"Offensive warfare, flanking warfare, guerrilla warfare" – the bullfight among competitors has never truly ceased. Similarly, Red Bull's defensive battle has been ongoing, with some like Dongpeng achieving modest success. Yet 20 years have passed, and the functional beverage landscape remains unchanged. Red Bull remains as bullish as ever, and the bullfight continues, with the industry calling... Red Bull stands as the quintessential representative of functional drinks that "refresh the mind and replenish energy." From Europe to China, Red Bull has always held an unrivalled, supreme position in the market. In recent years, in the domestic Chinese market, challengers have emerged one after another, all attempting to topple the leader, Red Bull, and take its place. Unfortunately, whether through head-on confrontation or flanking attacks, challengers have found it difficult to achieve their goals! Red Bull continues to sit firmly at the top of the functional beverage market. Observing Red Bull's seemingly eternal dominance, both industry insiders and strategists have sought to crack the puzzle of the functional beverage market. Why is Red Bull so formidable? New categories arise from the differentiation of old ones, and new category claims become more specific and sharper.

Energy drinks initially differentiated from refreshing beverages, thereby seizing the greatest category value of energy drinks. The brand completed category representation, and in consumers' minds, Red Bull is synonymous with energy drinks.

Consumers say "Give me a Red Bull," not "Give me a Red Bull vitamin functional drink." Consumers are inherently lazy; they judge by category but communicate by brand.

Key points of Red Bull's marketing competitive strategy:

  1. Being first is better than being better. Red Bull entered China in 1995, gaining a first-mover advantage by seizing the opportune moment.

  2. After establishing the unique value of the "Red Bull = Energy" beverage category, they implemented operational strategies aligned with this core value.

  3. The natural advantage of the brand name "Red Bull" – the individual characters and their combination convey meanings that align with consumers' perception of "energy."

  4. Red Bull's brand story and background imagery. Red Bull originated in Thailand, where Muay Thai is the world's most ferocious martial art, representing unparalleled energy. Associating the Thai beverage with Muay Thai highlights its authenticity.

  5. Product attributes such as color, aroma, taste, form, and packaging align with the brand's unique category value, especially the three-piece can packaging that signals functionality and suits gift-giving.

  6. Other factors like the marketing team, distributor model, and the charisma of corporate leaders are necessary conditions for success.

Although Red Bull's slogan is "Tired? Sleepy? Drink Red Bull," the primary appeal clearly focuses on "refreshing the mind and replenishing energy." However, the selling point needs to be more concrete and further focused.

Establishing opinion leaders to expand the consumer base from point to surface. "Cars need fuel; I need Red Bull" – Red Bull identified drivers as heavy consumers and designated gas stations as high-potential channels. These exemplary consumers reinforced the category value of "replenishing energy" and directly drove consumption among non-heavy users.

When recognition becomes common knowledge, it signals that the brand has secured its top position, establishing competitive barriers and setting insurmountable obstacles for challengers. Subsequent promotional activities like "Red Bull Time" or various product placements serve to revitalize the brand and increase consumer loyalty.

From "Tired or sleepy" to "Your energy, beyond your imagination," from Europe to America to China, Red Bull has consistently sponsored various sports events. This constant reinforcement of brand characteristics has deepened the cognitive imprint of being the number one functional drink over time. The Bullfight Saga Under "Refusing to Accept Defeat" According to market rumors, whenever a beverage category reaches 1 billion in scale, Wahaha will seize the opportunity. Thus, in 2012, Wahaha's functional drink "Qili" was launched. Also, the Fujian food companies, known for their fighting spirit, never miss a hot trend, so in 2013, Dali's functional drink brand "Lehu" appeared. Of course, countless "X Bulls" followed suit.

The bullfight has never lacked courage, but Red Bull's peaceful days have ended, and the battle to defend its leadership has begun.

  1. Direct confrontation: Qili and Lehu

Red Bull has already occupied the greatest value point of "energy." How do Qili and Lehu respond?

As direct challengers to Red Bull, Qili and Lehu are almost identical to the number one leader in packaging, functional claims, and price.

Challengers engaging in head-on conflict with the leader are hindered by Red Bull's brand momentum and the mental barriers built over years, resulting in a gap between ideals and reality.

Qili and Lehu initially adopted a balanced attack approach, but failing to find a breakthrough point to tear open a mental gap, they boldly confronted Red Bull head-on, falling into the trap of balanced attack, and encountering setbacks was inevitable.

Let's look at their actions and moves.

Qili: "Drink Qili, add power, refresh without harming the body, boost immunity! Treat both symptoms and root causes, authentic health product."

Qili's primary appeal of "adding power and refreshing" is consistent with Red Bull, but it failed to find a point that could differentiate in consumers' minds. The subsequent four phrases were increasingly problematic.

"Refresh without harming the body" – this was the first in the industry to suggest that drinking functional drinks could harm the body, but without supporting evidence, it only conveyed a bewildering message. Does Qili not harm the body, while Red Bull does? This touched a high-voltage line of inherent cognition and violated a major taboo in brand communication.

"Boost immunity" seems lukewarm. Immunity is an abstract, neutral concept in consumer minds; abstract concepts cannot be immediately understood as concrete benefits, nor do they generate positive associations.

"Treat both symptoms and root causes, authentic health product" – to justify the previous claims, this was added as an unnecessary flourish. "Treat both symptoms and root causes" is a typical strong claim for pharmaceuticals, yet they also emphasized being an authentic health product. Emphasizing authenticity for a new brand is also foolish; the positioning of "authentic" and "leader" must be based on existing foundational cognition.

