red bull took many marketing and ingredient ideas from an energy drink in thailand called krating daeng. dietrich mateschitz, an austrian entrepreneur, developed the red bull energy drink brand. mateschitz was the international marketing director for blendax, a toothpaste company, when he visited thailand in 1982 and discovered that krating daeng helped to cure his jet lag. between 1984 and 1987, mateschitz worked with tc pharmaceutical (a blendax licensee) to adapt krating daeng for the european market.