Starting things off...

To give this blog an official launch, a small story likely overlooked by most over the weekend...

Red Bull, it was announced, have extended their sponsorship of UK Athletics leading up to the London 2012 Summer Olympics, signing on as partners until 2013. While on the surface, this may appear a minor story - particularly given the relatively small financial commitment (reportedly only £400,000) - at second glance this an interesting move on the part of Red Bull.

As well as extending the current partnership through to the upcoming London Olympics, the deal also underlines the shift in Red Bull's brand identity and image, towards more traditional sports through more legitimate streams. Whereas in the past, Red Bull's involvement in sport surrounded extreme and adventure sports, and its brand image has been rooted in the fast-paced lifestyle of action sports and Generation X and Y clubbers, over the past decade the company has slowly built one of the largest and most diverse sports portfolios in the world, ranging from Red Bull's Crashed Ice event, to its five football teams around the world, to one of the leading Austrian hockey teams.

This new sponsorship extends Red Bull's existing partnership with Great Britain's athletics team, after four years together. While Red Bull's involvement with the UK Athletics team wasn't particularly visible during the 2008 Beijing Games, with the next Summer Games on British soil, it will be interesting to see how Red Bull leverages their association, and what impact the brand's moves into less-extreme, more traditional sports, has on its broader image.