Challenge

London’s leading edge consumers were rejecting Red Bull as it was losing it’s subversive edge and becoming more mainstream. The Gild was tasked with gaining a better understanding of London’s leading edge consumer, their lifestyle, drinking habits and brand perceptions. To ultimately uncover opportunity platforms that would enable Red Bull to engage and build advocacy amongst opinion formers in the on-trade environment; leading to advocacy with mainstream consumers further down the line.

Approach

The Gild undertook a multi-layered approach. We first immersed ourselves in North / East London drinking / social culture through ‘Social Safaris’ with Red Bull’s expert culture team. This was complimented by one-on-one in-depth ethnographic research with leading-edge consumers and interviews with ‘taste-makers’ across music, fashion, dining and architecture.

Result
Pulling together all insights, The Gild identified a set of key ‘leading-edge’ consumer typologies and built rich and inspiring portraits for each. A set of opportunity platforms was then generated to use as a spring-board for ideas for the next three years. Red Bull is now using these platforms and exploring their significance for other key UK cities.