Many people are familiar with the energy drink, Red Bull. Red Bull is the most popular energy drink in the world, with 3 billion cans sold each year. What many people don’t know is that Red Bull was created in 1987 by an Austrian Entrepreneur, Dietrich Mateschitz, whom discovered it in Thailand. Red Bull was an existing drink called Krating Daeng, founded by Chaleo Yoovidhya, based on recipes from Lipovitan, in Japan and Bacchus-F, from Korea. Krating Daeng was widely popular across Asia in the 70ies and 80ies, among truck drivers, construction workers and blue collar workers.
So how did a drink that was so popular among blue collar workers in Asia end up being the the most popular energy drink in Europe and Asia. In 1982, Dietrich Mateschitz who was working as the international marketing director for Blendaz, a toothpaste company visited Thailand in 1982 and discovered that Krating Daeng helped cure his jet lag. He then took the idea to TCBG Pharmaceutical (a Blendad licensee) to adapt Krating Daeng for the European market, by changing the ingredients slightly and carbonizing the drink.
Mateschitz alongside Chaleo Yoovidhya founded Red Bull GmbH, each investing US$ 500.000 each of their savings, each holding 49% of the company while giving 2% to Chaleo’s son, Chalerm. However, it was agreed that Mateschitz would run the company.
With Mateschitz touch for international marketing the rest is history. In 2008, Forbes Magazine listed both Chaleo and Mateschitz as being the 260th richest persons in the world with an estimated worth US$ 5.0 billion.
Chaleo passed away at the time of finishing this book in March 2012 at age 89.
It just goes to show how you can be influenced by traveling the world and implementing a good idea.
Ronnie Eide is a serial entrepreneur, consultant and public speaker with more than 20 years experience working in the international media industry around the world. He currently resides in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.