I was watching the Austrian GP and got to thinking about Red Bull and its increasing profile worldwide. I wondered if Red Bull was a publicly traded company, because obviously, their marketing is genius. Turns out Red Bull is not publicly traded, it is a privately held corporation headed by Austrian, Deitrich Manteschitz. He has a silent partner in Thai businessman, Chaleo Yoovidhya, who was marketing a non-carbonated energy beverage in Thailand that Manteschitz sampled in 1982 during a trip there. He noticed that the drink was quite popular there and says that when he tried it, “it cured his jet lag.” Further research disclosed that a similar drink was popular in Japan.

Manteschitz campaigns two Formula 1 teams; Red Bull Racing and Alpha Tauri (formally Toro Rosso) the new name reflecting diversification into a clothing line.

Red Bull also campaigns the Flying Bulls, a fleet of beautifully restored aircraft including a DC-6B, an F4U Corsair, and a P-38 Lightning.

He has further diversified into media: magazines, television, websites, events and shows.

Pretty incredible story of a marketing genius. This link is to a feature in Bloomberg Businessweek

Red Bull’s Manteschitz

I would only add, “He’s not as interesting as Jonny Kim though.”

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TMats,

I've never had an energy drink, so can't comment on the product.
However, my wife and I will watch the ever-lovin' hell out of Red Bull Soap Box races, every weekend.

Pretty cool, but I nominate Johnny Kim.

He's an ER doctor, a Navy Seal with over 100 combat missions, and also an Astronaut.

And he's only in his mid-30s, so who knows what else he has in store.

Hard to argue, Rogue. Can you resize your picture?

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Pretty cool, but I nominate Johnny Kim.

He's an ER doctor, a Navy Seal with over 100 combat missions, and also an Astronaut.

And he's only in his mid-30s, so who knows what else he has in store.

You sure his name isn't really Frank Abagnale Jr.? I mean Dang!

I'm not into energy drinks and, other than drinking Jager Bombs or Tuaca Bombs years ago, I've never had a Red Bull.

But I've been interested in some of the sports or events that Red Bull has sponsored. I was into Red Bull Air Racing when it was created and wished they still held the event.

Red Bull also sponsored Baumgartner's record "space jump" and Aiken's 25,000' jump into the net...so they have successfully tied their brand to daredevils pushing the limits.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Pretty cool, but I nominate Johnny Kim.

He's an ER doctor, a Navy Seal with over 100 combat missions, and also an Astronaut.

And he's only in his mid-30s, so who knows what else he has in store.

Johnny Kim was the first man that I thought of when I read the thread title.

Johnny Kim wins hands-down.

If Kim told you only 2/3's of his accomplishments, you would never believe him, if you didn't already know about him.



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Kim is a man for all times. Simply amazing accomplishments!

I can see now that I made a mistake. See, I really didn’t think Manteschitz was literally “the world’s most interesting man,” I was just interested in the (IMO) phenomena of Red Bull and I learned about the man behind the corporation. As I indicated above, while Jonny Kim is more interesting; the Red Bull story is interesting too. Fair enough?

I’ll add that, if memory serves, there’s been a thread about Jonny Kim in SF.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
I can see now that I made a mistake...

We're just doing our SF job by displaying our ADD and instituting thread-drift.



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quote:

Originally posted by TigerDore:

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
I can see now that I made a mistake...

We're just doing our SF job by displaying our ADD and instituting thread-drift.

.

Not to mention subtly if not subconsciously reiterating to everyone about clear and unambiguous thread titles.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Not to mention subtly if not subconsciously reiterating to everyone about clear and unambiguous thread titles.

~Alan

You’re probably right.

Red Bull also backs the KTM Factory team in MotoGP.

He also bought the track where today's race was held and brought it up to F-1 standards.
A beautiful setting for any event.

https://www.gettyimages.com/ph...ing&sort=mostpopular

Interesting read. It's nine years old, I'd like to see an update. Did his kid take over?

AFAIK, Skins, he’s still running Red Bull, and both acquisitions and personal fortune continue to grow. Net worth now an estimated $20 billion.

Impressive company earnings with that few employees. I’m sure a lot is outsourced.

Red Bull has a Music Academy series that's been excellent, if you're into electronic music and hiphop and gear related to it all. Deep dives into niche cultures seems to be a big part of their worldwide effort.

Here's an episode with Brian Eno, for instance: