EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Three examples show the four content types at work in the real world. Red Bull turned a record-breaking space jump into branded entertainment that reached eight million live viewers and drove $500 million in additional sales. HubSpot built a durable growth engine on education, earning 93% of its website traffic through direct visits and organic search rather than paid ads. And a fractional CMO consultancy launched with just two thousand LinkedIn connections found clients by clarifying a confusing concept instead of pitching services.
Last week, we covered the four types of content every brand needs: entertain, educate, inspire, and convince. What does each of these content types look like in practice? These three examples that follow come from very different places, but they share one thing. Each one gave the audience something worth their time before asking for anything in return.
A Case Study in Entertaining Content: Red Bull
In October 2012, Red Bull transformed the boundaries of branded content with Red Bull Stratos, an audacious project that sent Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner to the edge of space. Suspended beneath a massive helium balloon above the New Mexico desert, Baumgartner ascended twenty-four miles into the stratosphere, then stepped off the capsule ledge and plummeted back to Earth.
What followed was not just a record-breaking skydive but one of the most iconic brand moments in modern history. Baumgartner reached a supersonic speed of 843.6 miles per hour, becoming the first human to break the sound barrier in free fall. He earned three world records in a single jump: highest balloon flight, highest free fall, and fastest speed in free fall. His descent lasted just over four minutes before he landed safely.
While the mission carried undeniable scientific value, it was, at its core, a piece of branded entertainment. The event embodied Red Bull’s slogan, “Red Bull gives you wings.” Instead of a traditional advertisement, Red Bull created a spectacle so compelling that global news outlets, social media, and everyday conversation revolved around their brand for weeks. Over eight million people watched the event live on YouTube, the largest audience for a live stream at the time, cementing the project as a marketing masterstroke.
The cost of the project is debated, with one estimate placing it at $30 million, yet the returns far outweighed that figure, with reports crediting it for generating an additional $500 million in sales.
Red Bull Stratos was not a commercial. It was an event. By staging a high-drama, visually spectacular moment, Red Bull positioned itself as not just an energy drink company but a cultural force in extreme sports and adventure. Entertainment, rather than product promotion, became the vehicle of persuasion.
This case demonstrates how brands can capture audiences not by pushing a message, but by creating experiences so entertaining and shareable that the audience pulls the message to themselves. Red Bull Stratos wasn’t about a beverage; it was a story of courage, innovation, and human possibility, all of which became inseparably tied to the Red Bull name.
A Case Study in Educational Content: HubSpot
Customer relationship management (CRM) platform HubSpot has become a leader in marketing and sales technology not only because of its product, but also because of its ability to educate. Competing with giants, such as Salesforce, HubSpot built its growth strategy around…
