Breathtaking achievements: Always thirsty for new records

Red Bull is essentially a manufacturer of energy drinks. But thanks to intelligent marketing, the Austrian drinks company has created an exhilarating brand experience, using digital content to quench the thirst of its international community of producers, suppliers and consumers.

In his early forties, Dietrich Mateschitz gave up a well-paid job to establish an international company – with just a Thai drinks recipe and a small amount of start-up capital. 22 years later, at the age of 65, the Red Bull founder heads a global corporation that its products in 151 countries. Red Bull sponsors various extreme sports events, and sometimes even creates its own competitions – whether rock climbing or freestyle motocross, cliff diving or aerobatics. These events regularly result in breathtaking world records – ensuring that the brand is recognized across the globe, from Ushuaia in Argentina to Ulan-Ude in Siberia. And with the help of their innovative partner T-Systems, Red Bull wants to build on their strength. CTO Andi Gall explains, “Our vision is: we have an idea, we set it in motion and then we create a platform that enables people across the world, wherever they are, to be a part of our idea. Our goal is anytime, anywhere access.”

Flying high with ICT

The basis for rapid, reliable interaction between the brand and its customers is a secure content pool – a robust file system that can handle large volumes of data and distributed storage systems efficiently, with proposed bandwidths of up to 100 megabits per second. In addition, MPLS technology is deployed for live streaming of high-definition video content between Red Bull hotspots in Salzburg and Sao Paulo, Los Angeles and Frankfurt – with current bandwidths of up to 30 megabits per second. Red Bull also tasked T-Systems with expanding its international network to 20 sites worldwide.

Read more about Red Bull in the print edition of Best Practice.