I was planning to go on a long walk and wanted to put a can of Red Bull in my waist pack. But when I got to the supermarket, I was stunned in front of the shelf. There were so many Red Bulls with different looks, prices, and even formulas. How was I supposed to choose? I checked my phone, but even Baidu Knows didn't seem to know. As a Virgo who has to get to the bottom of everything, I decided to thoroughly understand the past and present of the Red Bull family today, and be an obsessive-compulsive useful to society.
Besides the difference of carbonation, Austrian Red Bull and Chinese Red Bull also have slightly different formulas, but both are functional drinks containing taurine, caffeine, and B vitamins. Looking at the ingredients listed on the back of the cans, Austrian Red Bull lists a longer list. Among them, vitamin B2 and glucose are not found in Chinese Red Bull. Additionally, Austrian Red Bull specifies its flavoring ingredients, including ethyl acetate, ethyl butyrate, butyl vanillin, isoamyl acetate, maltol, lactic acid, and so on. Chinese Red Bull simply says "flavorings" without specifying.
As we all know, taurine is the core ingredient in Red Bull drinks. So among the three types of Red Bull, which has the strongest taurine? Let's zoom in on the content display on the back of the cans. First, look at the silver-blue can and gold can of Chinese Red Bull. According to the "content" column, the former has a taurine content of 925mg per can (370mg per 100ml), which is 7.4 times that of the latter (the gold can is only 125mg per can), so it is also called the "taurine enhanced version" of Chinese Red Bull.
(Chinese Red Bull gold can) (Chinese Red Bull silver-blue can)
But this enhanced version is a small player in front of Austrian Red Bull. Austrian Red Bull has a taurine content of 1000mg per can (400mg per 100ml), which is 75mg per can higher than the Chinese Red Bull taurine enhanced version, and 8 times that of the gold can Red Bull.
(Austrian Red Bull)
The differences in other ingredients among the three Red Bulls are not obvious, so I won't analyze them in detail here. The reason I emphasize taurine's role is that when you drink it when needed, you can indeed feel the difference in effect. A friend's usual long-distance running limit is over 30 kilometers, but once after drinking a can of taurine drink, he ran an extra 10 kilometers, and after finishing, he didn't feel as tired as he usually did after running 30 kilometers. Of course, the actual effect of taurine may vary from person to person. But from the data, Austrian Red Bull performs much better than Chinese Red Bull in terms of anti-fatigue and replenishing energy. When doing high-intensity work or exercise, it is crucial to replenish nutrition in a timely and efficient manner.
So the question arises: What kind of drink is Red Bull? Why are there Austrian Red Bull and Chinese Red Bull? Why is the second-generation product of Chinese Red Bull so similar in packaging to Austrian Red Bull? As an obsessive-compulsive consumer, I must understand this clearly. Let me tell you the past and present of the two companies.
The owner of Austrian Red Bull, Dietrich Mateschitz, is now Austria's richest man (in January 2015, his assets were estimated at $10.7 billion).
But in the 1980s, he was a salesman for a German toothpaste company. In 1982, to open the Thai market, 38-year-old Mateschitz came to Bangkok to sell toothpaste. But as soon as he got off the plane, jet lag ruined his work state. At that time, he saw local rickshaw drivers drinking a drink called Krating Daeng (then called "red gaur" in English, literally "red Indian bison" in Chinese). After trying it, his fatigue was indeed swept away. Coincidentally, he also read in a magazine that Japan's largest taxpayer at the time was the CP Group, which produced health drinks. A salesman who doesn't want to be a boss is not a good salesman. With keen insight, Mateschitz immediately took action and fully cooperated with the founder of Red Bull, Thai-Chinese businessman Chaleo Yoovidhya, to create Austrian Red Bull Company, with the goal of bringing Red Bull to the world. Each held 49% of the company's shares, and the remaining 2% was given to Chaleo's son, Chalerm Yoovidhya. Although he made a slight concession in shares, Mateschitz was the actual operator of the company. In 1987, a new functional drink appeared in Austria, named Red Bull, which is the Austrian Red Bull we see now.
Yes, the packaging of this company's Red Bull has been the classic slim silver-blue small can from the beginning, selected by Mateschitz from more than 50 designs. The designer was his university friend Johannes Kastner. At that time, Kastner's evaluation of Mateschitz was "poor but picky." Then Mateschitz began to think about how to make this silver-blue small can accepted by the public. Although he still owed the bank a lot of money at the beginning of the venture, Mateschitz boldly launched a free distribution campaign. Mateschitz hoped that through free distribution, he could gain public recognition while conducting market research and continuously improving the taste of the drink. This is also why Austrian Red Bull now tastes very different from the original Thai Red Bull. He also spared no expense in hiring college students to drive cars decorated with giant can-shaped cans on campus and give away this new drink for free at various parties. The drink car with a silver-blue can on top was born at this time, and later became a model for modified car enthusiasts.
The advertisement that really made Red Bull popular should thank the famous Austrian F1 driver Gerhard Berger.
At that time, Berger, who was driving for the Ferrari team, was caught on TV running in Brazil holding a silver-blue small can of drink. This seemingly accidental move caused Red Bull sales to surge the next day. Later, Gerhard Berger admitted that it was to help a friend who was "enthusiastic but had little money." Many years later, that friend helped him realize his dream of becoming an F1 team owner. Gerhard Berger, during his time as head of the Red Bull junior F1 team, personally trained the later famous four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel. But that's a story for later.
The cooperation with Gerhard Berger was a good start for Red Bull's sports marketing. Later, Mateschitz also made waves in extreme sports, racing, football, sailing, fighting, and even extended his reach into sports games. This is why we frequently see Red Bull's blue-based livery on various sports equipment and athletes' uniforms.
