BRAND:
RED BULL VIETNAM
AWARD CATEGORY:
The Best Advocacy & Influencer Strategy
CAMPAIGN TIME RANGE:
01/04/2025 - 30/09/2025
CREDITS:
Purpose.Ant, IOB, Spark Foundry, METUB
CASE STUDY VIDEO
STRATEGY
Brand Situation
Red Bull has long held the No. 1 position in Vietnam's energy drink landscape, anchored in the “Charge On” spirit (Bản Lĩnh Tới Cùng, Húc Tới Đi)—encouraging people to push forward toward their goals, with Red Bull as the source of energy behind those endeavors. However, despite its strong legacy, Red Bull has yet to leave impactful marks on social space—where consumers, especially young audiences, live and engage. In 2025, the ambition is clear: to make Red Bull a social-first brand—connected and socially relevant—and ultimately, to make Red Bull great again in the social world, matching its title as the King of Energy.
The Social Challenge
As Vietnam strives to break through, many consumers constantly charge on to better themselves—but in a culture that values being humble, people often hesitate to openly claim they harbor this spirit. This creates a social challenge: while Red Bull’s platform is relevant, it struggles to engage people. In reality, few would go online to declare themselves as embodying the “Charge On” spirit—even though they live it every day.
The Social Strategy
Our strategy is clear: to make “Charge On” a proudly expressed social behavior. To bring this to life, Red Bull partners with a figure who embodies the brand’s value—bold, dynamic, passionate, and premium—one that can influence social behavior at scale and stand on equal footing with the King of Energy: Sơn Tùng M-TP, the King of V-Pop. Short-term: Launch the collaboration in a viral way that captures all social attention—showcasing how Sơn Tùng M-TP and Red Bull share the same “Charge On” spirit.Mid-term: Empower consumers to share their “Charge On” stories, encouraging them to express this side of themselves. Long-term: Establish a “Charge On” spirit as a widely responded-to social behavior, culminating in a large-scale 2025 event that honors real “Charge On” stories.
INSIGHT
Vietnamese culture has always seen being humble as a valued trait, leading many to keep their “Chare On” spirit-all their endeavors and achievements-private or within close circles. Yet in 2025, a shift emerged—seen in the rise of anonymous Threads posts sharing personal achievements or the rapid growth of communities like “Flexing tới hơi thở cuối cùng,” where people openly celebrate their accomplishments. This reveals a deeper truth: the desire to showcase one’s “Charge On” spirit has always been there. Yet these “Charge On” spirits remained hidden, staying anonymous, waiting for a spark that invites them into the open.
CREATIVE IDEA
Knowing that real “Charge On” spirits are always out there, hidden, Red Bull’s role became clear: we had to bring those spirits to light. That’s why our social ideas revolve around one thing: to find and unearth all the “Charge On” spirit across Vietnam. But as this social campaign aimed to shape social behavior, it needed to be substantial instead of being a one-time burst. So we crafted a journey—including multiple touchpoints, each with a distinct role and rooted in its own social insight—to draw people in, keep the momentum alive, and turn the idea into a social movement people wanted to be part of. At the center of it all was our brand ambassador—Sơn Tùng M-TP. More than just a BA, he acted as the spark, the amplifier, and the symbol—playing different roles across each phase to guide the story forward and bring the “Charge On” spirit to life.
CONNECTION PLAN
The campaign unfolded in three waves: Inspire – Advocate – Honor.
INSPIRE
Campaigns often announce Brand Ambassadors through linear teasers and TVCs—but this approach wasn’t suitable for Red Bull. Consumers weren’t fully engaging with the brand, and with Sơn Tùng M-TP partnering multiple brands, a typical reveal risked diluting Red Bull in the social landscape. So we let consumers predict the collaboration themselves—leveraging AI. As ChatGPT boomed in 2025, Red Bull prompted consumers to use it to uncover who matched the “King of Energy” title. The phrase “King of Energy” cued ChatGPT to point Sơn Tùng M-TP, the “King of V-POP," as the answer. The topic sparked widespread discussion, then Red Bull revealed the collaboration through a TVC featuring the BA’s “Charge On” story.
ADVOCATE
Red Bull expanded the movement and unearthed more "Charge On" spirits with a UGC—"Talking Numbers." Consumers shared their endeavours using numbers on a template - the hours they spent, the attempts they took, etc. This created a massive buzz as the UGC was easy to join, relatable, and customizable.
HONOR
Once many “Charge On” stories were unearthed, Red Bull honored all of them. First with Húc Tour - an offline experiential series across Vietnam. At its core was a Giant Seat inspired by Sơn Tùng M-TP’s quote “To sit where none can take your place, you must endure what none can face.”. We turned it into a social challenge—daring people to claim the seat and driving massive engagement.Second, Húc Fest—a large-scale festival celebrating “Charge On” stories, led by Sơn Tùng M-TP and other influential figures. Afterward, the echo lived on—turning “Charge On” into a widely embraced social behavior.We also collaborated with Troll Xe - a community dedicated to drivers - to honor all the "Charge On" spirits with an exclusive event.
OBJECTIVE-BASE KPI
[1] Objective: Drive social engagement | Platform: Facebook, TikTok, Thread | Metrics: Buzz, UGC submission, Engagement, View | Result: 1.35M+ social buzz, 1.5K+ UGC submissions, 11M engagements, 1B views | Compare_with_benchmark: Buzz volume: achieved 109% KPI
