From 1970 to now, Virgin Group has become the largest private enterprise in Britain, with more than 200 companies, including aviation, finance, railways, records, wedding dresses and even condoms, which is like half of the national production department. Branson once said that if someone wants to, he can spend his life like this: growing up drinking Virgin Coke, buying records released by Virgin Radio in Virgin Records Mall, going to Virgin Cinema, making a girlfriend through Virgin, taking a vacation with her on Virgin Airlines, enjoying the meticulous service of Virgin Holiday, then arranging the grand wedding of Virgin Bride, happily consuming a lot of Virgin condoms, and finally taking Virgin Pension Insurance to the grave. Of course, if you are not happy, Virgin also offers a lot of vodka for you to choose from.
The awareness of the Red and White Virgin brand in the UK reached 96%, ranking first in the "Best Brand Selection for British Men" and third in the "Best Brand Selection for British Women". However, Virgin products are not the boss or the second child in every industry, but "puppies that grab something to eat behind the ass of big companies". This is exactly what Virgin's boss Branson himself expected.
Virgin always chooses to enter those relatively mature industries and provide innovative products and services to consumers. It can be said that Virgin has successfully played the role of "market filler" and "brand leader" in every industry it entered.
When Virgin Group entered every industry, many analysts thought that the market was mature and almost divided by some big groups. Virgin Group's entry into the market at this time is outdated. If it doesn't want to pick up other people's leftovers, it can only find a "niche market" to innovate. This is the core of kotler's laggard entry strategy.
Branson believes that in a mature market environment, competition and the pressure of competition in turn aggravate the mutual imitation between enterprises. Pursuing standards, reducing costs and avoiding risks have become the rules of the game for enterprises, and their own innovation potential has been suppressed, while consumers can only compare in price. This has led to a rather bad situation: managers are rigid and there are fewer and fewer new ideas. This is Virgin's chance. Virgin provides its target customers with products and services that bosses didn't think or didn't want to do, but consumers actually welcome, need and benefit from them.
Although the operation of Virgin Group is unconstrained and unconstrained, covering all aspects of life, the target customers of all products and services are locked in "unruly and rebellious young people". It has grasped the psychology that modern people pay attention to enjoying life, experiencing life and pursuing individuality, and won the recognition and trust of young customers. Through long-term service and research, we have mastered their career and interest information, making them a continuous source of wealth for Virgin Group.
For example, Virgin Mobile adopts a strategy of paying equal attention to both horizontal and vertical markets. After subdividing the market and customers, a single mobile communication product or service will be organically bundled to form a value-added service product with Virgin brand characteristics, and then sold through online and offline channels. From the vertical market, Virgin Mobile divides its customer base into four categories: sports lovers, literature lovers, travelers and housekeepers. Then according to these subdivided markets, its services are divided into three categories: standard services, special services and other services. Standard services include: free voice mail, SMS, caller ID, call waiting, fax and data, wireless Internet access, MP3 download and playback, telephone hotline and service quality assurance, all of which are standardized. Featured services are customized services, including sending instant news, sports competitions, entertainment ticketing information, radio broadcasting, information based on geographical location, traffic information, mobile phone shopping and so on to interested groups through short messages. Other services provide opportunities for customers and partners to develop cross-selling and promote sales. For example, customers can buy mobile phone insurance, emergency service for repairing cars on the road, detailed monthly bill for prepaid cards, voice message storage for up to three weeks, international roaming and so on. His telecom promotion was conducted in a very interesting way, and he promoted the concept of "a new way of life" to young people. If the preset configuration is installed in the mobile phone, the related goods can be delivered to the customer by dialing a specific number. Virgin Mobile also cooperates with its airlines, travel companies and music companies, which are popular among young people, and sells them in bundles to provide different preferential and supporting services for young telecom users.
A study by the Strategic Planning Association found that the return on investment in small and medium-sized markets reached 27%, exceeding the return on investment in large markets by 16 percentage points. This is an amazing discovery. Researchers believe that the main reason for this result is that companies serving small and medium-sized markets tend to communicate more with customers and better understand their ideas and needs. Virgin has positioned itself as an "expert in serving young people", which makes it invincible in different fields.
Although Livingzhen Group is not the industry leader in all industries, Branson proposed that Virgin should be the "brand leader" in the eyes of young people.
Paul rogers, the author of Entrepreneur, believes that Virgin is a unique phenomenon in the British business field. Basically, it is a very important intangible asset-its brand. From the financial services industry to the aviation industry, from the railway transportation industry to the beverage industry, Virgin is a recognized brand in the hearts of consumers. In their minds, this brand represents the consumption trend of high quality, low price and always keeping up with fashion, which is incomparable to other brands. "This is based on Branson's' brand reputation', which is completely different from traditional product and service brands.
Branson believes that this brand development thinking, which spans enterprise structure and product fields, can be well reflected in the modern Japanese enterprise management model. For example, a person riding a Yamaha motorcycle can play the Yamaha electronic organ after returning home; Or listen to Mitsubishi stereo when driving a Mitsubishi car through Mitsubishi Bank. In this model, different companies can develop together under the same brand.
In Virgin's view, a company can establish a good brand reputation, which is mainly based on the following five key factors: value for money, ensuring product quality, always innovating, challenging spirit, and something that is difficult to define but can be felt-giving consumers a taste.
In the eyes of traditional companies, Branson's behavior and creativity will damage the brand image. Their creative and public relations principles are that brands must not be associated with unhealthy things, such as sex, war, homosexuality and so on. Large companies, including Coca-Cola, have special brand supervisors who always pay attention to the performance of their brands on the Internet. Once their brands are associated with some unhealthy websites, these multinational companies will take corresponding measures to eliminate this association.
Virgin did just the opposite. During the Persian Gulf War, it mediated between Britain and Iraq, and Branson personally flew his plane directly into Baghdad to take back the hostages. Branson streaked to the English Channel Shoal to promote Virgin Group; Virgin also opened the world's first gay shop. Virgin's advertising and promotion activities are always unconventional. 199 1 year, Virgin opened a flight from London to Boston, USA. There is only one close-up in the advertisement that puts a pair of giant feet in bright red socks in front of the audience. Because Virgin Atlantic canceled first class for the first time in aviation history, countless passengers in economy class can stretch their legs for the first time. Virgin Cola's print ads are crushed Coca-Cola and Pepsi cans to show that Virgin Cola has surpassed the two bosses in product testing. When Virgin colored drinks entered the conservative market in Taiwan Province Province to hold promotional activities, four female models were painted with body paintings symbolizing Virgin drinks, which caused quite a shock in the local area.
These seemingly crazy moves are actually to better interpret Virgin's brand image. After years of hard work, they have made Virgin brand have a very important added value for young consumers-Virgin also means a life attitude: free lifestyle, rebellion, openness, advocating freedom and extremely precious romance.