Santina Da Cruz • Andrew Kinn • Preston McClellan • Shauna Smith • Julianne Smith
Marketing Challenge Attack the caffeinated beverage competition by creating avid college-age consumers around the NCAA tournament and its surrounding events. • How can Red Bull position its brand alongside the NCAA brand without becoming an official sponsor? (Coke would not allow them to become an official sponsor because of the competition). • Can Red Bull have 50 percent of fans believe that it was the official partner of the NCAA tournament?
Communication Purpose:
Position Red Bull as the unofficial beverage partner of the NCAA. We want consumers of caffeinated beverages to leave Bracket Towns believing that Red Bull, and not Coca-Cola, is the official partner of the NCAA tournament. In order to measure the effectiveness of our campaign, we will conduct exit surveys with our target demographic to determine who they believed was the official beverage partner of the NCAA. Our goal is to have 50% of fans believing Red Bull was the official partner of the NCAA tournament.
Target Audience
Energy drinkers are college-aged students. 62 percent are white. 62 percent are also male. 47.7 percent of them are unemployed. A large percentage of them (nearly 80 percent) tried their first energy drink either in high school or early college. In this demographic, Red Bull makes up 42 percent of the market share, while Monster is a close second with 37 percent. 39 percent of all college-aged students have tried an energy drink in the last month. Hyped Henry and Enthusiastic Eric are white, 21-year old college students devoted to their institutions intercollegiate athletic teams. They are employed part-time, but they mostly focused on school. They eat, drink, and sleep their team. They are in the student section at every game screaming and yelling their team to victory. They identify themselves as extensions of the team. When the team travels they travel with them and support them through the NCAA tournament. When their team makes the NCAA tournament, just like the players, they are going to the game because they have worked so hard for this. They like drinking beverages high in caffeine before attending sporting events (and before going out) in order to jacked for moment.
Key Insight
College students travel to the NCAA March Madness games to support their team and celebrate their success. They get to the cities where games are located and are looking for a good time. They want to be as energetic and passionate as possible for their school’s game. They stay up late celebrating victories. They want to make the most of their trip and often turn to caffeine for energy. - Energy drinkers want to stay awake and alert as long as possible.
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