Another exciting sponsorship came in 2003 when Mateschitz sponsored Austrian Felix Baumgartner to fly across the English Channel using a self-made glider, covering a straight-line distance of 33.8 kilometers. Baumgartner's wings, with the silver-blue Red Bull logo, left a deep impression through television broadcasts. To this day, people in more than 167 countries and regions around the world regard this silver-blue small can of Red Bull as a symbol of physical replenishment and sports spirit.
Like Austrian Red Bull, Chinese Red Bull also traces its origins to Thai Red Bull, but much later. The entrepreneurial journey of Yan Bin, the father of Chinese Red Bull, is equally legendary.
In 1954, he was born into a poor family in Shandong. In 1970, after graduating from junior high school, he went to Lin County in Henan to work in the countryside. A year later, he only earned 92 yuan. To save money, he ate sweet potatoes every day for that year. "Because I was too afraid of poverty," he later chose to go to Thailand to make a living, and it is said that he even sold blood to survive. Later, Yan Bin finally found a hard apprenticeship and found his life's direction. In 1984, he founded the Huabin Group in Thailand, mainly engaged in property, tourism, and international trade. In December 1995, Yan Bin returned to China to invest and established Red Bull Vitamin Drink Co., Ltd. in Shenzhen, obtaining the operating rights for the Red Bull REDBULL trademark in China (at that time, Austrian Red Bull had not yet entered the Chinese market on a large scale). Presumably, during his difficult working years, the local Thai Red Bull drink left a deep impression on Yan Bin. Although the company was established a full 11 years later than Austrian Red Bull, it was one of the first functional drinks that Chinese people knew.
The drinks produced by the two companies both originate from Thai Red Bull, but their research and development paths are completely different, so the formulas and effects of the drinks are also very different. It can be said that today they have developed into two completely different types of drinks, but they share the same name. However, Chinese Red Bull does not seem to be in a hurry to clarify this misunderstanding. As mentioned earlier, Austrian Red Bull's packaging was already determined as a silver-blue small can in 1987, while Chinese Red Bull was not officially produced until 1995, and at that time it was only in a gold can. By 2002, the second-generation taurine-enhanced type produced by Chinese Red Bull directly adopted packaging and English fonts highly similar to Austrian Red Bull. As a consumer, it is inevitable to mistake it for a domestic version of Austrian Red Bull. The merchant's intention is also very obvious.
In addition, perhaps great minds think alike. Yan Bin's Chinese Red Bull also adopted a marketing strategy similar to Mateschitz's, vigorously sponsoring sports teams and sports events in China, and the advertising livery is often blue-based, very similar to the livery that Austrian Red Bull uses globally.
In this way, the projects promoted by Chinese Red Bull and Austrian Red Bull are even more difficult to distinguish. But the scope of influence and investment intensity of the two are clearly not on the same level. For Austrian Red Bull, which owns two F1 teams, multiple football clubs, hosts countless extreme events, and even has a video game industry, this is equivalent to making wedding clothes for others invisibly.
Of course, as a consumer with taste, I will definitely buy after understanding everything, and then go home and write down the story of the two Red Bulls. Perhaps some people will secretly feel wronged for Austrian Red Bull after reading it. However, since Wanglaoji and JDB, which have been entangled for years, have been distinguished, these two Red Bulls will eventually be clear to the public.
Related link: The origin of Thai Red Bull:
Image: Red Bull founder: Chaleo Yoovidhya
Chaleo Yoovidhya is a typical example of starting from scratch. He was born into a Chinese family living in Thailand. At that time, the family made a living by raising ducks and selling fruits in Phichit Province in northern Thailand, and they were poor.
When he grew up, Chaleo's first job was as a bus conductor. Later, he helped at his brother's pharmacy in Bangkok, the capital, and also worked as a salesman. In 1962, he founded a pharmaceutical factory in the old city of Bangkok, named TC Pharmaceutical Factory.
In the 1970s, Chaleo's factory developed a "tonic drink" containing water, sugar, caffeine, inositol, and B vitamins, named "Red Bull." At that time, the target sales group of "Red Bull" was blue-collar workers such as shift workers and truck drivers, to help them stay awake during overnight work.
After "Red Bull" was launched, it was very popular. The sales boosted his confidence, and he expanded the factory abroad, with 24-hour continuous production, and the products were in short supply. It quickly covered markets in Southeast Asia, Western Europe, and Northern Europe. He became Thailand's "Drink King" as expected.
In 1982, Austrian tycoon Dietrich Mateschitz, on a business trip to Asia, unexpectedly found that "Red Bull" was very effective in alleviating jet lag. Subsequently, Mateschitz specifically went to Thailand to find Chaleo, hoping to bring "Red Bull" to the world, and the two hit it off.
In 1985, Austrian businessman Dietrich Mateschitz, who had worked at Procter & Gamble's Asian regional branch, decided to buy the formula and trademark rights of this drink because of his love for it, and market it outside Asia. In 1986, he established Red Bull GmbH in Austria, improved the formula by adding carbonation, and sold it as a sparkling drink in Austria. Compared to traditional energy drinks, Mateschitz packaged the product in a very popular and fashionable way, achieving unprecedented response and being widely accepted by young people.
In 1992, Red Bull (excluding the Thai version Krating Daeng) was first exported to Hungary, a country outside Austria, and then quickly expanded to a market of more than 100 countries. With excellent quality and good reputation, Red Bull drinks sell well in more than 140 countries and regions around the world, firmly holding a leading position in the global functional drink industry.
This article is reprinted from the public account: Wei Guan Impression Original title: This "Bull" is not that "Bull" - Red Bull drinks share the same name but different origins, with slight modifications.
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