purred on by the influence and added
awareness provided by such early adopters and the social elite, combined with it growing popularity a a mixer drink for vodka, Red Bull succeeded in entering
new markets on the back of a known and authentic presence among consumers, fur ther defining the brand and affording the company the opportunity to dictate supply and drive demand. Students and truck drivers, too, oon discovered and spread the product's awareness, offering authoritative evidence of its ability to pro vide energy and keep consumers awake. Such control over the product's release and availability, although partially necessitated by legal complications and the gradual entry of the drink into different countries, added to Red Bull's mystique and created an exaggerated demand in student and bar-hopping circle , defining the brand as a Generation X (com.monly referring to the generation born after the baby boom.) standard and earning it the title 'the poor
man's cocaine'.6
Eventually, Red Bull's early focus on influential, nightlife-enjoying, European Generation X a a means of entering new markets and creating brand awarenes acr s border evolved Red Bull into a generation-defining product for Generation Y (also known as Generation Ne 't, those born in the 1980. and onwards). Immensely popular and visible throughout popular culture, sports-both traditional and extreme / adventure -and nightlife (bar and clubbing), Red Bull emerged in North America during the late
1 990s and early 2000s, slowly crossing the continent in much the same way in which European markets were conquered. Beginning with regionalised ales and buzz marketing strategies in alifornia similar to tho e used in its European expansion, Red Bull took five years to establish a sale presence across the USA, again building the brand's name and iden tity slowly and organically through what the company referred to as a 'seeding pro gramme'. Targeting specific stores, bars, clubs and petrol stations in order to restrict
and control access to the product, Red Bull secured added 'cachet' for the brand: a mystique and intrigue that drove Red Bull's brand in its early years. Again focus ing on building an attachment to trendy nightlife spots and student life, regionalised marketing and sales directors focused on bars and stores near universities, and specifically employed students as brand representatives, as the means of establishing a presence within the Generation Y community