Analysis of Monster Energy's Communication Strategy in Australia

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Monster Energy's communication strategy within the Australian market. It begins by introducing Monster Energy and its parent company, highlighting their expansion strategy and market positioning. The report examines the opportunities and challenges Monster faces in Australia, considering factors like caffeine restrictions and competition from brands like Red Bull. It delves into Monster's target segment, including demographics, psychographics, and behavioral patterns. The report also explores Monster's positioning and value proposition, emphasizing its focus on offering more energy, taste, and quantity at a competitive price. The core of the analysis centers on Monster's communication strategy, which heavily relies on viral marketing and word-of-mouth promotion. The report notes the company's minimal use of traditional advertising and its strategic sponsorships in sports and media. Finally, it provides recommendations, suggesting the need for increased brand awareness and a stronger online presence through platforms like Facebook and Instagram to solidify its market position. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of adapting the communication strategy to the unique characteristics of the Australian market.

RUNNING HEAD: BRAND COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
Title: Analysis of Communication Strategy of Monster Energy In Australian Market
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

1BRAND COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
Monster Energy drinks:
The Monster energy drink is a sub product of the Monster beverage company, the
American brand that markets and distributes the energy drink under the banner of Hensen
Natural Cooperation. In 2014, the company’s 16.5% stake was acquired by Coca Cola, which
marked a great change in the expansion and marketing strategy of the company (Rajbhandary,
Pokhrel and Fatima 2013.). The company as well as Coca Cola benefitted largely from this
partnership and became a big hit in the market of the United States. The United States’ portfolio
of the company includes the flagship Monster along with the Lo Carbohydrate and their specially
blended energy juice, energy Soda and energy infused Coffee. The company had a greater
chance of benefits in the land of Australia and thus aimed at their international expansion there.
Most of the energy drinks in Australia were sold at the small bottles of 250 ml and hence the
“monstrous” 16-ounce can was an instant favourite for the Australian Customers. In Australia the
company is selling the products in the cases of 24 individual packs and 4-can packs. The
communication strategy of the company follows the Viral brand strategy and hence has focuses
on communicating through the word of mouth rather than stressing strongly on visual or print
media advertisement. The present research will analyse the effectiveness of the communication
strategy of the company in the market of Australia.
Opportunity and trend Analysis:
In the market of Australia the main factors that the company needs to take into account is
the restriction of the caffeine usage in the energy drink (Allimberti, Buja, Chindamo, Vinelli,
Lazzarin and Terranso et al. 2013). Monster is a company that produces energy drink with high

2BRAND COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
amount of caffeine in order to produce more energy. The industry of the energy drink is a
growing one that aims at the providing of energy to the most productive segment of the society.
Monster has, however expanded the idea of energy and taken it to another level where they say
“unleash the beast inside you.” This assertion towards the passionate energetic side of the target
customer has created more opportunities for the company. It is difficult to have a firm business
for the company since there is already the existence of reputed companies like Red bull and Rock
star. However, Monster has already created a brand identity because of their unique appeal to
adventure, sports and energy (Trapp, Allen, O'Sullivan, Robinson and Jacoby 2014). In the
Australian market, which comprises of a large crowd of student from both the home country as
well as other countries. The company, in order to create a n awareness and familiarity can stress
on the communication and promotional strategies. The company can also create a sense of the
necessity of the alternative sources of energy in the daily lives. The company has recently been
struggling in the market of Australia with the recent product innovation (Hamilton, Boak, Ilie
and Mann 2013.). Another threat that it is facing in the market of Australia is the health
consciousness of the society that has put a threat to the usage of caffeine. In Australia, it is the
second most popular energy drink, the firs being red bull. One of the reason that may be taken
for this graph is the wide portfolio of Red Bull which not only offers caffeine oriented drink, but
other soft beverages as well.
Target Segment:
The market of the energy drink industry is still a developing one and thus, the target
segment is different from the other beverage company. Monster energy emerged as the popular
beverage among the “hip” part of the society (Thorlton, Colby and Devine 2014). However, the

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aimed market of the company is not as diverse or expansive as it is in the case of regular
beverage industry. Earlier, when it just started in US, the athletes and sports person were the sole
consumers of the product. This bears the fact that, from its natal stage, this kind of products was
aimed at a select crowd, a group of consumers having some specific interest. However, the
consumer base for the energy drinks, in recent times has been expanded and is not restricted to
the athletes only. Still, the target market is more particular than other industries (Baldo 2013). In
order to analyse the target market of the energy drink, it is necessary to analyse the group that
would be more receptive to the purported impact of such kind of drinks. It has been analysed in
studies that the fatigue that is caused as the result of an over-worked life style, affects mostly the
young people and they are more prone to exhaustion because of the lack of rest. Thus, most of
the products by the company are produced and advertised for mainly the younger generation.
The target segmentation of the company can be analysed as follows:
Demographic
Gender- Male and Female, (especially men.)
Age- Young adults to adults.
Income- high medium to high
Occupation- business, service, student, athletes, sports persona.
Education- Medium to high
Race, family size or religion do not affect the target segmentation
Geographic
Urban
City size- populated medium or large metro cities.
Density- highly dense market with young population
Beliefs’- modern in approach
Motives- to lead a stress less yet productive life

4BRAND COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
High price
High QualityLow Quality
Low Price
Rockstar
Monster
Red Bull
psychographic Values- Varies
Interests- in adventures and sports
Behavioural
Benefit expectation- High
Brand Loyalty- High
End use- dependent on the customer values.
Positioning and Value Proposition

