![]() I have realised that, in the end, it is actually just down to like-minded people, a healthy dose of unreasonable ambition and a strong sense of collective endeavour. They have different skills and experiences and are changing the way we see the world – and what we do. Red Bull does not have to be the anomaly.Īt Sunshine, we have spent the past couple of years recruiting talent from the entertainment world people who have never set foot in a company that deals with brands before – from the BBC, Viacom, CAA, Shine, Channel 4 and MTV. That skill, that ability, the deep expertise it takes to find, craft and carry those stories into audiences’ lives, homes and hands lies not in our industry but theirs. The most life-affirming, uplifting, rewarding, shareable story wins. In that battle for attention, for the hearts and minds of audiences, the rules are actually incredibly simple: the best story wins. Audiences, owing to the sheer explosion in choice, are under huge pressure when it comes to where they spend their precious time. The world of media is changing faster than at any time in history. There are no decks in entertainment meetings – just people pitching stories. The two worlds – their people and their formats – are just very different. It is compounded by the fact that the interruptive media they rely heavily on are not designed for anything else. And therein lies the problem with the vast majority of brands that still rely heavily on the orthodoxy of traditional marketing thinking: they are message out. Former Financial Times journalist (and now Silicon Valley-watcher) Tom Forenski put it brilliantly recently when saying "media companies do not create media about themselves". What is the secret to the success? Unlike most brands, it does not talk about itself. #Brian chesky airbnb jony ive theverge tvThrough magazines, video series, clip shows, tailor-made programme blocks and documentaries, it offers its partners – TV stations, platform providers, cinema distributors and others – a vast array of entertainment products, and a global audience. It has become one of the world’s leading producers of premium audio-visual media in the fields of sports, culture and lifestyle. These roles entail creation, production, financing, distribution and marketing. Red Bull has invested in the right combination of talent – poaching from slower, more traditional broadcasters, production companies and magazines. Telling stories is a strategy that works. In 2015, Forbes ranked Red Bull as its 76th most-valuable brand in the world, at $7.6bn. Werner Brell, president of Red Bull Media House North America, puts the strategy simply: "Know your brand and stand by its ethos, be relevant and authentic, surprise and innovate, be consistent, and tell a real story." Moreover, when he talks about a story, he means a story, and, like all stories in the entertainment world, one that is worth something. What set it apart years ago was the energy it put into building an entertainment and media business. If you are a 17-year-old snowboarder in Tahoe, Red Bull is an entertainment company that happens to make a soft drink. When asked a couple of years ago why it did not enter the Cannes Lions, the company’s answer was: "Wrong Cannes." It is not thinking in terms of marketing, it is thinking in terms of entertainment. Felix Baumgartner Space Jump World Record 2012Īnd then there is Red Bull. There is nothing wrong with them as a brand-building mechanism but they are media buys with another third-party owner, not entertainment. It is calling media-buy deals with Vice "branded entertainment platforms". It lacks confidence, understanding and talent from the other side. As someone who has spent a good while working at the intersection of both industries, I have realised why: the brand world is still only half in. The field is conspicuously sparse of true commercial and critical successes: Shane Meadows’ award-winning Somers Town (funded by Eurostar), the blockbusting Lego Movie… the examples of brands creating what people in the entertainment world would call "entertainment" are still rare. We have been talking about brands and entertainment for well over a decade. Know your brand and stand by its ethos, be relevant and authentic" Werner Brell Red Bull Media House North America ![]()
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