Notes

1.
I have a very strong relationship with energy drinks, having adopted them as a main source of caffeine and staying alert in situations that require it. As an extreme sports athlete I guess I am also more exposed to a large variety of energy drink companies than your average consumer which might have biased my view towards energy drinks.
The main two I usually drink are Red Bull and Relentless as those are the two which appeal to me most taste wise. The situations I usually have them are varied, but usually if I feel I need more alertness or predict I might require some improved alertness. This can be for driving early mornings, to right before I skydive (both regular jumping and competitions), or even when I’m working at my computer and feel like I’m losing focus on my work.


2.
Red Bull are, in the UK and worldwide, considered market leader in energy drinks and this can be seen by the extent of their advertising and sponsorship of energy related sports. Funnily enough this is NOT something that’s reflected in regular advertising (TV, Magazines etc.) and Red Bull have reduced their regular advertising presence to practically zero over recent years, as I believe they’ve realised that advertising in the traditional sense holds far less marginal utility than by having the Red Bull brand attached to “cool” videos and events (you just have to type Red Bull into YouTube to see some crazy stunts and sponsored athletes doing extreme sports to realise that they’re on to something). The only other real energy brand that has embraced this form of advertising and image I feel is Monster Energy, which sponsors more motorsports (see all the Ken Block Gymkhana videos) however I feel, despite having a great image, what ruins Monster for me is the taste, which is far too sweet and sickly for my liking so I avoid it.
Other brands I feel could benefit more by getting their image out there in the extreme sports and viral videos scene. As an example, I have the logo of the American energy drink brand GoFast on my parachute (fantastic tasting energy drink by the way! Almost like a cherry-coke version of Red Bull!), and I constantly get people asking about them in my skydiving video edits I have online, plus when one of my skydiving videos got picked up and featured by The Telegraph newspaper as well as a few other big online media outlets it generated a lot of interest in the video but also the brand that I had written on my parachute.

3.
I think this is a very dangerous question and concept. Trying to differentiate yourself from other mainstream energy drinks by trying to appeal to a new market, whilst still, however, being an energy drink fundamentally is something that I would personally try to avoid. There are a few energy drinks you see which have tried to market themselves to a new appeal (ones made from “natural” ingredients providing “natural” energy etc.) and all of them have failed to gain that traction they need, as they differentiate themselves from the people who would otherwise be genuinely interested in energy drinks and try to steer themselves towards people who will have no appeal towards energy drinks no matter what way they try to brand themselves.
So with that in mind, if I were designing a new energy drink I would try to tackle Red Bull, Monster et. al. head on. Initially this might seem as a bit of a suicidal move, trying to take on the giants at their own game, however if done well to gain exposure in the same leagues as Red Bull has then the new brand could propel itself into a top spotlight MUCH quicker than by trying to “be different” in a new, hip alternative way that would eventually lead to its alienation. Specifically I would look to sponsor athletes in the same “cool” and “viral” areas that Red Bull latches itself onto: Air Sports (skydiving, base jumping, flying, aerobatics), Snow Sports (skiing, snowboarding), Water Sports (surfing, wake boarding, wind/kit surfing), motorsports (Car Racing, Bike Racing, Off Road) and the mix between all three (Speed Flying on snow, Robbie Madison’s Pipe Dream, Skydiving into moving cars etc. etc.) and once athletes are sponsored and getting the brand out there via their own videos and events, look at creating special viral videos of “super awesome cool” stunts that will further strengthen the brand. As at the moment apart from Red Bull having these kinds of videos in the mainstream, Monster is about the only other brand trying to catch on to this, and with the fact that Monster are limiting themselves to primarily motorsports this is limiting them in terms of the viral outreach.
In my moodboard photo I’ve tried to capture the essence of a new brand image by combining the best of several brands together into a one-piece showboard which should speak about the brand image itself.