But their marketing isn’t about the drink.
They rarely talk about:
• ingredients
• flavour
• caffeine levels
Instead, they sell something far more powerful.
A lifestyle.
Red Bull doesn’t market a product
They market a mindset.
Look at what the brand associates itself with:
• Formula 1
• cliff diving
• motocross
• skydiving
• extreme sports
The drink itself is almost secondary.
When people buy Red Bull, they’re buying into the idea of being:
energetic
bold
limit-pushing
The can is just the entry ticket.
They created culture, not ads
Most companies run ads.
Red Bull builds cultural moments.
Think about the famous Stratos jump from space.
Millions of people watched Felix Baumgartner jump from the edge of space.
It wasn’t really an ad.
But the entire world associated that moment with Red Bull.
That’s branding.
Product vs Identity
Most ecommerce brands market like this:
Product → Features → Buy Now.
Red Bull reversed the model:
Identity → Lifestyle → Product.
People don’t drink Red Bull because they compared caffeine levels.
They drink it because it represents something.
What ecommerce brands should learn
The biggest mistake most ecommerce brands make:
They sell products instead of identity.
Example.
Weak marketing:
“Premium skincare with Vitamin A.”
Stronger marketing:
“Swiss oxygen skincare used by royalty.”
Weak marketing:
“High quality protein powder.”
Stronger marketing:
“Fuel for athletes chasing their next personal record.”
Same product.
Completely different perception.
A simple exercise
Ask yourself three questions about your brand.
1️⃣ What lifestyle does my product represent?
Luxury? Discipline? Performance? Longevity?
2️⃣ What culture can we build around it?
Community, creators, ambassadors, events.
3️⃣ What identity are customers buying into?
Confidence. Strength. Belonging. Status.
Customers rarely buy the product.
They buy who they become when they use it.
Partner: Ecommerce Boost, Email Marketing Agency
Most brands focus on acquiring traffic.
But the real problem is usually monetisation.
They recently drove €4.5M from email in 90 days for one ecommerce brand by fixing:
• signup rate
• welcome flow
• abandoned cart
• post-purchase retention
If you're curious how your store performs, you can run our free email audit.
It takes about 2 minutes.
You’ll see exactly where your email revenue is leaking — and how to fix it.
See you next issue.