Qili's differentiated claims were a jumble of phrases lacking a sharp point, making it difficult to focus communication efforts. Such Qili is truly hard to empower!

How did Lehu respond? Lehu: "Drink Lehu, refresh and fight fatigue, stimulate positive energy!"

To show differentiation from Red Bull, Lehu added "stimulate positive energy" as an afterthought. For consumers, beverages and positive energy belong to material and spiritual realms respectively, with no strategic commercial competitiveness.

If you follow the leader, at least half of your advertising goes to the leader. Qili and Lehu failed to find true differentiated value, merely adding superficial embellishments to Red Bull's existing value.

The two challengers lacked a sharp knife to penetrate the market, merely staging a poor imitation show. To put it mildly, "Qili is not dead, Lehu is not alive" is the current reality for these two.

  1. Dongpeng Special Drink – Packaging as a Knife

Dongpeng was established in the 1980s, mainly focusing on the southeastern coastal market.

Judging solely by the slogan "Tired? Sleepy? Drink Dongpeng Special Drink!" it might be considered inferior. However, in the bullfight, Dongpeng is one of the few companies that has reaped significant rewards, having entered the 1 billion club long ago, with strong sell-through at the terminal and exceptional brand loyalty in its base market.

So how does Dongpeng fight the bull? We decode Dongpeng's path to success using the "product power, channel power, and brand power" model.

In terms of brand power, Dongpeng cannot fully confront Red Bull, so its focus is not on creating a "special drink category" or occupying the "local functional drink" mind as some experts claim. Its channel power is only excellent in Guangdong province, so Dongpeng can only focus on the product level.

In fact, the core of Dongpeng's success can be summarized in four words: "dreams of the underdog." That is, Dongpeng's success lies in providing an energy drink for consumers who are willing but cannot afford to drink Red Bull daily. (See figure)

According to AC Nielsen research data, over 70% of Red Bull's consumers are mental workers. Dongpeng's pricing directly cuts Red Bull's retail price in half, at 3 yuan per bottle, falling into a price range that the public is familiar with and accepts. In channel alignment, Dongpeng differentiates from Red Bull by turning small shops on streets and alleys or in industrial areas into "dedicated outlets." This allows Dongpeng to achieve true differentiation from Red Bull at the "product-channel-consumer" level.

By making a premium product affordable and meeting differentiated consumer needs, Dongpeng found its way.

Both Dongpeng and Red Bull use 250ml packaging, but the price difference is double, which might raise doubts about Dongpeng's efficacy. However, Dongpeng cleverly solved this problem. Dongpeng switched from the common iron can to plastic PET packaging, providing an unspoken reason for the lower price: in basic cognition, plastic containers are cheaper than iron.

Additionally, Dongpeng added a small cup over the cap, similar to the measuring cup used for health syrup, suggesting it can be drunk from the bottle or poured into the cup. This packaging innovation greatly highlights the product's functional attributes.

Dongpeng's packaging innovation strategy is a strategic move that effectively reduces costs without raising doubts about efficacy. Using packaging as a price weapon directly established its industry position. Interestingly, Dali used the same tactic to cut into the herbal tea market, but it did not replicate this in Lehu, which is puzzling.

  1. Copycat Followers – Whatever Exists is Reasonable

China also has the most copycat brands globally.

The market is flooded with various "X Bull" brands, including counterfeit canned products and even 500ml and over 1L PET bottles, selling functional drinks like soda. These products are concentrated in circulation and special channels, sold to third- and fourth-tier markets and specific venues.

This is an inevitable phenomenon in China's marketization process. The Functional Beverage Landscape in the Post-Red Bull Era Based on the competitive claims of various functional drinks, they can be roughly divided into four major explicit needs and four minor implicit needs.

Four major needs: 1. Refresh the mind; 2. Replenish energy; 3. Balance muscle function (for post-exercise consumption); 4. Supplement nutrition. Four minor needs: 1. Relieve hangover; 2. Regulate blood lipids; 3. Promote metabolism; 4. Enhance immunity.

The battle between "defense and offense" in functional drinks has never ceased, and it is intensifying. In terms of tactics, four business war models are also present: defensive warfare, offensive warfare, flanking warfare, and guerrilla warfare.

Defender's rule: To defend its leadership position, Red Bull adopts defensive warfare against various competitors.

Attacker's rule: The second, third, and later players assess their resources and strategic and tactical arrangements.

Offensive warfare: Offensive warfare focuses on seizing a larger market share in the existing market.

Examples: Pepsi attacks Coca-Cola with the choice of the younger generation; Pulpy Orange attacks Minute Maid Pulpy with its pulp feature; Trident attacks Extra with long-lasting flavor.

Qili and Lehu adopted offensive warfare, directly targeting Red Bull's primary feature.

Flanking warfare: Flanking warfare focuses on creating new categories.

Examples: Wugu Daochang attacked the instant noodle category with non-fried noodles; Nongfu Spring attacked the purified water category with natural water; Pu Wang attacked the ketchup category with tomato-based cooking sauce.

Guerrilla warfare: Companies of different scales avoid the mainstream market and seek survival and development opportunities.

Dongpeng Special Drink is a typical example of guerrilla warfare, avoiding Red Bull's mainstream consumers, meeting target customers' needs, and pursuing phased goals.