Principles of Marketing: 4Ps Analysis of Lucozade and Red Bull

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the marketing strategies employed by Lucozade and Red Bull, two prominent brands in the energy drink market. The study focuses on the application of the 4Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. The report begins with an executive...Read More

Running head: 4 Ps OF MARKETING (LUCOZADE VS. RED BULL)
4Ps of Marketing
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14 Ps OF MARKETING (LUCOZADE VS. RED BULL)
Executive summary
Marketing mix strategy is an essential part of the overall business strategy of a firm as it involves
strategy making for a product in terms of its price, place of sales and channels of product
promotion. This report was also related to the marketing mix strategy in contexts to Lucozade
and Red Bull. Both of these brands of energy drinks were found as being good in a few things
while not so in the others. Lucozade was found as lacking a good brand recall value than Red
Bull. Red Bull lacks good scopes beyond its range of energy drinks. Lucozade was
recommended for the use of print media advertisements, mobile-dedicated apps and social media
channels for the increased visibility to a wider population of consumers. Red Bull was suggested
to offer health-oriented drinks to target a niche market segment.

24 Ps OF MARKETING (LUCOZADE VS. RED BULL)
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Findings...........................................................................................................................................3
1. Comparison of Target Markets................................................................................................3
2. Product.....................................................................................................................................4
3. Price.........................................................................................................................................8
4. Place.........................................................................................................................................8
5. Promotion................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion and Recommendations..................................................................................................9
Recommendations........................................................................................................................9
Red Bull.................................................................................................................................10
Lucozade................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

34 Ps OF MARKETING (LUCOZADE VS. RED BULL)
Introduction
It is the general tendency in people to use the different varieties of food and drink
alternatives to attain an increased supply of energy in their body to perform several kinds of hard
tasks effectively. It is this trend for alternatives in the people of worldwide countries, which
compelled many beverage companies to utilise the trend for the business purpose. This report
also revolves around two beverage companies, which effectively utilises this trend for a business
reason. It is about Lucozade Energy and Red Bull, which are very popular in the United
Kingdom. Lucozade targets the ‘Sports Enthusiasts’ whereas Red Bull positions its drink as
‘Energy Drinks’ (Statista 2020). This report is aimed at presenting a comparison between
Lucozade and Red Bull in respect to their targeting and marketing mix strategies.
Findings
1. Comparison of Target Markets
Lucozade targets young females, sports enthusiasts and high-income males with many
different products such as Lucozade Energy, Lucozade Sport, etc. The words of appreciation that
Lucozade received for its sports range of drinks from the ‘European Food Safety Authority’
explain its effectiveness in satisfying its target market (Lucozadeenergy.com 2020). As obtained
from the report of ‘Statista’ on the ranks of different brands of energy drinks basis of the user
base in Great Britain in 2018, Red Bull enjoys the biggest customer base in the country. In terms
of customer base, it performs even better than the Lucozade Energy (Statista 2020). Red Bull
targets a very diversified market segment portfolio. Teenagers and college students (13 years to

44 Ps OF MARKETING (LUCOZADE VS. RED BULL)
21 years), young adults (21 years to 35 years), (a2, b1 and b2) socio-economic classes, first time
and regular users are the target market of Red Bull (Red Bull 2020).
Lucozade faces hard competition from its rival Red Bull. The reformulation of energy
drink earns Lucozade a backlash, which eventually affected its energy drink market in the United
Kingdom. The approach of Lucozade to the sugar levy is distinctively different from that of Red
Bull. While Lucozade reformulated its lead energy variant to remain under the acceptable limit
for sugar content, Red Bull preferred to continue with its full-sugar recipe. However, Red Bull
also unveiled the sugar-free versions for each of its product range such as Red Bull Low and Red
Bull Zero (The Grocer 2020). According to IRI figures, the sales of the energy variant of
Lucozade fell by 18.6% after Lucozade reformulated the recipe to avoid the sugar levy. On the
other hand, the sales of Red Bull rose from £3.9m to £45.5m (The Grocer 2020).
2. Product

