Red Bull Energy Study Rooms lead students to put phones away
The popularity and widespread availability of smartphones and mobile devices among college students in China has lowered their study efficiency, experts worry, but leading beverage company Red Bull says it has developed a solution for students who are addicted to phones and mobile devices — so they can concentrate on their studies.
Red Bull has set up what it calls virtual Energy Study Rooms where students can register their smartphones online and lock the internet service while studying by themselves.
Red Bull says the continuity of spending 45 minutes at one go in this scenario offers its rewards. Many students and teachers reportedly found the idea of “not being socially connected all the time” discomforting, but soon realized its positive effect in boosting the quality of their studies.
As a result students put away their phones while preparing their studies using the Red Bull Energy Study Rooms.
They also uploaded their experiences and shared on WeChat and weibo how improved concentration levels really boosted their study results.
In more than 100 colleges and universities in China, the company set up virtual study rooms to allow students to participate in the online activity. There were Red Bull paint-themed blackboards and slogans and even company stickers for use on study desks, and students were able to scan codes on their desks to interact online.
During the two weeks of exams, Red Bull’s campaign was used 3.19 million times by participants, with 340,000 such sessions lasting for 45 minutes or longer.
At Sina Weibo’s top topic lists, the Red Bull Energy Study Rooms have gained reading clicks of more than 100 million times and tens of thousands have talked abut their newfound understanding of concentration.
Campus marketing has become heated battlefield for fast-moving consumer goods, as a new generation of college students requires innovative advertisements to grab their attention. According to mass communications analysts, young people, especially those with better education, are more open to new things and willing to share things they find interesting with their peers. They are also willing to get involved in creative activities. This makes them ideal for word-of-mouth marketing.
Experts suggest that if companies can discover what this group really needs and offer products and services tailored to those needs, they can tap into the market quickly.
Companies have now figured out how to more accurately capture the attention of students and sell to them on brand values. Analysts say Red Bull has focused on daily study among students and exported its brand with its unique marketing formats and slogan — “Red Bull helps you focus and focus ignites your potential energy”.
In China, Red Bull has long been a benchmark for campus marketing and its marketing campaigns have often been study cases of the industry, winning various awards.
Shen Hong, a branding expert and researcher at Minzu University of China, said that the Red Bull Energy Study Rooms had displayed the company’s core values well, gained recognition from college students and enhanced the reputation of the brand.