Dietrich Mateschitz was a marketing genius whose story does justice to the empire he created, centered around the silhouette of a red buffalo that has the qualities of revitalizing anyone who drinks from one of its cans. The most prominent face of Red Bull and his co-owner (he owns 49% of the company) died this Saturday at the age of 78 after failing to overcome a cancer from which they had long suffered. With this, the energy giant loses its main drive. The news was announced byto the Formula 1 team of the company, which competes in this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, two weeks after Max Verstappen celebrated the team’s sixth world title. Unlike other societies where decisions are made much more collectively, the influence of Mateschitz in the aggressive expansion policy of the brand image has always been enormous, a circumstance that suggests that it will also be the void it leaves.
The Austrian, who was born in Styria in May 1944 during the Second World War, was the son of a couple who were primary school teachers. In 1972 he earned a degree in marketing from the University of Business and Economics before joining Unilever and Blendax, a cosmetics subsidiary of Procter & Gamble. Jet lag hit him hard on a trip to Bangkok in 1984. To counteract this, Mateschitz was recommended the Krating Daeng, a preparation by a local pharmacist named Chaleo Yoovidhya, with revitalizing effects and a very special taste unlike anything he had tried before. The effect on him was so great that he bonded with Yoovidhya. In 1987 the two founded Red Bull. [búfalo rojo, que es la traducción al inglés de Krating Daeng] and launched an ambitious expansion based on two pillars: the taste and characteristics of Yoovidhya’s product, with slight modifications to adapt it to Western palates, and the fundamentals of Mateschitz’s marketing philosophy. From landing in Europe, via Austria, to its spread to the rest of the world, Red Bull has become one of the most iconic symbols of modern globalization and an example studied in most universities in communications.
Starting from this idea of writing its own story, instead of investing in the most traditional advertising formulas, and promoting the wildest actions, always linked to the extreme, the brand’s footprint on the sports spectrum has grown exponentially over the last three decades . One of its main strengths is its Formula 1 division, a bicephaly formed by Red Bull and Alpha Tauri, where the second is designed on paper as a pilot nursery for the first. The purchase of Jaguar in 2004 was the starting point on which three pillars worked: ex-driver Christian Horner as managing director of the new Red Bull, Adrian Newey as head of the technical area and Helmutt Marko, also a former racing driver, as Mateschitz’s main sports advisor. Together they promoted the Red Bull Junior Team and acquired a second formation, Minardi (2005), so the kids could gain experience. On the foundations of Jaguar and with many millions, one of the main powers of modern F1 has been built, an impression confirmed by the impressive service record of Sebastian Vettel, four-time world champion between 2010 and 2013, and by Verstappen himself, proclaimed two-time champion at the previous Grand Prix (Japan), just 15 days ago.
“Mateschitz was a very inspiring person. He, his vision and his passion are why we are here and why we have two structures,” said Horner this Saturday from Texas. “It’s important to recognize all that he has accomplished, not just for the world of sport but much beyond,” the leader stressed.
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