Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Plan for Red Bull in India (Word DOCX)

Red Bull the market leader in the energy drinks segment entered India to capture the growing market for beverages. Although, Indian market is a very mature market for soft drinks and fruit juices, but as far as energy drinks are concerned most of masses still prefer the natural drinks like a homemade lemonade or glucose based drinks. Also, Red Bull's heavy marketing through bars and clubs gives a perception that it has association with alcoholic drinks affecting its reach.

It is has been the market leader till now in the very niche segment but it has still not been able to penetrate to the burgeoning middle class society of India. Moreover, its competition is growing with the soft drink giants Coca-Cola and Pepsi both have started eyeing the energy drink segment in India. Red Bull needs to look back at their IMC campaign in order to maintain their position at the summit and take a check at their dwindling market share.

This paper analyzes the current marketing activities of Red Bull in India using various branding models and theories and gives a suggestion on the design and implementation of the new IMC campaign for Red Bull. It starts with a consumer behavior analysis of the Indian consumer with relation to energy drinks. Then to analyze the current position of the Red Bull, a SWOT analysis is presented. It gives an idea about the problems and at hand and the opportunities available once these problems are overcome. After this Red Bull's current marketing activities (both ATL & BTL) are discussed. In the second part of the report the Red Bull as a brand has been analyzed on three fronts viz. Brand Perception, Brand Equity & Brand Identity using theoretical frameworks like Brand Perceptual Mapping, Aaker's Brand Equity Model and Kapferer's Brand Identity Prism. The third part of the report starts with a communication context analysis (Internal, external, customer, business & stakeholder) of Red Bull to understand how various entities are impacting the organization. Further, it discusses the main criteria or essential elements required for the success of any IMC campaign. The last part of the report takes into account the findings of the communication context analysis and the main criteria for success of IMC campaign and gives recommendations on the marketing mix of the Red Bull and the new branding activities it should undertake in order to expand its consumer base and maintain its market leader position.