Is this really true, though? I think most of Red Bull's success comes from the U.S. market, and I distinctly remember an onslaught of clever advertisements on American television circa the late 90's when Red Bull was really taking off featuring poorly-drawn cartoon characters.

That's not to say there's no merit to the Flugtag argument, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to attribute their success purely to running their own events. What this article is describing is really product positioning, and it is what David Ogilvy described as the single most important aspect of any marketing campaign. Red Bull has carefully (and cleverly) positioned itself as an energy drink company serving adventure-seeking types. The same could be said for Tom's which has positioned itself as a new-age shoe company selling comfortable shoes while helping disadvantaged people in other countries. Or Coudal's Field Notes, which is positioned to appeal to people as a classic American tool for getting stuff done even though it's been around for about two years. There are a lot of good lessons out there.