Event Marketing - RedBull Rampage.

Introduction

The free ride is a term that refers to a practice designed to open and rolling on new tracks, new path outside existing trails, composed of very technical passages, steep slopes, jumps, etc. The free ride is a sport with an extreme connotation, which requires intensive physical effort. This sport involves riding on trails that are challenging, both the technique and the cardiovascular and muscular endurance. Bicycles designed for this discipline are generally composed of front and rear suspension, hydraulic disc brakes, and many reinforcements on the frame and components. These bikes are made to ride over long distances and on technical and difficult paths.

This discipline has created competitions, special events such as the Red Bull Rampage, the Free ride Tour VTT, the Free ride Mountain Bike World Tour, etc. Today, we will focus on mountain bike free ride event organized by Red Bull: The Red Bull Rampage.

For this event, we will ask ourselves the following question: How Red Bull has managed to develop this bike free ride competition at the international level?

First, we analyse the evolution of this competition from its creation in 2001 to its tenth and final edition in 2015. Then we will study the marketing strategies used by Red Bull to promote the event internationally.

I. The evolution of the Red Bull Rampage: An international free ride biking competition

1. The history of this event

This free ride competition of bike was held for the first time in October 2001 in the United States. This event takes place in the natural park of Zion, in Utah's state. Red Bull Rampage combines technical advances in the mountain bike sport and the skills of free riding.

Red Bull created this competition with the help of Global Event Management, Josh Bender, and Bike Zion. Global Event Management or GEM is an agency, originally from Dubai, with 30 years of experience in the event management, creative communications and experiential marketing. For the Red Bull Rampage event, GEM participated in the development of communication and the online marketing. Josh Bender, the professional mountain biker participated at the first Red Bull Rampage as ambassador of the event. To finish, Bike Zion is a bike shop at Zion Natural Park, where the competition takes place. Bike Zion has helped Red Bull for organizing this event through knowledge of the natural park by the teams of the store. The shop has been a real guide for Red Bull during the creation of the track for the competition. In addition, the store proposed bicycle equipment at the event.

Red Bull Rampage is similar to freestyle skiing and snowboarding, competitors are judged on:

• Their chosen path to go down the track

• Their technical capacity

• Down time.

Red Bull Rampage has become one of the largest mountain bike event of the year.

Each year the competition has been held since 2001, 28 runners oppose in order to win the final price, a price that has increased every year.

Year Price for the winner Evolution per year

2001 $8 000

2002 $10 000 + 2 000

2003 $12 000 + 2 000

2004 $15 000 + 3 000

2008 $20 000 + 5 000

2010 $25 000 + 5 000

2012 $40 000 + 5 000

2013 $55 000 + 15 000

2014 $75 000 + 15 000

2015 $100 000 + 15 000

We can note that over the years, the prize for the winner has increased more and more. This phenomenon may be due to the risk that the runners take by participating in this competition. Indeed, there have been many accidents during the different competition Red Bull Rampage. For example, in 2013, Mike Hopkins, a professional mountain biker and big mountain skier from Rossland B.C. Canada, made a terrible fall and remained in a coma for one month. There have been five years where the free ride mountain bike contest was not held. After the victory of Kyle Strait in 2004, Red Bull Rampage was suspended until 2008 because of the danger of the event. The competition has also not held in 2009 and 2011.

Red Bull Rampage is now reputed to be one of the most extreme and dangerous races in the world. The last edition having taken places this year. The winner of this 10th edition was Sam Reynolds, a Canadian, with a score of 96.50. This victory was possible thanks mainly to an acrobatic: Superman over the Canyon Gap.

2. Market segments targeted by Red Bull for this event

For this event, Red Bull has set its target based on several criteria:

• Geographical criteria

• Demographic criteria

• Social criteria

For the geographical criteria, Red Bull Rampage takes place in the US; thereby Red Bull primarily targets US. However, following the media coverage of this event (discussed in Part II.) Red Bull affects other continents such as the European continent.

For the demographic criteria, Red Bull Rampage is an extreme sports competition; thereby Red Bull seeks to achieve that target women as men but young, between 15 and 35 years.

For the social criteria, Red Bull, through this competition, mainly targets athletes, students, and thrill seeking.

So, for this event, Red Bull aims to achieve teenagers or young US adults between 15 and 35 years, students and / or athletes in search of adrenaline.

3. Funding sources of this event

On many websites, it is said that Red Bull finances all events it creates with its own financial resources. We know that Red Bull funds this event but we don’t know the exact price that is devoted to this event because it is confidential. However we know that Red Bull has had a turnover of 4.25 billion euros in 2011 and this company spends 30% of its sales in marketing,

...