-red-bull-stratos-successfully-soared-across-social-media.html
Wasserman, T (2012, October, 9). See The Best Pics From Red Bull’s #Stratos InstagramFeed. retrieved October 18 2012, from Mashable.comWeb Site:http://mashable.com/2012/10/09/instagram-felix-baumgartner-red-bull/#94171Felix-Baumgartner
Matthew (2012, October 15). 6 Ways That Red Bull Absolutely Killed It With Stratos.retrieved October 19 2012, from RGB Social Web Site:http://blog.rgbsocial.com/2012/10/15/6-ways-that-red-bull-absolutely-killed-it-with-stratos/
Bastow, S (2012, October 15). Stratos: how a brand took their content above and beyond.Retrieved October 19, 2012, from BloomWeb Site:http://www.bloomsocialbusiness.com/stratos-how-a-brand-took-their-content-above-and-beyond/#.UIGYiMXA-pA
(2012, October 19) Epic Jump Gives Red Bull Wings In Social MediaRetrieved October 20, 2012, from Social Bakers Web Site:http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/970-epic-jump-gives-red-bull-wings-in-social-media
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AppendicesAppendicesAppendicesAppendices
Appendix A:
Appendix B:
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Appendix C:
Appendix D:
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Appendix E: