Red Bull’s unusual decision to go public on a blackmailer’s threat to contaminate its energy drinks with feces could cost the brand far less long-term than any immediate hit to sales.
The privately owned Austrian company reveals little about itself, so yesterday’s announcement came as a surprise.
“It’s a bold brand and a bold move,” said the Millward Brown brands specialist agency’s Gordon Pincott. “The good thing about what they’ve done with this announcement is it doesn’t let the rumor mill get going.”
Red Bull is looking to remove the “blackmailer’s greatest lever” of disclosing it in the media, said the company. Red Bull sold 5.2 billion cans of drink last year and is ranked the third-biggest soft drink brand in the world, after Coca-Cola and Pepsi.