CORONA, Calif. -- Monster Energy Co. has an uncommon approach to advertising on TV, radio and billboards. It avoids it. It doesn't even have an ad agency, reported Investor's Business Daily.
"You might ask how Monster and its No. 1 seller, Monster Energy, generated $1.3 billion in 2011 revenue. Or how it slipped past privately owned Red Bull to become No. 1 in energy-drink convenience store sales. Another question is why Coke and Pepsi haven't caught up," the newspaper asked.
The answer is that for some products, traditional advertising doesn't work. Tapping unique ways to market a brand while eschewing mainstream advertising can be an effective way to grow.
Part of Monster Energy's success stems from "knowing its audience and finding a way to connect with them, in what they perceive as an authentic way, and not talking down to them," Jeff Cioletti, editor of Beverage World, told the paper.
The dominant audience for Monster Energy is made up of teens and people in their early 20s who want a pick-me-up drink for a quick boost. They're suspicious of traditional advertising, and Monster Energy ads on TV and radio would likely alienate them, analysts told the publication.
In lieu of taking out ads, Monster Energy promotes events and competitions in extreme sports--skateboarding, motorcycle racing, surfing--and sponsors NASCAR driver Robby Gordon. Similarly, rival Red Bull sponsors its own professional soccer team and targets more mainstream sporting fans.
Corona, Calif.-based Monster Energy recognized early that its core consumer was 18 to 30 years old and seeking a drink that would boost their energy levels, so it targeted that demographic, Scott Van Winkle, a Boston-based industry analyst at Canaccord Genuity, told Investor's Business Daily. To boost its brand at the outset, it used guerrilla marketing to hand out free cans of Monster at events to create buzz.
To appeal to its mostly 20-something audience, Monster Beverage has also nurtured a strong following on social networks, said the report. It counts 14 million enthusiasts on Facebook and has 154,000 Twitter followers.
Rejecting traditional advertising hasn't slowed Monster Energy's popularity, the paper said. Monster had 31.5% market share in c-store sales in 2010, followed by Red Bull's 30.7%, Rockstar's 14% and Amp's 6%, according to the report, citing Beverage Marketing.
Cioletti said Monster passed Red Bull based on its effective branding campaign and making the right distribution deals to expand its network.
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