Felix Baumgartner says being 'risk manager' helped build his brand
Red Bull space jumper Felix Baumgartner has told marketers the secret to his feat was he was being a “risk manager”.
He said one key to getting through the five year’s of preparation for the event was to “never look at the big picture, always break it down and look forward to the next test”.
The Austrian made history last year when he broke the speed of sound after freefalling from a capsule at 130,000 feet, on the edge of space, in a stunt which earned Red Bull an international audience of more than one billion people.
He told an audience at a session about bravery at the Adobe Summit conference: “When I started as a base jumper I never liked the idea of being an adrenaline junky, my concept was always to be a risk manager.
“I realise to realise my ambition and make it come true I need to find the right people to finally become successful.
“Of course stepping out of a capsule at 130,000 feet is dangerous, but the key is to prepare yourself, make sure you don’t have a lot of risk, and go for it.”
He said he had to “earn the trust” of the company which made the suit he used, after they initially refused to sell it to the team because of the risks associated with the attempt.
In terms of marketing his brand he said the risk manager image has helped him partner with big brands, and said Red Bull were “extremely happy” with the return on investment in the Stratos project because “we were leaning well out of the window”.
“We always knew this was going to be big, but we never thought it was going to be that big, with so many people watching live on TV.”
He admitted the record set for the number of live streams of the jump was “never expected” by the team, but was a “nice add on”.
On jumping out of the capsule he quipped: “It’s one step forward and the rest is easy”.
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