5BRAND COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
The energy drink industry is perceived to be one of the most competitive industries. The Monster
energy has made its positioning strategy as one of the foundation of its marketing activities. since
its foundation in the land of Australia, the company has positioned itself to be brand that offers
more for less. The company strives to render to its customer more satisfaction, energy, taste
ounces per beverage, caffeine etc. than the other competitors in this segment. All the key benefits
in an energy drink is provided at a competitive price (Harris and Munsell 2014). The company
continues to infuse a sense of brand awareness within the customer by promoting their image as
adventurous, more lively and dynamic. The company has also a large portfolio that offers 35
different flavours and a pack of bigger energy rush than the competitors.
In rendering the value proposition, the company offers its customers a sense of boosting
up or adventure. Thus, the advertisement promoted by the company always contains content of
passion, adventure, race etc. Since the product is mainly targeted towards the younger
generation, the company has made its value proposition as more energy for the most productive
segment of the society (Rambe and Jafeta 2017). The customer would buy Monster energy drink
over other energy drink because of its essential projection towards energy and passion.
Moreover, the unique packaging alluding to the gothic designs appeals to the young generation.
Communication Strategy:
The Monster energy company includes a viral trend, which means that the
communication and the promotion is done mainly through the word of mouth. In Australia s
well, the company has shifted in creating a buzz in the society about the products (Emond
Sargent and Gilbert-Diamond 2015). Unlike the other beverage companies, monster uses a very
minimum communication with the traditional advertising medium. The company has

6BRAND COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
incorporated a push pull method, which means that the products are reached directly to the hands
of the customers and motivating the customer to reach out to the sales point to seek out for the
brand. This strategy goes hand in hand with the value proposition that they offer. Since it is an
energy drink brand, the company does not strive at offering a drink, but also to promote the
lifestyle in a can that they want their customers to live and love. Thus, the brand spends mostly
on the creation of sponsorship or sponsored sports shows (Botha and Reyneke 2013). Monster
makes use of branded vehicles to offer free samples to the customers. in the digital
communication system, the company utilises social media and the official website for
communicating with its customers. However, they do not use the social media platforms to tell
about their products (Kumar, Park and Onufrak 2015). Their social media page are not
illustrating themselves as companies that provides food and beverages but as companies that
provides sports or medias or news. They relate to various activities from media they sponsor to
generate a buzz. With such type of premium content, they are able to project themselves as
premium brands.
Recommendation and Conclusion:
The industry of energy drink is yet a developing one. The main target customers of the
company are the young adults. The company’s communication strategy is mainly through offline
mode of viral trend. Since the target segment is just a handful and comprised of the busiest
section of the society, the chances of discussion about it is not of a great level. Moreover, the
concept of energy drink is not as much flourished in Australia as it is in US. Thus, the company
must first focus on having a strong awareness and foothold over the market, then it can focus on
their original strategy. It is recommended that for the area specific facebook or Instagram pages,

7BRAND COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
the company may provide some knowledge about the brand and what are they offering. Once
they get a strong hold over the market they can focus on the push-pull method.

8BRAND COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
Reference List:
Allimberti, L., Buja, A., Chindamo, S., Vinelli, A., Lazzarin, G., Terraneo, A., Scafato, E. and
Baldo, V., 2013. Energy drink consumption in children and early adolescents. European journal
of pediatrics, 172(10), pp.1335-1340.
Botha, E. and Reyneke, M., 2013. To share or not to share: the role of content and emotion in
viral marketing. Journal of Public Affairs, 13(2), pp.160-171.
Emond, J.A., Sargent, J.D. and Gilbert-Diamond, D., 2015. Patterns of energy drink advertising
over US television networks. Journal of nutrition education and behavior, 47(2), pp.120-126.
Hamilton, H.A., Boak, A., Ilie, G. and Mann, R.E., 2013. Energy drink consumption and
associations with demographic characteristics, drug use and injury among adolescents. Canadian
journal of public health, 104(7), pp.e496-e501.
Harris, J.L. and Munsell, C.R., 2014. Energy drinks and adolescents: what’s the harm?. Nutrition
reviews, 73(4), pp.247-257.
Kumar, G., Park, S. and Onufrak, S., 2015. Perceptions about energy drinks are associated with
energy drink intake among US youth. American Journal of Health Promotion, 29(4), pp.238-
244.
Rajbhandary, A., Pokhrel, K. and Fatima, U., 2013. 1254: The Real Monster: Energy drinks may
cause of fatal arrhythmia. Critical Care Medicine, 41(12), p.A322.

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Rambe, P. and Jafeta, R.J., 2017. Impact of social media advertising on high energy drink
preferences and consumption. Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR), 33(4), pp.653-668
Thorlton, J., Colby, D.A. and Devine, P., 2014. Proposed actions for the US Food and Drug
Administration to implement to minimize adverse effects associated with energy drink
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Trapp, G.S., Allen, K., O'Sullivan, T.A., Robinson, M., Jacoby, P. and Oddy, W.H., 2014.
Energy drink consumption is associated with anxiety in Australian young adult males.
Depression and anxiety, 31(5), pp.420-428.
Trapp, G.S., Allen, K.L., O'Sullivan, T., Robinson, M., Jacoby, P. and Oddy, W.H., 2014.
Energy drink consumption among young Australian adults: associations with alcohol and illicit
drug use. Drug and alcohol dependence, 134, pp.30-37.