Every Saturday I salute someone or a group that deserves a little extra attention for his or her good deeds, super branding, achievements, creative solutions, witty comments or meaningful acts of customer love.

Photo from Red Bull's website

This week my hat goes off to Red Bull, their amazing branding and the Flugtag celebrations they hosted in Tampa, Florida.

What’s Flugtag?
Red Bull Flugtag challenges teams of everyday people to build homemade, human-powered flying machines and pilot them off a 30-foot high deck in hopes of achieving flight! Flugtag may mean “flying day” in German, but all these crafts ultimately splash into the waters below. They are judged not only on their flight’s distance, but creativity and showmanship as well.

Red Bull dancers in Tampa - great branding
How did I stumble upon this week’s hero?

The Red Bull event was outside my doorstep. I live in downtown Tampa on the water. (Got to have water for this event.) I ventured out for my Saturday walk with my good friend Nancy Walker of Walker Brands, and noticed the street was shut down and there were hundreds of joggers running through the race’s finish line which was a giant Red Bull branded blow-up arch. And that was just the beginning, this day long event attracts nearly 100,000 people, lots of media attention and most importantly the event makes a lasting, high-octane, emotional connection with consumers who buy beverages.

Two salutes are warranted this week.

1) For Red Bull’s brand leadership that consistently communicates the essence of their brand and product in an edgy, big, fun and sport-spirited fashion. From their metaphoric name to the brain tattooing they do with their bold red and black logo and imagery on every single touch point possible. Here a few of the branded touch points I saw, I know there were many more if I just kept walking.

2) For Red Bull’s brand logistics, behind the scene production folks and the first impression teams who danced with Red Bull backpacks on and greeted the all guests. It’s pretty darn astonishing how  my street can transform into such a memorable major event in 24 hours. Just yesterday it was a simple street.  I met some of the guys who made all this happen. They set up huge video screens every where, installed booths, hung banners and took care of the details and conveniences that make this event a WOW experience.

Red Bull Marketing

Congratulations Red Bull and team, we can all learn a few things about creating and maintaining a high energy brand from you.

Brand bold!
Brand Big!
Be relevant!
Live the personality of the brand!

Brand on!