Red Bull & RTÉ – diving into branded content and long-term partnership

This week’s egtabite features a very creative non-spot campaign from RTÉ for Red Bull that developed into long term partnership delivering great results year on year.

Drive, Skive & Dive

In 2014 Red Bull needed a media outlet to partner with for Red Bull Cliff Diving event. At the same time, RTÉ’s station 2FM was repositioning to target a younger audience and Red Bull was the perfect brand fit. The objectives for Red Bull were an innovative and exciting partnership, raise awareness of the event, drive ticket sales and bring the event to a wider audience since it was held in a remote location with limited capacity. But how could radio be used to bring one of the most visually stunning events ever held in Ireland to life? Using virtual reality content on social media, listener competitions, outside broadcasts, presenters taking part and a live show from the event bringing the experience to listeners all over the country.

RTÉ successfully pitched a “Drive, Skive & Dive” concept that led to a three-month long campaign. Listeners were invited to commute in their swimwear in an attempy to win three fantastic holidays. Ten finalists then had to dive into the Liffey river to win the prize live on air. For the first time a 2FM presenter was heavily involved in the campaign. The breakfast host Keith Walsh learned how to dive and shared his video diary online and on social.This culminated with his dive at the Red Bull event and an outside broadcast from the top of a cliff on the Aran Islands. 2FM also changed their schedule to do a live special from the Cliff Diving Championships to bring the event to those at home.

All the objectives set by Red Bull were achieved, the campaign reached over 800,000 people, ticket sales exceeded expectations and the capacity of the event had to be increased. The event was trending on social media which delivered added-value. The partnership achieved the engagement and awareness objectives through a campaign which showcased breadth, scale and commitment from Red Bull and 2FM. Most importantly, Red Bull liked the campaign so much that they continued the partnership with campaigns for their Wings for Life World Run, Fox Run and Red Bull Academy in 2015 and 2016.

The Great Red Bull Roadtrip

In 2017 RTÉ came with a new concept based on the idea that everyone needs a wingman. 2FM invited listeners to register by email any event they were attending (wedding, soccer match, charity event, birthday party etc.) for a chance of winning popular host Stephen Byrne as their wingman. 2FM collated the requests and created The Great Red Bull Roadtrip, where Stephen had to crash as many events as possible over a bank holiday weekend linking back to the live shows in studio. He spent around 20 minutes at each event with Red Bull sampling staff at the parties with him offering drinks. It was again a win-win situation where Red Bull got a great exposure and brand integration for their product while for 2FM this was a great chance to meet with listeners and create a feel-good atmosphere.

Niamh O’Shea, Radio Agency Sales Manager at RTÉ commented: “Red Bull was an ideal brand partner for 2FM. A young, fun, entertaining brand that always takes risks, this is exactly what 2FM was re-positioning itself as in the Irish market. Red Bull took a risk by partnering with us to bring such a visual event to life through Radio and the risk paid off. Red Bull felt like us that 2FM was a like-minded partner who shared many brand values, could make this project a success through passion, enthusiasm and a hunger to establish a long-term brand partner. 2FM created engaging content for listeners and Red Bull used the campaign as a case study for international markets to demonstrate how events could be activated through media partnerships.”