To the point: Stratos wings
For once, I have to give a big shout-out to a PR strategist. Felix Baumgartner's space jump "Red Bull Stratos" has been THE topic in the media in recent weeks. The entire press reported on it, most television stations - and by no means only the private ones - were partly live. Online journalists ticked their fingers to the bone and radio stations also joined in the hype. The You Tube channel for "Red Bull Stratos" was viewed an incredible 366 million times. The world record project became a worldwide mass euphoria. In Switzerland, too, of course.
The whole thing was perfectly orchestrated. The start was postponed three times and it wasn't until Sunday at 8:15 p.m. - prime time, that is - that the daredevil extreme athlete landed in the Nevada desert. The postponement certainly didn't hurt the suspense. But anyone who thinks that's a bad thing is in for a surprise. More than 200 broadcasting stations worldwide are said to have transmitted the spectacle live. The pictures were provided by the Red Bull team. The journalists who reported on the world record in the run-up were "embedded" and thus part of a gigantic PR machinery. Anyone who would now think that a storm of indignation would have raged in the media is very much mistaken. There were isolated negative voices, but they were really very isolated and very restrained. Only the NZZ am Sonntag published a major critical article. Even respected press titles euphorically joined in the jubilation. The FAZ headlined "A case for eternity" and also the NZZ could not hide its enthusiasm: "A gladiator of modern times" was the title here. Other examples: "Jump from stratosphere: the leap of leaps becomes fact" (20 Minuten), "He has brought us heaven on earth" (SonntagsBlick). The fact that the Kronen-Zeitung, the tabloid from the Red Bull homelands, even blamed the "dear God himself" for the windless ascent was in keeping with the mass euphoria.
Austrian media psychologist Peter Vitouch said in the online portal Futurezone.at that Red Bull's PR department had led all the media into a trap with lures. The lures were apparently so tasty that everyone was still so happy to be seduced.
Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull owner and gifted marketing and PR man, has put a small part of his huge marketing budget of 1.3 billion euros - this figure he announced in an interview with NZZ-Folio - into Felix Baumgartner's record attempt. The 50 million euros that the stunt reportedly cost were truly money well spent.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
