Red Bull Gives You Wings - Palm Gives You A Pilot

3Com has supplied Red Bull`s world-wide marketing team with 3Com Palm Pilots to give staff access to all of Red Bull`s shared information via the Palm`s HotSync technology to improve communications and to provide easy access to the vital tools of their daily operations.

Founded in Austria in 1987, Red Bull effectively opened the market for `energy` drinks in Europe with the launch of its now famous energy drink. Marketing the product as a `sensory` stimulation drink which, as the advertising, states `gives you wings`, the company actually set out to capitalise on a phenomenon its founder and president Dietrich Mateschitz noticed while on business in Asia.

Essentially, Mateschitz noticed that the Japanese seemed to be particularly partial to drinking bottles of `energy drink` to keep themselves alert. Having tried these drinks himself, and finding that they did indeed help him stay sharp, Mateschitz decided to reformulate the concept for the European market - and Red Bull the company was born.

Ten years later, Red Bull is available in 28 markets world-wide and is the unchallenged market-leader in Europe, with European sales for 1997 estimated at over 150 million cans - more than all its competitors put together.

As the Red Bull empire has grown, so has the scope of its activities - particularly in the marketing domain, explains 3Com SA`s retail programme manager, Sean Heyes.

"For example, Red Bull is a big sponsor of extreme sports, with teams involved in mountain biking, kayaking, snowboarding, Superbike and Formula One competitions around the world," he says. " Much of the marketing team`s time is spent organising events in support of the Red Bull teams - involving the coordination of the event and associated he Palm`s HotSync technology - for example, contacts on the internal network Microsoft Access database are synchronised with the marketing team`s Palm organisers," says 3Com`s Heyes.

The importance of this was demonstrated during a meeting with Schwalb when he received a call on his mobile. Within seconds he had checked his Palm and solved a looming problem for the caller, because the information was immediately to hand.

"I can be anywhere in the world, sometimes at the top of a mountain, but I know exactly what is going on at Red Bull," he says. "I`m far more organised and the team is far more organised in what are normally pretty chaotic conditions. Even at internal meetings people with Palm III`s are constantly using the infrared function to beam memos and information to each other, so we all know what the next person is doing."

Red Bull is currently in the process of building an Intranet and is also having a new relational database developed. "Once this is completed we will really see the Palm`s full potential," says Schwalb. "Since the team began using Palms in the course of its work the organisation of events, teams and time management has improved considerably."

Once Red Bull has completed the Intranet and relational database, the team will be able to access further information remotely.

Summing up, Schwalb likened the Palm Computing mentality to that of Red Bull, with each company sharing the same non-conformist approach to its products.

"I love gadgets but the Palm is far more than that. It is by far the best add-on I have seen for the PC - and now everybody I know has one," he says. "I love the core competencies and the seamless synchronisation with PCs - information is constantly updated and nothing gets lost. The PalmPilot goes with me everywhere. It`s been battered and dropped but still it keeps working."

"To return to the advertising - Red Bull stimulation may well give you wings, but in today`s competitive business world, it appears that you really do need a PalmPilot to fly," he concludes.

Technical information Palm connected organisers are capable of synchronising data with a PC and over corporate Intranets and the Internet, using Palm Computing`s HotSync technology. Many vendors continue to build "conduits," desktop links that enable one-button two-way data exchange between Palm Computing platform organisers and PC-based software. These include links to CorelCENTRAL8, Franklin Ascend 97, Lotus Notes, Lotus Organiser, Microsoft Outlook 97, Microsoft Schedule+, Novell GroupWise, Now Up-To-Date and Contact, Oracle InterOffice, Sidekick and Internet Sidekick from Starfish Software, and Symantec ACT! The Palm III organiser is compatible with Windows 95, Windows NT and Macintosh operating systems.

The Palm range of connected organisers offer built-in e-mail compatibility with Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Outlook 97(tm), Lotuscc:mail, Microsoft Outlook Express and QUALCOMM`s Eudora Pro. Many third-party conduits are available that provide connectivity to almost every other major e-mail application, including POP3 Internet Mail clients and Lotus Notes. With a Palm connected organiser modem users can use their Palm organisers to send or receive email.