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Fig 1: Levitt’s Product Level
(Source: Kotler, Bowen and Makens 2006)
The above is a diagrammatic presentation of the ‘Levitt’s Product Level’. The product
level shows that the product of a brand can be classified into ‘Augmented Product’ and ‘Actual
Product’. The augmented product is related to activities such as after-sales service, done to
enrich the overall customer experience of a brand. On the other hand, the actual product speaks
about the quality of a product, its core benefit, packaging, etc. (Kotler, Bowen and Makens
2006). Levitt's model will be applied to Lucozade and Red Bull to compare its product strategy.
With regards to ‘Augmented Product’, Lucozade does support a free delivery of products
purchased on its official website. A free delivery service for the online purchase places Lucozade

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on top of its many rivals (Lucozadeenergy.com 2020). Red Bull also sells its products online.
Customers can purchase a single or bulk pack of Red Bull from online (Red Bull 2020).
In respect to ‘Actual Product’, Lucozade does many things with its products to satisfy
the needs and wants of its target market. The drinks are offered in bottles having a 'squirty cap'
bottle top. The design of the bottles such as this makes it easy to use drinks for sportspersons.
Lucozade also offers products in forms of the tablets and bars to make these suitable to consume
during exercising (Lucozadeenergy.com 2020). On the other hand, Red Bull uses classic tall and
thin cans of aluminum to sell its drinks. It is very easy to handle a can of Red Bull as it is
portable, durable and easy to hold. The use of a can by Red Bull has become the signature
package for many other energy drink brands. However, Red Bull does not maintain too much
diversity into its packaging as compared to Lucozade (Red Bull 2020).
As far as the quality level is concerned, Red Bull can be a better choice for sportspersons
considering that it performs well in terms of the sugar levy and the use of ingredients as
compared to Lucozade. The reformulation of energy drinks had affected the sales and market
reputation of Lucozade Energy (The Grocer 2020). Both of them are good energy drink choices
for youth athletes and sports enthusiasts; however, Red Bull Energy is doing comparatively
better than Lucozade Energy, Lucozade Sport and Lucozade Zero in terms of sale (The Grocer
2020).

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Fig 2: Aaker’s Brand Personality Framework
(Source: Kotler, Bowen and Makens 2006)
It is a diagrammatic presentation of the ‘Aaker’s Brand Personality Framework’. This
framework will be used to identify the personality type of Red Bull and Lucozade.
The personality type of Red Bull can be categorised into ‘Competence’, ‘Ruggedness’
and ‘Excitement’. Red Bull is competent because it leads to the UK energy drink market. The
ruggedness character is there in Red Bull as the Red Bull can become the signature package for
other energy drink brands in the United Kingdom. Red Bull falls into the excitement personality
type as it dared to go with user-friendlier cans, which later on followed by many other brands of
energy drink (Hashem, He and MacGregor 2018). Lucozade, on the other hand, can be
classified into ‘Excitement’ and ‘Competence’. Lucozade is competent because it is a reliable
and successful energy drink brand in the United Kingdom. Lucozade falls into the excitement
personality type as it dares to meet the contemporary needs and wants of consumers. The
reformulation of Lucozade Energy though earned a backlash to the brand, can still be considered

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a daring move from Lucozade to meet the growing demand for a low-sugar energy drink (The
Grocer 2020).
3. Price
Lucozade follows a competitive price strategy to be affordable for its customers.
Lucozade products are priced slightly higher than the average price for the market. The price mix
strategy has helped Lucozade in differentiating its quality level from those of cheap energy drink
brands. Lucozade is considered one of the most trusted brands of energy drink in the UK for
product quality (Lucozadeenergy.com 2020). Red Bull, on the other side, follows a premium
pricing strategy. Despite charging premium prices, Red Bull manages to be at the top of industry
rankings for customer base in the United Kingdom (Red Bull 2020).
4. Place
Red Bull is easily available at convenient locations such as a supermarket, retail outlet,
convenience store, bars and casinos. The motive of selling in bars and casinos is that people
prefer taking it with alcoholic beverages. Red Bull is available in exclusive refrigerators of Red
Bull in a grocery store, which increases its visibility for grocery store visitors. Red Bull products
can also be purchased on its online channels (Cornil, Chandon and Krishna 2017). Lucozade
follows more or less a similar distribution strategy as that of Red Bull. Lucozade products can be
found in retail chains such as ASDA, gyms, sports centre, bread stores and dessert stores.

