In today's day and age, it's near impossible to get noticed out of the thousands of TV commercials, billboards, Facebook ads and promotions that we are bombarded with everyday. I wanted to write an article highlighting a marketing campaign that not only stood out but had people flock to the business because they wanted more.

Red Bull, a company that manufactures and sells Red Bull Energy Drink, recently hosted a marketing campaign called Red Bull Stratos where they sponsored extreme sports sky jumper Felix Baumgartner to free fall from near-outer space in attempt to break the speed of sound.

Incredible, right? Everyone wanted to see it. With outstanding online coverage, website and social media presence, and a live stream of the preparations, the world was on the edge of its seat, waiting in suspense.

On October 14, 2012, Felix fell from 128,100 feet and reached a speed of 833.9 mph, breaking the speed of sound. He landed successfully with mission accomplished.

According to ABC News, besides YouTube, the jump was shown by more than 40 TV stations and 130 digital outlets. Red Bull's Facebook post-jump photo of Baumgartner gained almost 216,000 likes, 10,000 comments and over 29,000 shares within 40 minutes, and half the worldwide trending topics on Twitter were related to Red Bull Stratos.

The mass exposure and engagement of viewers over one event is unprecedented. I want to provide a brief analysis of this marketing campaign so that you can duplicate it in your own marketing campaigns.
Why Red Bull Stratos was such a success -

1) It obliterated the very definition of differentiation. Not only was the feat unique, it piqued the interests of a broad base of viewers - extreme sports, news companies, scientific communities, history buffs, etc. The fact that it was a one-time event never done before captured the attention of millions of people for several hours.

2) Ubiquitous coverage. Accessibility is key to promotion. This means having a website, at least 3 social media platforms, print coverage, and news coverage. There were not many news companies that didn't want to cover this event.

3) Engagement. Red Bull designed the project so that viewers felt they were involved with the mission. By watching on a live stream, interacting with the website content, learning about who Felix Baumgartner is, and learning about aeronautics, viewers became more invested in the mission.

4) Marketing requires INVESTMENT. While Red Bull will not disclose their budget or financial numbers behind Red Bull Stratos, we can imagine the cost of a space shuttle, R&D team, materials, film and photo crew. However, this marketing campaign has increased the size of Red Bull's mindshare and branding in the minds of its target market so impressively, that when the choice comes to choose a Rockstar, Amp or Red Bull, the user will recall the supersonic record-breaking energy drink. That's what I call ROI.

5) The product complemented the campaign. Drink a Red Bull while you watch!