When a Brand Becomes a Publisher: Inside Red Bull’s Media House

This post by Dorian Benkoil originally appeared on PBS Mediashift on 11/10/14.

It’s often said that every company is a media company. Red Bull has embraced that maxim in a full-throated way.

Not only does the Austrian energy drink maker create TV shows, magazines, movies, books, music and more, but they also distribute their creations everywhere from newsstands, to theaters, TV, YouTube, mobile apps and, of course, the Web.

What makes them rare, if not unique, as a consumer brand, though, is that so much of the media they create stands on its own, as true media, enjoyed for its entertainment or informational value — rather than as, simply, marketing.

Werner Brell, managing director of Red Bull Media House, said in a rare public appearance at the Content All Stars summit in New York a few weeks ago: “We were creators, producers and distributors” of Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking leap from outer space to Earth, which got 9 million concurrent views on YouTube.  “We owned the entire project.”

 

Building a Media House
The Media House, created six years ago as a separate arm of the company to create what Brell called “premium” media, produces and sells high-end art and photography coffee table books, a yearly calendar, DVDs of adventurers exploring forests and fjords, and TV shows.

 

Read the full post on PBS Mediashift.