CHICAGO: Red Bull Media House is giving third parties the chance to tap the content expertise which fuels the marketing for its namesake energy drink – an opportunity that has attracted brands like adidas and Nokia.
Alexander Koppel, Red Bull Media House's chief commercial officer – a standalone firm responsible for Red Bull's content efforts – discussed its evolution and approach at IEG's 2015 Sponsorship conference in Chicago.
"What is probably new and worthwhile noting is that we are now engaging – large-scale – in sponsorship and in brand partnerships," he said. (For more, including how storytelling forms the basis of these tie-ups, read Warc's exclusive report: Red Bull Media House opens its doors to brand partners.)
"We're allowing third parties to access a very engaged audience – and what I believe is a very attractive target group."
One operator quick to take up such an offer was adidas, which last year became the first third-party brand to run a campaign on Red Bull Media House's digital properties with its "Open All Winter" initiative.
Elsewhere, Nokia has allied with Red Bull Photography in order to show off the capabilities of the cameras featured on its Lumia smartphones.
Founded in 2008, Red Bull Media House has its own targets – financial and otherwise – to hit. But it is able to draw on many of the strengths possessed by the beverage business it supports.
"In today's world, we're competing for audience and we're competing for advertisers at the same time. We are a true global company, built on the backbone of a phenomenal organisation in 67 countries," said Koppel.
"So it's not separate; it is well-integrated. And I think this is making us unique: it is offering and allowing you as a client – [or] as a potential client or us as a Media House – to access these phenomenal resources.
"What we set sail for is creating an independent media company … Our focus is to compete for audience and advertisers and create phenomenal storytelling."
As an indicator of its success in this endeavour, Koppel reported that the Media House boasts nearly 500 commercial partnerships on the content side alone.
"We have hundreds of clients now globally. We have established a licensing business, a rights business," he said. "So, we're growing the business."
Alexander Koppel, Red Bull Media House's chief commercial officer – a standalone firm responsible for Red Bull's content efforts – discussed its evolution and approach at IEG's 2015 Sponsorship conference in Chicago.
"What is probably new and worthwhile noting is that we are now engaging – large-scale – in sponsorship and in brand partnerships," he said. (For more, including how storytelling forms the basis of these tie-ups, read Warc's exclusive report: Red Bull Media House opens its doors to brand partners.)
"We're allowing third parties to access a very engaged audience – and what I believe is a very attractive target group."
One operator quick to take up such an offer was adidas, which last year became the first third-party brand to run a campaign on Red Bull Media House's digital properties with its "Open All Winter" initiative.
Elsewhere, Nokia has allied with Red Bull Photography in order to show off the capabilities of the cameras featured on its Lumia smartphones.
Founded in 2008, Red Bull Media House has its own targets – financial and otherwise – to hit. But it is able to draw on many of the strengths possessed by the beverage business it supports.
"In today's world, we're competing for audience and we're competing for advertisers at the same time. We are a true global company, built on the backbone of a phenomenal organisation in 67 countries," said Koppel.
"So it's not separate; it is well-integrated. And I think this is making us unique: it is offering and allowing you as a client – [or] as a potential client or us as a Media House – to access these phenomenal resources.
"What we set sail for is creating an independent media company … Our focus is to compete for audience and advertisers and create phenomenal storytelling."
As an indicator of its success in this endeavour, Koppel reported that the Media House boasts nearly 500 commercial partnerships on the content side alone.
"We have hundreds of clients now globally. We have established a licensing business, a rights business," he said. "So, we're growing the business."
Data sourced from Warc
