Seizing not only the day, but also a position

“Drinking with a purpose” is their product slogan, and they have created an entire cultural connection to their niche audience. From the makers of Red Bull comes the drink that claims to combine “Naturalness, functionality and drinking pleasure” into the beverage they call Carpe Diem.

So how does a company that made a product seemingly impossible to market through traditional means come up with such a concept? Red Bull, an energy drink famed for its word-of-mouth, buzz (no pun intended) marketing, has designed a completely new concept for Carpe Diem.


According to their website, Carpediem.com, “the beverages of Carpe Diem are based on traditional methods of preparation and knowledge that is thousands of years old.” They even taste pretty good, too. But at 170 calories a bottle, they are not exactly in the diet category.

The trick Carpe Diem is employing is targeting a very specific niche. Like in our Persona® tool, where demographics go above and beyond to target specific customer characteristics, putting a face to the customer, Carpe Diem has nailed the potential consumers of this beverage and focused their distribution accordingly. Rather than selling the product through convenience stores as they do with Red Bull, Carpe Diem is being distributed through specialty stores such as Whole Foods, the home of the niche of products that are good for you but not necessarily diety.

By scrolling through their site, it is easy to see that they are connecting to a particular customer. They have selected a niche that should be pretty receptive to this particular product. They have seen the face of their customer, and they are exercising their marketing dollars to speak as directly as possible to that customer.

Looks like Carpe Diem is positioned to seize their share of the beverage market.