What does RedBull and youth leading have in common? Anyone who has ever worked with teenagers knows you keep that drink as far away from them as possible. But the 2 work on a very similar concept: “If you discover something for yourself, it is far more meaningful than if it is forced upon you”.
Last night was the first night of the Youth Alpha program at my church’s youth group and as a leader, I was pumped to see the work God had planned. In training for this program, the above concept really stood out to me because both as a youth leader and a marketer it’s easy to get caught up in becoming a teacher; lecturing so-called wise words of wisdom and desperately praying that they sink in to the students’ hearts, or trying to fit a ton of information in an ad to tell consumers why your product is right for them.
But last night at youth alpha, sitting around the table I put duct tape over my mouth, sat back, and listened to the wise words of wisdom coming out of the students’ mouths…words that they were discovering for themselves…words that were truly sinking in to their hearts.
And when it comes to marketing, Red Bull has figured this concept out as well with their successful strategy: give out as much free RedBull as possible! RedBull sponsored a ski trip I was on last weekend and gave out as many cans as we could physically consume. They know not to pour millions of dollars into ad campaigns telling us how well their product works…they put it in our hands and let us discover it out for ourselves!