Last October, as Felix Baumgartner dropped from his capsule 128,100 feet in the sky, it wasn’t just his family that held their breath in fear of what could happen next. Red Bull had reason to be nervous about their most extreme marketing stunt to date.

With their tagline “Red Bull Gives You Wings”, the energy drink company has developed a single minded support for extreme sports over the years. Everything from base-jumping, Formula 1, water-sports, the X-Games and air-racing has the Red Bull stamp of approval.

The Stratos project represented not just the core of their brand purpose and the manifestation of a great brand story, but also their most risky stunt so far which, thankfully, paid off!

Was this courageous execution or a calculated gamble? We’ve all seen the reaction: 8 million views of the stunt live on YouTube, 29 million views (so far) of the mission highlights, an estimated 100 million euro in return on exposure for the brand, and commentators falling over themselves with praise – “the very pinnacle of content”.

But what if it had all gone wrong? Even from my simplified view, it seems jumping out of a balloon at near-space territory would present a fair few safety issues. However, Red Bull insist that this was not just a marketing stunt, but a chance to further our understanding of science; a mission to the edge of space. In this sense, perhaps they were immune to failure, whatever the result – a calculated gamble.

Red Bull have gone so far as to block the agencies involved in the project from talking to the press in order to move away from it being viewed as a marketing stunt. They have not been the type to just throw on their logo and leave, they have built credibility from their total commitment to supporting anything they put their name on – look no further than their dominant F1 team.

It does come at a price – it’s estimated that Red Bull invest a massive 30%-40% of their revenues in marketing, but if you align a consistent and ambitious brand strategy with significant investment, as Red Bull have, then you end up with a brand that has the potential to reach beyond the product.

However, now that Felix has announced his retirement, Red Bull are faced with a problem – have they set the bar too high and if not, is there anyone crazy enough to take on their next project?!

Truth shall set you free?

It’s only fair to disclose first that as a life-long cycling fan I’ve never been a Lance fan. Most real cycling folk knew deep down all along that the dream/miracle/myth – call it what you will, was total BS! Every great story is the product of two crucial components: the ‘Botch-up’ and the ‘Trying to Fix the Botch-up’. Brand Armstrong is at the latter stage (and critical point) of his long painful saga. On the morning after his first of two worldwide exclusive interviews with Oprah Winfrey, the question on the minds of Lance’s team and the products and companies he once endorsed is most probably: what comes next for Lance and his brand?

Once revered for being a cycling legend, best selling author, cancer survivor and visionary philanthropist, a final and damming USDA report published in October last year has the potential to tear it all apart. With a fallout that included the stripping of his seven Tour de France titles, a life barring from competing in all Olympic sports, the loss of three major sponsorship contracts and his step down from the role of chairman of Livestrong, it would take nothing short of a miracle to start reversing that kind of damage…or would it?

Finally breaking his silence (and going back on more than a decade of vehement denial against the doping rumours that have plagued him for most of his career), Lance Armstrong has taken the opportunity to come clean, so to speak, with arguably one of the most influential figures in popular culture to date.

Truth and transparency can be powerful tools for any brand, but confession is where it really pushes the issue into the ‘make or break’ scenario. Held to such a high standard for such a long period of time, as is the case for a lot of sporting legends, the multi-million-dollar question is, will the public forgive his significant indiscretions? Also, what kind of weight will his brand carry now and how much good will does he have to leverage at this point?

While his cycling career is most definitely over, if “Brand Clinton” or “Brand Tiger” is anything to go by, a confession, some half truths, weasel words and some false humility may just be the ticket for Lance Armstrong to catch a return ticket. Whether or not he’ll be given permission to dip his toe into any other ventures remains to be seen but, whatever the outcome, it’s been quite a ride!