Richard Branson
(Virgin)
Richard Bransons first venture into business was creating a student
magazine. Shortly after this he decided to offer affordable “records” to
students and advertised in his last issue of the student magazine that records
were on offer via mail order. To overcome a postal strike he opened a record
shop that was different to all record shops at the time. He made it welcoming
and laid back and attracted a loyal customer base.
Following this he created his own recording studio. Their
biggest success was from signing the Sex Pistols who he knew were not being signed
by other record labels because of their bad image. Their album releases were a
huge success and Virgin made its name.
Virgin have now entered into numerous business ventures and
has made a point of taking on the big companies in particular industries where
Virgin has little or no experience. Their aim is to offer customer better value
for money. Examples are Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Media and Virgin mobile.
In terms of marketing, Richard has stated
that the cheapest form of marketing is free advertising so if you are the owner
of a business with a small staff, you need to use yourself or do something to
get free advertising. An example used by Virgin was when British Airways was
sponsoring the London Eye and they asked the worlds press to come for the
lifting of the wheel. Richard heard there were issues with the lifting so he
got one of his airships to fly over the “London Eye” with a giant slogan “BA
can’t get it up” and they got more coverage from the world press than any one
single thing they did.
http://www.virgin.com
[Accessed 30 September 2012]
[Accessed 28
September 2012]
[Book , Richard Branson, 2002, Losing my virginity]
The Marketing Mix
Product (including
Branding)
Virgin airline produces an intangible product that offers 1st
class service with the business class price. The customer can relax in the
knowledge that they will be picked up from home by limo and dropped by limo at their
destination. They can also avail of on-board massages. Virgin Atlantic believes
that their product & service are delivering more than a means of transport;
they are offering an affordable, relaxing and peaceful journey.
Virgin Atlantic has increased the speed of its bookings and airport
services to enhance the overall customer experience.
One of Richard Branson’s skills is his ability to continuously
build and manage the Virgin brand. This name/ logo is known throughout the
world and it identiļ¬es who he is and what he stands for.
He has gone against the advice of many fellow professional
business people by using brand extension into unlike products and he has been
very successful at it by creating more billion dollar companies in different
sectors. The majority of other companies stick to what they are good at.
By diversifying,
Virgin has been able to survive in this current economic recession.
http://www.virgin.com
[Accessed 30 September 2012]
Price
The price is the only part of the marketing mix that
generated revenue streams and it is also the only one that can be changed
quickly. During off peak seasons, Virgin offers discounted flights to certain
destinations
Virgin’s main aim is to offer the customer a better service
than its rivals for a more affordable price. In doing this, Virgin Atlantic
have split its services into three types to suit the individual customer needs.
These are upper class, premium economy and economy and the average long haul
prices are $9,000, $3.000 and $500 for the three categories, so this caters for
all markets.. The difference between them is what additional services are offered
on the flights. Included in the standard economy class are free drinks, meals
and individual entertainment screen for each seat which certainly offers value
for money.
[Accessed 30 September 2012]
Place
Virgin Atlantic
offers 11 specialised long haul destinations which the company focuses on to
ensure they provide the superior service. They are also one of the few airlines
who fly to South Africa.
Virgin
Atlantic also offer a cargo service to its destinations and after they
identified South Africa as a hub, they have captured that cargo market
By
allowing customers to book flights online, they have eliminated the need to
have ticket agents located around the world. This also reduces on general
administration expenses.
http://www.virgin.com
[Accessed 01 October 2012]
Promotion
Virgin is keen to seek out “fun”
ways to advertise & promote its products/ services. This was shown in the
“BA can’t get it up” airship advertising.
In the last number of years social media
has revolutionised the way businesses connect with customers, making
it simpler to showcase new products. Virgin has taken this on-board and now has
over 6 million followers on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ combined. These
social media sites offer real time comments and updates which enable Virgin to
answer customer queries immediately. Richard advises that an unanswered
question can cause bad publicity and damage the brand image.
Over 500,000 people read Richards
Virgin blog every month, so he keeps then updated on upcoming events,
promotions and products.
http://www.virgin.com
[Accessed 01 October 2012]
Analysis
of innovative approaches that may be transferable and reusable
Richard’s idea that a lack of
experience does not have to limit me, I should use it to my advantage when
dealing with prospective business partners.
The use of social media sites will certainly be something I
will take away and use. This is why I have now created a Facebook, Twitter and
Google+ account and will create new ones for my prospective business plans in
the near future. I have also created my own blog page and aim to use this to
advertise and promote myself and my business development plans.
Contacting a journalist to discuss my future business will
also help to advertise my business.
Ensuring that I am customer focused in my future business is something I
have learnt from my research into Richard Branson.
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