A little gift and a big bed were waiting for me when I arrived in Salzburg, Austria. ‘Herzlich wilkommen’, as the Austrians would say.
After watching the game I was K.O. in bed and a few hours later Stefanie Daubek a.k.a. Steffi picked me up from the hotel. We drove to Red Bull Creative HQ. The office is situated in a beautiful part of Salzburg. Dietrich Mateschitz, the founder of Red Bull, lives in the neighbourhood as well. From both the office as his mansion you have a stunning view at the mountains of Salzburg.
In total there are about 40 people working at Red Bull Creative. It’s the official creative agency of Red Bull. They work globally for projects such as Formula 1, Soccer, Red Bull Athletes and all the other awesome Red Bull events. They even did that little thing with Felix Baumgartner.
I became part of (Creative Director) Daniel Cachandt’s team. After some talks with a cup of coffee we quickly started with the reason why I was there: get some shit done!
Daniel gave me a cool brief to come up with ideas for Red Bull Athletes. I’m not allowed to say what the exact task was but hopefully I can share the outcome later.
I got back to the office and started to dig in the world of Red Bull Athletes. For me, research is one of the most important tools in generating ideas. “Make sure you know more about the subject than the brand manager” did someone really smart say someday to me.
After the lunch break I put on some deephouse and started to sketch & scribble ideas in my notebook. I didn’t stop until Steffi tapped on my shoulder: “let’s check out the city centre”. Right on! We walked through the old parts of Salzburg and even saw some locations of The Sound of Music. It was the most awesome thing I ever saw in my entire life! Serious? No, of course not. Funny thing is that there apparently is a Korean bus tour that takes visitors to the locations where they can sing those songs from the movie; karaoke-style. Now THAT is awesome.
After the city tour we chilled at the rooftop of Steinterrasse. It has one of the best views over the city. Especially during the sunset it’s definitely a place you should check out.
On Thursday we started the day with a big boost of creativity. Simon Schwaighofer, Creative Director at Red Bull Creative, was in the Cyber Lions Jury at Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity this year. He made a presentation to share his insights and learning from this experience. Although I visited Cannes as well it was a great meeting. He ended his presentation with his favourite case: Sweetie. Made by my former agency LEMZ. They won 13 Gold Lions and the Grand Prix for Good in Cannes. I’m so super proud of them!
Back to the Bull. Today the client was coming to the office. The one that is responsible for Red Bull Athletes. Daniel asked me if I wanted to present my ideas. “Of course!” was my reply. I shortly introduced myself and presented my 5 ideas. She loved it and took ‘m all back to her office. In a few days we will receive feedback and then we’ll hear which ideas we can give wings. Some of them can become pretty epic. Fingers crossed!
Daniel gave me a compliment about my presentation but instead of chilling down I immediately got briefed on a new task. BOOM! Energy! Maybe there is something in those cans we drink everyday…
At the end of the day we took a ride to the famous Red Bull HQ in Fuschl am See. It huge and surrounded by nature. I can imagine that the employees stick around for a long time here. It’s great!
In the evening it was time to support my country. I was lucky that I found the only other Dutch guy in Salzburg. Not just another Dutch guy, no this was Michael van Vliet. Another world wanderer. But he has some more miles on his portfolio. Well, by bike. Michael went by bike from The Netherlands to China. It took him two years. You can imagine that we had some stuff to talk about. But not that night. That night it was time to support our men. The Orange Lions. I don’t even have to write down how it ended because the whole world was watching. And if you missed it, just Google ‘Krul’.
Working for Red Bull is already pretty epic but they decided to add a little extra adrenaline to my experience. They literally gave me wings. We drove to Hangar 7 (Red Bull’s playground of planes) and had a brainstorm INSIDE the Douglas DC-6. Red Bull owns it now but it was once the private luxury transport of Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito. We flew above Salzburg and Fuschl, in the middle of an airshow, made a few low approach curves and some crazy ideas. I even made the stewardess laugh when I told her I once was Jos van Oss with Dutch carnaval.
Today was my last day at Red Bull and they dropped me at the airport. I flew from Salzburg via Frankfurt to Berlin. It was my 25th flight in 6 months haha. I’m writing this blog post from my hostel and it’s already 2:30 at night. No time to relax because tomorrow is day one at my next internship with GoEuro. Vamoooos!
To all my new friends at Red Bull Creative, man man man, vielen dank und auf wiedersehen!