Revived Ad Takes Flight for Red Bull

When it comes to creative consistency, there aren’t many brands that compare to Red Bull. The energy drink has been giving you “wiiings” for close to thirty years now – the famous slogan launched in 1997. Hot on its heels came the other part of the Red Bull campaign – the hand-drawn animation style that makes its ads instantly recognisable.

The two elements are inseparable. You see the animation, you think of the slogan. You hear the slogan, and in your head you’re envisaging one of Red Bull’s classic commercials. And the clever part is, because the simple animation frees the ads from being tied to a location or particular moment in time, the brand can simply reuse or remake old ads when it wants to.

That’s what’s happening in this week’s Ad Of The Week, a remake of the brand’s classic “Penguins” commercial, which first aired over a decade ago and has been shown all around the world. “Penguins” involves a chick getting excited because he knows he’ll be able to fly when Red Bull gives him wings. His penguin dad isn’t entirely impressed. They’re in Antarctica and it’s 40 degrees below – the Red Bull is frozen in the can, and the flightless birds are staying that way.

It’s an entertaining ad which creates a twist on the usual Red Bull ad expectations while staying very true to the brand’s classic format. The new version of “Penguins” only changes one thing – the Penguin child is a cheeky teenager bird not a cute chick – but otherwise it’s the same ad that’s been shown in different languages and markets for a long time.

But that’s the joy of creative consistency – you really don’t have to keep coming up with fresh ideas when the old ones still work. In fact, you’re usually better off not pushing for novelty. System1’s recent Compound Creativity report examines over a decade of IPA (Institute For Practitioners In Advertising) case studies as well as our own Test Your Ad data to identify the ways in which investing in consistency acts as a multiplier for business effects. Long-term commitment to a variety of advertising elements, from brand-agency relationships to the assets, slogans and campaigns that the public sees, leads to profit and share gain well beyond what you’d expect from the individual ads. You might even say creative consistency gives you wings.

It’s certainly done that for Red Bull, becoming one of the most successful campaigns in advertising history. And the remake of “Penguins” shows the ads still work their magic with real audiences. On our Test Your Ad platform the new “Penguins” scores a 4.0-Star Rating, predicting strong potential for long-term share gain given appropriate investment. On other metrics the ad’s performance is even stronger. It gains an Exceptional short-term Spike Rating (predicting sales boosts) and is also Exceptional in Brand Fluency, with only 3% of viewers not being able to quickly recognise the brand.

It’s testament to how Red Bull have build a lasting, highly distinctive campaign by crafting something uniquely theirs and sticking to it. “Penguins” is just as effective as it was when it first hatched, and the campaign looks set to entertain viewers for decades to come.