Red Bull Pitches To The Dragons As It Ramps Up In Vietnam

Red Bull has collaborated with creative agency VMLY&R Indochina (the recently merged WPP creative/digital agency) on Charge Ahead Into Your Dream, a Dragons’ Den-inspired online series to hunt for the next bright startup talent.

Fifteen young Vietnamese professionals with entrepreneurial dreams are mentored in skill sets like “ideas pitching, positioning, marketing and sales” by some of the nation’s business experts. The panel of mentors includes Red Bull’s marketing manager for Asean, Ly Nguyen Khuong, CEO and founder of restaurant chains Chewy Junior and Otoke Chicken Mai Truong Giang and Golden Communication Group chairwoman Hanah Dang. The winner of the Red Bull-backed show will win a grand prize of one billion Vietnamese dong (US$43k) to fund their dream venture.

The six-episode web series is currently underway and slated to conclude on December 13. According to a press release, it has clocked in 10 million+ views so far.

Red Bull’s marketing manager Khuong added, “Our research into millennials in Vietnam found that while most of them have big dreams, long working hours are often a hurdle that is difficult to overcome, leaving little mind space and energy.”

“This is something we want to challenge. And so we joined with VMLY&R Indochina to create a competition-based reality series which would help us to find and fund some of Vietnam’s most promising young professionals.”

VMLY&R Indochina’s chief creative officer Poonnotok added, “We have already seen huge returns with this campaign, which goes way beyond advertising. We are looking at bringing the entrepreneur platform back next year.”

Since Q116, Red Bull (33.9%, over US$107m) has been the biggest sponsor for its category in Asia. However, its spends have softened from the quarterly peak of US$17.9m in Q116 to an annual investment of US$21.9m in 2018 so far, with Q318 and Q418 securing a mere US$3.5m and US$4.6m respectively. Within this data, Red Bull’s non-sport partnerships (including all Branded Content) have taken a significant battering, dropping from a high of US$6.2m in Q116 to a tenth of that, at US$607.5k in 2018 so far.

While Vietnam is not listed as a top 10 key market for Red Bull’s sponsorship in Asia, its position has changed in recent months, including backing a motorsports exhibition event as the nation revs up for the F1 in 2020.