Red Bull, in what has already been hailed as one of the greatest marketing stunts of all time, sponsored Red Bull Stratos, a record-breaking space dive yesterday. Live coverage of Austrian pilot and skydiver Felix Baumgartner, descending at speeds that reached nearly 834 mph, was watched worldwide on YouTube by a reported eight million viewers and (as reported by Forbes earlier today) yielded tens of millions of dollars' in global exposure for Red Bull.

Even for a brand known for immersing itself in extreme sports and pop culture, getting behind a death-defying mission like skydiving from space is pretty risky, not to mention expensive (though with very little financial investment media-wise). The jump had been postponed twice last week due to high winds, and was almost postponed a third time because of overheating problems with the protective face mask. Red Bull has yet to disclose how much the project or campaign cost — but between five years of preparations with a team of scientists and engineers, and gear that included a custom-tailored spacesuit, a subzero-pressurized oxygenated capsule, and a 40-acre-long hot-air balloon, it must have cost a pretty penny.

Was it all worth it? The mission was certainly successful in the respect that Felix was not blown to smithereens. Personally, I wonder what kinds of thoughts were going on in his poor mother's mind as she watched her son plummet from 24 miles above the planet while the world watched. And aside from breaking a few records, you have to ask yourself: does risking a human life outweigh the scientific contributions that this mission provided, especially when one of the main benefits was to further the progression of aerospace safety? A bit ironic...

As a creative marketer, though, I applaud Red Bull for sponsoring such a risky feat. A brand seldom has the opportunity to make such a bold move that will also engage such a large audience. Tim Nudd writes today in Adweek, “The stunt perfectly matched the brand’s rebellious, adventurous persona, and had the added value of actually helping to push the limits of human achievement” (full article here). And with great risk comes great reward. The live stream, which lasted two hours, had more concurrent views than any YouTube video and was shared almost 7,000 times in a few short hours.

Wondering how Red Bull can top this? Me too.