This Week's Rabbit Hole: From Organic Cotton to Energy Drinks

The rare marketing playbook that turns customers into communities

This week's rabbit hole 🐇 🕳️

Every time Ken Sakata drops a new video, I get excited because I know I'm about to be educated in a topic that I not only know nothing about, but also I've never even really thought about before. If you don't know Ken, you should check out his Substack because it's fascinating. He's a clothing designer and owns a fashion brand, Front of Office. But his content is always about the R&D of garments—often focusing on the culture behind design and manufacturing methods.

His latest video is about who benefits from organic cotton products and why we should all care. In the video he talks about how because of the size and demographic of his followers, he is able to influence change within his industry.

And that got me thinking about how some brands have found success at selling an ethos rather than a product. In other words, they earn money by selling a certain product or service, but they attract and retain clients because of their purpose. What they're known for is influencing culture, politics, or discourse in a seemingly unrelated but tangential sphere. In Ken's case, the ethics and economics of the fashion industry.

And that got me thinking about a brand that I have long been fascinated by—Red Bull. Why am I fascinated? Because I find their business model to be so unorthodox that it's actually genius.

Now, I'm old enough to remember when Red Bull was just an energy drink. I spent many nights in the discotheques of Europe slamming Jagerbombs while dancing the night away—it still makes me shudder when I think about the inevitable extreme heart palpitations afterwards. Yes, I was young and stupid.

Then at some point Red Bull realized that their "gives you wiiings" slogan was closely aligned with the ethos of extreme sports, despite the fact that their actual customer base were just regular people who wanted a caffeine fix—particularly students and gamers.

Despite the obvious inconsistency between ethos and lived experience of the consumer, Red Bull managed to become synonymous with extreme sports. And then esports became a thing and all of a sudden this brand who had long been an event and athlete sponsor could sponsor the types of events (gaming) and people (gamers) that have always been their core demographic. You might think what a lucky coincidence—but in actuality this luck was very much manufactured. They had been sponsoring extreme sports events for decades, building this playbook of creating experiences and cultural influence. When esports exploded in the 2000s and 2010s, they simply applied their existing strategy to events and athletes that actually aligned with their real customers.

So the question is: how did they do it?

How Red Bull Built a Business Model Out of Thin Air (and Caffeine)

Most brands market their products. Red Bull markets a worldview. That's why their business model looks confusing at first glance: they don't just sell energy drinks, they sell adrenaline, performance, and belonging.

Here are the pillars that make them so unique:

They created a category, not just a drink. When Red Bull launched in Austria in the late '80s, "energy drinks" didn't really exist in Western markets. Instead of fighting Coke and Pepsi head-on, they invented a new lane—one where they could charge a premium for an 8oz can.

They invest in culture, not ads. Rather than pouring money into TV commercials, Red Bull poured money into events, teams, and athletes. Flugtag (flying contraptions), Rampage (mountain biking), and cliff diving weren't just stunts—they were brand experiences. Eventually they owned entire sports teams and stadiums, making Red Bull the culture, not just the sponsor. Many of these events are free—I've been to several in my hometown of Vancouver, Canada. And all of them had a few things in common: they were fun, they were memorable, they invoked a sense of community, they did NOT feel salesy—although free Red Bull drinks were readily available.

They built a media empire to tell their own story. Red Bull Media House produces films, documentaries, and streaming content that rivals traditional networks. Felix Baumgartner's space jump wasn't a commercial—it was an event that millions chose to watch. That kind of marketing can't be skipped or blocked.

They aligned with their real demographic. The irony is that extreme athletes aren't the ones buying most of the drinks. It's students, professionals, gamers, and club-goers. By sponsoring esports and gaming events, Red Bull didn't "get lucky." They recognized that their lifestyle message ("gives you wiiings") aligned perfectly with the situations where their gaming customers already lived: late nights, high stress, peak performance. They didn't invent esports, but they were one of the first major global brands to treat it seriously—and that played a big role in esports becoming a billion-dollar industry today.

They made marketing the product. Red Bull doesn't make money from sports or esports. They make money selling cans. But the halo effect of owning culture keeps people buying. Their "ads" are so good, they don't feel like ads at all—they feel like the culture you want to belong to.

👉 The result? Over 12 billion cans sold in 2024 and a company that turned an unremarkable sugary drink into a global cultural movement.

In short, they are marketing geniuses.

What struck me most about diving into Red Bull's strategy is how much it mirrors what Ken Sakata is doing on a smaller scale - both brands have figured out that the real magic happens when you give away valuable content that's separate from your product but aligned with your values.

Where This Rabbit Hole Led Me

Red Bull and Ken are both successfully using different flavors of the same, rare, marketing playbook - proving that it can work for smaller brands and huge global corporations alike. I think there's an opportunity here to learn from this way of getting your brand noticed while staying true to your ethos: give away something valuable for free and build culture alongside customers.

In some ways, I think I’m drawn to both of these brands because in addition to providing something of value for free, they are also asking us to see the world a little differently. In a world that has become very divisive where everyone's media sphere is an echo chamber, I think we could all benefit from seeing our world through new lenses.

As someone who owns two distinctly different businesses (business strategy consulting and illustration), this gets me thinking about my own marketing strategy. How can I leverage my ethos to build community? What can I learn from the Ken Sakatas and Red Bulls of the world?

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Hi 👋 I'm Katie and I have A LOT of different interests. I also enjoy connecting the dots between seemingly disparate topics.

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