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Lucozade products are also available for sale on its website at a free delivery scheme (Clapp,
Morgan and Fairchild 2019).
5. Promotion
TV advertisement has been one of the most preferred ad campaign strategies for
Lucozade. It manages to revolve around the sports enthusiasts with its advertising strategy in the
form of advert breaks between the sports events. Lucozade used Lara Croft, one of the characters
of a famous video game ‘Tomb Raider to target teenagers as well as children because they all
love this video game. Lucozade also sponsors famous teams and players to gain public and
media notice (Clapp, Morgan and Fairchild 2019). Red Bull organises too many sports events. It
sponsors teams and the events as well. Red Bull also organises exhibitions to gain wider public
attention. Red Bull airs many shows, music festivals, performances, videos and films on laptops,
mobiles, PCs, tablets and gaming consoles. Red Bull also has its magazines dedicated to sports
devotees. Red Bull enjoys a better brand recall value than Lucozade due to its increased
availability on wider devices such as laptops and tablets (Clapp, Morgan and Fairchild 2019).
Conclusion and Recommendations
Having analysed the marketing mix strategy of both Lucozade and Red Bull, it can be
said that both of these brands practice an effective marketing strategy. However, both of these
brands need to consider a few things. Red Bull was found in this study as being increasingly
reliant on its range of energy drinks. It lacks a notable product line beyond the energy drinks.
The brand recall value of Lucozade was found less effective in comparison to Red Bull.

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Recommendations
Red Bull
Red Bull needs to monitor the health impact of its drinks as well as the changing
strategies of its rivals. One way it can do this effectively is by offering a range of innovative
health drinks. Health drinks should enable them to grow in a niche market segment.
Lucozade
The use of print media advertisements such as in the form of a bulletin is recommended.
The use of mobile-dedicated apps can also be helpful in the purpose. Video marketing on social
channels like Facebook, YouTube and Instagram can also boost its brand recall value.

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References
Clapp, O., Morgan, M.Z. and Fairchild, R.M., 2019. The top five selling UK energy drinks:
implications for dental and general health. British dental journal, 226(7), pp.493-497.
Cornil, Y., Chandon, P. and Krishna, A., 2017. Does Red Bull give wings to vodka? Placebo
effects of marketing labels on perceived intoxication and risky attitudes and behaviours. Journal
of consumer psychology, 27(4), pp.456-465.
Hashem, K.M., He, F.J. and MacGregor, G.A., 2018. Cross-sectional surveys of the amount of
sugar, energy and caffeine in sugar-sweetened drinks marketed and consumed as energy drinks
in the UK between 2015 and 2017: monitoring reformulation progress. BMJ open, 7(12),
p.e018136.
Kotler, P., Bowen, J. and Makens, J., 2006. Marketing For Hospitality And Tourism. 4th ed.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, p.932.
Lucozadeenergy.com 2020. Lucozade Energy. [online] Lucozadeenergy.com. Available at:
<https://www.lucozadeenergy.com/> [Accessed 21 March 2020].
Red Bull 2020. Red Bull Gives You Wings - Redbull.Com. [online] Red Bull. Available at:
<https://www.redbull.com/in-en/> [Accessed 21 March 2020].
Statista 2020. Leading Brands Of Energy Drinks In The UK 2018 | Statista. [online] Statista.
Available at: <https://www.statista.com/statistics/308493/leading-brands-of-energy-drinks-
excluding-colas-or-mixers-for-alcoholic-drinks-in-the-uk/> [Accessed 21 March 2020].

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The Grocer 2020. Red Bull Flies High As Lucozade Energy Has Wings Clipped. [online] The
Grocer. Available at: <https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/soft-drinks/red-bull-flies-high-as-lucozade-
energy-has-wings-clipped/565880.article> [Accessed 21 March 2020].