Thailand's Red Bull Rival Slumps From Top to Bottom of World

Anuchit Nguyen

 

FILE photo

 

(Bloomberg) -- The onetime top soft-drink stock in the world is now the industry’s worst-performing equity.

 

Thailand’s Carabao Group Pcl, energy-drink maker and sponsor of a high-profile English soccer competition, has fallen almost 40 percent on a total return basis from a peak in October last year. The drop is the worst globally among soft-drink makers with a minimum $1 billion market capitalization, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

 

Named after one of Thailand’s most successful rock bands, Carabao overtook Red Bull domestically, surged following its listing in 2014 and two years later became the world’s best-performing large soft-drink stock. But the challenge of successfully expanding in China and the U.K., key overseas markets, weighed on the shares more recently.

 

Full story: https://www.bloombergquint.com/markets/2018/03/25/red-bull-rival-in-thailand-slumps-from-top-to-bottom-of-world

 

-- Bloomberg 2018-03-26

everyone i know, including all the moto taxis drink M-150 , at least 50% or more cheaper than RED BULL

4 minutes ago, mercman24 said:

everyone i know, including all the moto taxis drink M-150 , at least 50% or more cheaper than RED BULL

The article is about Carabao !

I can pronounce "Red Bull".  In English, Mandarin and Chinglish..

 

I don't have a clue how to pronounce "Carabao" in any language.  Nor do I know anything at all about the band it's named after.

 

Maybe that has something to do with their difficulty penetrating markets outside of Thailand?

 

Edited March 26, 20188 yr by impulse

Well 4 posts in and no one has mentioned 'Boy' yet so I thought I'd get it over with! 

12 minutes ago, Psimbo said:

Well 4 posts in and no one has mentioned 'Boy' yet so I thought I'd get it over with! 

Boss would be better.

1 hour ago, mercman24 said:

everyone i know, including all the moto taxis drink M-150 , at least 50% or more cheaper than RED BULL

I agree as I often see Thais drinking M-150, but never red bull (or carabeo).

2 hours ago, mercman24 said:

everyone i know, including all the moto taxis drink M-150 , at least 50% or more cheaper than RED BULL

I agree that subjectively M-150 appears to outsell Carabao in Thailand - although I think the report was about their share price, and this may have peaked after their marketing campaign and flotation, then fallen as investors realize it's over-value.  As we've seen from internet start-ups, share valuations can have little to do with sales.

Edited March 26, 20188 yr by Kinnock

They need a publicity stunt, possibly featuring a spoilt brat, sports car and slogan saying "It gives you wheels"

2 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

The article is about Carabao !

 

 - as dd mentioned - M 150 certainly appears to be more popular than Carabao and Red Bull combined, so the share price fall is understandable, and the combination of high marketing costs plus the share value drop may result in serious issues for the future of the business. 

 

 

Edited March 26, 20188 yr by Kinnock

M-150 is also big in Indonesia. On the odd occasion I buy one of these I chose the original? Lipovitan  Taurine is supposed to lower one's blood pressure?

5 hours ago, mercman24 said:

everyone i know, including all the moto taxis drink M-150 , at least 50% or more cheaper than RED BULL

the regular red bull, m150 carabao are all same price about 10 bht.  I usually buy the 10 packs in big C as a pre workout drink.  Misses wont let me buy carabao as she doesnt like the flavour and I boycotted red bull due to the heir saga.  

5 hours ago, impulse said:

I can pronounce "Red Bull".  In English, Mandarin and Chinglish..

I don't have a clue how to pronounce "Carabao" in any language.  Nor do I know anything at all about the band it's named after.

Maybe that has something to do with their difficulty penetrating markets outside of Thailand?

 

How many Carabaos would you buy abroad, if you knew how to say the drink?

If you bought the drink abroad, would their sells soar to equal Red Bulls sells?

Just now, sanemax said:

How many Carabaos would you buy abroad, if you knew how to say the drink?

If you bought the drink abroad, would their sells soar to equal Red Bulls sells?

 

I'm just saying it's tougher to build a brand when people don't know how to pronounce the name of your product, and don't understand the rich history behind the name and that unique logo.

 

Who's going to get on YouTube or Weibo with a video saying how much they like an energy drink and risk being ridiculed for pronouncing the name wrong?  Sure, if you pay them and coach them.  Or tie it into an F1 racing team and spend $$$ millions on promotions.  But that doesn't seem to be a strong skill with Thailand marketing groups, especially when they go overseas.  It's an extension of mis-spelled signs and menus because they apparently just don't care enough to spend the money to get a good translation, spelled correctly.  (But they will spend $$$ millions putting up 100,000 copies of a mis-spelled sign for a condo project)   I don't know if it's cheapness, or a lack of caring about any culture except Thailand's.  It's the kiss of death in international business, though.

 

8 hours ago, impulse said:

I don't have a clue how to pronounce "Carabao" in any language.  Nor do I know anything at all about the band it's named after.

Do you live here?

If you do, you obviously don't get out much...

On 3/26/2018 at 9:25 PM, thaiguzzi said:

Do you live here?

If you do, you obviously don't get out much...

 

Like a lot of Thai language, I'd bet that even 75% of the foreigners who think they know how to pronounce it are getting the tones wrong.  I can't count the number of times one of my Thai co-workers walked away from a Thai language conversation with a long stay foreigner and told me they couldn't understand most of what they said in their "fluent Thai".

Carabao is easy to say.

30 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Like a lot of Thai language, I'd bet that even 75% of the foreigners who think they know how to pronounce it are getting the tones wrong.  I can't count the number of times one of my Thai co-workers walked away from a Thai language conversation with a long stay foreigner and told me they couldn't understand most of what they said in their "fluent Thai".

Lots of words are difficult. Carabao isn't one of them.

Maybe a case of how many of these so called energy drinks can the market support?

 

Don't see many people I know drinking them but I'm probably in the wrong demographic.

1 hour ago, Justfine said:

Lots of words are difficult. Carabao isn't one of them.

In fact, it is Spanish! 

1 hour ago, Justfine said:

Lots of words are difficult. Carabao isn't one of them.

 

Maybe true, but do you figure someone in China, or some other country knows that?  I look at that word -the way it's spelled- and realizing that Thai is a tonal language, I'm not getting on a vlog and risking sounding like a fool.  Cuts way back on word-of-mouth advertising.

 

Red Bull?  Eezy Peezy.  And no mysterious reference to a musician in Thailand- that means diddly squat outside LOS.  There's a company that understands expanding internationally.  They didn't try to go outside of Thailand with Krating Daeng.

 

 

Edited March 28, 20188 yr by impulse

1 hour ago, Oziex1 said:

Maybe a case of how many of these so called energy drinks can the market support?

 

Don't see many people I know drinking them but I'm probably in the wrong demographic.

They are very unhealthy.

31 minutes ago, Justfine said:

They are very unhealthy.

Au contraire.  Taurine is good for you. https://draxe.com/what-is-taurine/ 

 

Just found it is good for running so I'll give it a try.  Life in moderation.

Edited March 28, 20188 yr by VocalNeal