The man who jumped off the moon … very nearly!

It feels like there is hardly a soul on the planet that isn’t talking about Felix Baumgartner’s death defying leap from the stratosphere last Sunday which was the culmination of the ‘Red Bull Stratos’ project. The incredible 24-mile high skydive was watched live on YouTube by over eight million, breaking all its previous records for live views, as well as dominating other leading social media channels.

Regarded, by many, as the ultimate marketing campaign, is ‘Red Bull Stratos’ likely to change how we approach marketing and public relations in the future?

There is definitely something quite different in the way that Red Bull is reaching out to their customers via projects such as: Red Bull Stratos, Red Bull Races and Red Bull X-Fighters. Instead of sponsoring the event Red Bull has a strategy of owning it and in terms of a high impact marketing coup it is clearly a winner. Whilst acknowledging the advantage of ownership, businesses will need to consider the probable high price tag, which, in most cases, is likely to be beyond their grasp.

The stunt acts as an important reminder of the fundamental rule of marketing engagement – You need a compelling story which is of interest to the recipient, rather than being purely sales focused. As viewers of the jump have been transfixed over the past week, watching re-runs, supporting footage, creating their own virals and reading commentary, they have been subject to continuous and subtle marketing. The Red Bull approach uses a light and effective touch and it is likely that many of us now feel the urge to be associated with this brand and will do so for many years to come.

Another big winner from Baumgartner’s skydive was social media, which got a massive boost from Baumgartner’s jump, YouTube hit new heights supported by Twitter, Facebook and other websites which embedded the stream and drew people in. It took only 40 minutes for the photo of Baumgartner’s landing to be liked on Facebook by nearly a quarter of a million of us and over half the tweets worldwide related to the jump, during the stunt and just after.

As well as putting a spotlight on Red Bull’s audacious approach to marketing, the Stratos project further highlighted the power of social media, video and an engaging story in effective marketing and PR.