The idea of attaching a marketer's name to a sporting event (the Nokia Sugar Bowl) or a stadium (Minute Maid Park) or advertising on a major sporting event (Super Bowl) has been around for a long
time. But energy-drink marketer Red Bull is rewriting the rules of sports marketing. Rather than employing traditional methods, the company is trying a new approach that seems to be working. It
doesn't just sponsor teams and events: it owns them. In March, Red Bull bought the New York MetroStars of Major League Soccer and renamed them the New York Red Bulls. Next year, the company will
introduce a two-car NASCAR team named Team Red Bull. "They're really, in their own way, turning the NASCAR model on its ear," says Mike Bartelli, svp for motor sports at Millsport. It's not just team
ownership, but he says the marketing approach is going to be different. David Carter, the executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute, says Red Bull has been branded a lifestyle product
and has aligned itself with the lifestyle associated with action or extreme sports. "Clearly, sports have become entertainment, and in many ways, Red Bull has become a lifestyle product linked to
entertainment in its own right," Carter says.
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