Case Study
World of Red Bull
The digital heart of action, sports, and entertainment
Red Bull has always been a big player in the world of extreme and alternative sport, building a fiercely loyal following for both the brand and beverage. When they wanted to bring their “Giving Wings to People and Ideas” mission to an even greater audience, we partnered with them to create three integrated marketing campaigns spanning two years, 60 countries, 30 languages and millions of views.
Set against a soundtrack from Pharrell Williams, a television spot—airing on Christmas Day and Oscar night—gave viewers a glimpse into iconic musicians and athletes in action. Our team brought the TV spot to life in a digital experience allowing users to dive into the stories of the influencers featured in the advertisement. We commissioned writers from publications like Rolling Stone, LA Times, ESPN, and VICE to write long-form pieces about the musicians or athletes, and we brought the words to life through art direction, design, and technology.
Our team brought the TV spot to life in a digital experience allowing users to dive into the stories of the influencers featured in the advertisement.
For each individual athlete’s story, we created a ‘look’ to reflect their personality, discipline, and style, ensuring each story looked entirely different from the next. Basketball player Blake Griffin’s story pulled visual cues from retro basketball cards, while hip-hop duo TNGHT’s story was designed around glitchy GIF-art, reflecting the edgy, electro sound of their music. We also designed infographics, video and other interactive elements for each story. Localization was a pivotal part of the user experience, with content accommodating 60 countries and 30 languages.
In the second year of the project, we came up with a new approach for an increasingly mobile audience, based on user research. We created content that could be consumed as snackable cards within a mobile-first experience. Users navigated short-form stories with swipes—up-and-down motions to explore different influencers, and right-left motions which expanded into small, snack-sized vignettes. We empowered local editorial teams around the world to curate content from the entire universe of Red Bull. Editors created local sites to showcase homegrown talent and content, creating stories that could be published and shared worldwide.
