Sonic Boom Created by Red Bull’s Felix Baumgartner as He Breaks the Sound Barrier
David Ogilvy, who is widely regarded as the greatest adman who ever lived said,
“It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night. I doubt if more than one campaign in a hundred contains a big idea.”
David Ogilvy, Legendary Adman and Inspiration Behind Mad Men’s Don Draper.
Just like Ad campaigns PR campaigns need a big idea to be successful. You can have the best market research in the world and a good strategy and tactics too, but without a big idea to tie it all together it will ultimately be forgettable and mediocre.
So What’s the Big Idea?
Big ideas are fresh and provoking ideas that hold a viewer’s attention. They stimulate the mind and many times stir the emotions. Big ideas are simple and easy to understand. They are not lists of benefits. Big ideas connect emotionally, mentally, physically and sometimes spiritually with the viewer and cause them to experience your product or idea before they even try it. Big ideas transcend media and can easily be flexed in digital, print, radio, and broadcast channels. They’re bold, strong, and unified.
A big idea is that all-important concept: a satisfying story, an emotional theme, a memorable tagline, an incredible image.
Red Bull’s Big Idea Makes History
A great example of a big idea that achieved astronomical success is Red Bull’s “Red Bull Gives You Wings,” campaign. Red Bull went all in with its big idea and proved that it wasn’t just a catchy slogan strapped to the side of a can.
In October of 2012 Red Bull decided to make history by literally giving Felix Baumgartner wings. Felix Baumgartner flew 24 miles into the stratosphere almost to the edge of space in a helium balloon. Felix jumped out of the balloon in a specially designed pressure suit and broke the sound barrier during his free fall reaching 843.6 miles per hour. Baumgartner also broke several world records and joined names like Chuck Yeager, Neal Armstrong and John Glenn in the history books.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHtvDA0W34I]
Big Ideas are Worth It
While this was certainly a costly undertaking it was worth it. Red Bull gained publicity and engagement worth many, many times the cost of the jump. Red Bull gained 235 thousand Twitter followers and 140 thousand new Facebook fans. The jump was streamed live over YouTube and 9.5 million people watched it on YouTube in real time, setting the YouTube record for a livestreamed event. People continued to watch the jump and Red Bulls other channel videos in the days, weeks and months following the jump. Red Bull’s YouTube channel now has an astounding 970 million channel views. Global news channels covered the preparation for the jump for a year and most news stations showed the event live. Just for a comparison of the impact of this event, the first American in space, Alan Shepherd has 221,000 images in Google search while Baumgartner has 61 million images. Not only did Red Bull achieve phenomenal PR success it advanced scientific research to the point where the history books and scientific literature will now and forever read “Red Bull gives you wings.”
Big Ideas are Doable
I want to make it clear that Red Bull’s “Red Bull gives you Wings” big idea did not begin with Felix Baumgartner, the great heights of the Stratos project or with a huge budget. Those were merely the cherry on top. Red Bull’s big idea started out on a much smaller and affordable scale. Red Bull first began giving people wings in 1991 by sponsoring a Flugtag contest where average Joes built homemade flying machines and tried to see who could get them to fly the furthest over water. This contest was very successful and over time Red Bull found other ways to give people wings and began sponsoring extreme athletes and extreme sporting events of all kinds. Red Bull’s “Give You Wings” idea just happened to be powerful enough that it grew with them and eventually it gave its marketing campaign the wings to rise from its humble homemade flying machines and reach the heights that Felix Baumgartner jumped from.
So What’s Your Big Idea?
Big ideas like these are what separates the truly special and memorable campaigns from the mediocre and forgettable. Don’t be forgotten. Red Bull and Felix Baumgartner certainly won’t be. What’s your organization’s big idea? Is it big enough that it can set you apart from the competition and stick in the minds of your target market forever? Is it good enough to grow with you and help you reach the heights that your company deserves to be at? Will it give your organization wings? If not, you better get working on that. If you need a friend or an ear to bounce ideas off of the team at Laura Burgess Marketing is always there. We live for this kind of stuff. You can send us an email at Laura@LauraBurgess.com
