Baumgartner Jump: What Red Bull Gets Out Of It (original) (raw)

In Pictures: Felix Baumgartner's Leap From The Edge Of Space (Image credit: Getty Images via... [+] @daylife)

Skydiving pro Felix Baumgartner on Sunday successfully jumped 24 miles to Earth, breaking a world record set more than 50 years ago. Today also marks the culmination of Red Bull Stratos, the mission to break the freefall record cooked up back in 2005 by Red Bull, Baumgartner and Joe Kittinger, who previously held the jumping world record and who guided Baumgartner in his fall yesterday.

It's a feat that's the kind of extreme sport that Red Bull has built its brand around with precision.

"This is very in line with the Red Bull brand, which has established itself as a sponsor of extreme athletes and events, and has a heritage in flying, through its partnerships with aeronautic teams as well as its popular "Flugtag" (Flying Day) events, featuring human-powered vehicles," said Jim Andrews, senior VP at sponsorship consultancy IEG.

"My guess is that Red Bull's financial commitment is not that large compared to its investment in MLS, auto racing, etc., so it's not a big risk."

Red Bull's primary concern would have been to be sure that Austrian skydiver and BASE jumper Baumgartner's words and actions aren't in conflict with the brand, Andrews said. (And, of course, that he would have survived the jump, shown on a live stream on the web. Reports say there was a 20-second delay in case of a tragic accident.)

In Pictures: Felix Baumgartner's Leap From The Edge Of Space

Beyond that, a stunt like this--dangerous, to be sure, but consistent with the other life-threatening events Red Bull sponsors--presents little downside for a company that is no stranger to renegade marketing. Red Bull supports about 600 athletes worldwide (120 in the U.S.) in 160 different kind of sports and invests about one third of its turnover in marketing. "This is really about generating some buzz around a newsworthy event and doing so in a way that adds to the longstanding positioning of the brand that 'gives you wings,'" Andrews said.

Of course, the stunt did more than just generate buzz for the Red Bull brand--just ask the millions more who now know who Felix is. Just don't call it a sponsorship: According to Red Bull spokesperson Maddy Zeringue in an email, "The Red Bull Stratos mission is a professional flight test program. With the leadership of Red Bull Stratos technical project director, Art Thompson, a world-leading team of scientists, engineers and experts in aerospace medicine have been assembled to not only create the equipment necessary to help Felix reach his personal goal of freefall from 120,000 feet, but also to have the ability to deliver valuable physiological data to the scientific community." Red Bull, Zeringue said, is of course very aware of the risks in such feats. "Red Bull has a very special, direct, personal relationship with each one of its athletes and is pleased to enable them to fulfill their dreams. As with any sport – despite state of the art precautions - there are inherent risks.

"Felix is one of the first Red Bull athletes. Red Bull Stratos is an example of how Red Bull helps its athletes to achieve their professional goals, and the program is one that Red Bull developed together with Felix Baumgartner over the last five years."