VIRGIN CASE

GROUP-

ANTONY JEFFERY
VISHNU S
BHAVIKA P
RAJACHANDRAJEETH
RAJA
SABYASACHI SAHU

In light of the problems plaguing the

group in the early 21st century and the
failure of numerous VIRGIN ventures in
the past, what do you think the future
has in store for the brand? What should
the group do to ensure that the
extensions do not severely erode the
existing brand equity?

Bhavika
13MBA1012

Issues and Solutions

Not revealing the financial details leaves behind

speculations, which may hurt the company image.
Maintain transparency

Selling off one business unit to cover losses and

new operation expenses may cause employee
attrition.
Employee satisfaction
Balanced income and expenses
Proper business plan and implementation

Cont

Being private group of companies, Branson does not want to reveal

any details about their next moves.
Pros- Imitation by competitors is avoided
Cons- Employees remain unguided(dont know what to do),
reduced customer satisfaction

Unrelated relationship between the extended brand and the parent

brand might restrict positioning of the brand.
Diversify into related industries first and gradually into unrelated
ones.

Entering unrelated industries rapidly, tends to

confuse the
customers.
Create proper brand image and gain customer loyalty, make
clear transitions from one industry to other.

Virgins Future?

May be Virgins innovative side may

help!!

Analyze the value associated with the Virgin

brand. How did these values help the brand
extend itself into different business over the
years?

Freedom to managers
Innovation and
differentiation
Marketing and promotion

Joint venture

Evolution of Richard Branson

and virgin

Branson's Role in Virgin

He is the backbone for virgins growth and
achievement.
His strategy of innovative thinking inspired
other competitive companies to follow virgins
policy.
He did not analyzed the competitors in the
existing market rather he anlaysed what
customer seeks from the company.
He made the company objectives in unusual
way .
To give more than what a consumer and
industry expect.
break the rules rather following it.

 Richard branson and Virgin

His policy is to recruit people who has

passion to work .He prefers personality
over resumes.
Researching the competition has never
been the virgin way, he says in an
interview with Forbes.
Richards first venture was student
magazine and after that they used the
gaps in the market to expand his
company.
Branson considers listening, learning
and laughter as important leadership
qualities

Branson a leader

Though he was criticized for selling

businesses in abrupt way , he finds the
gap in the industry to expand his
company .
Virgin is considered as one of the
reputed organization and ranked in
Forbes top 500.
No wonder Branson is one of the best
entrepreneur in the world. His love for
innovation in business made him thus

Brand equity of virgin

Dilution

Virgin is still a strong, recognizable

brand, but much of its meaning has
been diluted.

Why
As the group has diversified, the brand
message has weakeneda phenomenon that
isnt unique to Virgin
Virgin's brands dont really make for a
comfortable fit, visually or culturally, with each
other.
But from a strategic perspective, many of the
sub-brands seem poorly thought out; place
them side by side and they dont make sense as
a single message.
The problem is that the company doesnt
innovate the way that Apple or Samsung have
been doing. Instead it takes an existing service
or product and undercuts prices, or offers a

Advantages of Umbrella
Strategy
Inexpensive Market Entry
Rising tide- goodwill of people
Efficient- common promotion
Flexibility In running campaigns

Disadvantage..
Everything the company does is
attributed to the brand
Any product can negatively affect the
overall brand and specific benefits
may be muddled in the overall shared
value.