Hitesh Parmar Strategic Marketing in Context

Hitesh Parmar Strategic Marketing in Context

1.0Branding

This report will examine strategic marketing and will consist of analysing the branding strategy of an organisation. Examples of implementations will be included within to illustrate further detail of an explanation.

There are many different aspects of branding, ranging from the legal point of view to customer relations. There can be many different interpretations of “brand”. Looking into more depth in areas of where branding is essential the report will look depth at a chosen organisation. Branding can be seen as the organisations most important aspect, as this is the organisations identity. According to Randall 1997), “Branding is a fundamental strategic process that involves all parts of the firm in its delivery”.There are many ways into identifying and creating a brand strategy. The brand identity will always be used in the organisations everyday life, so for this reason the branding strategy should be central.

2.0Introduction: The Virgin Group

The Virgin Group is one of the world’s largest and successful companies. Sir Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin, is the father figure of the group. The group was influenced and shaped by the vision, leadership and ethics of Richard Branson. The Virgin brand was established in 1969 as a mail order record business. It became a record publishing business in1972, and Richard Branson made his first £million with Mike Oldfield's classic hit 'Tubular Bells'.

The Group's travel operations play a key role to their success as it generates the most money. Finance can be raised by the power of their brand, through their very own Virgin Bank. Other Virgin Group operations include balloon flights, drinks & beverages, bridal stores, cosmetics, financial services, health clubs, internet services, mobile phone services, publishing, record label and many more with over 300 hundred branded companies worldwide.

The aspect of the Virgin brand that will be looked in depth in this report will be Virgin Atlantic. Virgin Atlantic can be seen as the “throne” of the brand which is more less the well recognised Virgin brand throughout all of its brands. “Even today, each Virgin company is relatively small, although our airlines and train businesses, by their very nature, have grown significantly”. (Branson 2009)

3.0Types of Brand

There can be many different types of branding strategies that can justify an organisation or business. Looking into more detail of different types of brand interpretations will make it clear to why it is needed.

3.1Brand as a Logo

Developing such a logo for an organization, Virgin as a brand is well recognised by most people and the logo is well represented within the travel sector. The Virgin logo is seen as in a stylish font in an bright red colour. The reason for naming Virgin, Virgin was that Branson and a partner was new to business and being new to business and having no experience meant that he was a virgin to it all so the word virgin was named as the company to start such a venture he has today. The Virgin logo was originally sketched on a paper napkin and it has unchanged from its original style used these days. Virgin Atlantic’s logo can be clearly identified on all its aircraft with the logo being situated on the vertical stabilizer in bright red with the words “Virgin” written across in white (see appendix 3). Recent activity at Virgin Atlantic has led to a few changes from not its logo but the same words on its logo written across the whole aircraft itself, “Virgin Atlantic”, in a thinner italic colour of purple for basically inviduals who was unable to clearly identify the Virgin Atlantic logo on its vertical stabiliser. (See appendix 4)

“Whatever the event that propelled logos to stardom, the fact remains that today’s most effective logos do much more than stand for a company, product or service: They trigger emotion, creative desire, even forge communities”. Silver (2001)

Logos are used for the organization as a symbol or a sign to represent the product/service. Brand as a logo is to differentiate an organization from its competitors. Logos are often used by commercial organizations to promote generally towards the public. As mentioned, the logos are used to represent the symbol or sign which also would include maybe the name of the enterprise. For example with car brands such as Mercedes Benz, the logo will be represented with its unique style badge of the “three pointed star” (see appendix 1), in the fast food market, McDonald’s would be known for its “golden arch” (see appendix 2). The logo for an organization is not just focusing for its profit margins but to find an attribute, which can be suited to its customers. As Baker (2003) explains that, “developing the logo for the brand should be done strategically, rather than tactically”.

3.2Brand as Legal Instrument

Brand as a legal instrument is to maximise the risk of imitators in all aspects of the company where it can cause many problems for example, financial. Keeping procedures in place to reduce such threats can help Virgin Atlantic avoid such threats. Virgin Atlantic is a company where it has so much too loose if any legality was to be thrown against them. For example, Virgin Atlantic has its history behind them, the reputation it has built itself on and also how it has created itself such an image. Being aware of many legal issues, Virgin is a brand that has high stakes especially in the commercial airline business compared to its many other companies under the Virgin Brand. “We're a set of private companies with a great number of competitors, and I'm very happy to run Virgin without giving my rivals all our vital information on a plate” states Sir RichardBranson toThe Observer, 17 March 2002. Giving certain competitors an idea of what Virgin Atlantic are proposed to do or doing can cause controversy in the sense of legality issues which can cause harm on the company in many aspects.

3.3Brand as Company

Brand as a company is more than just the brand itself but it’s a culture that is being developed within the organisation. At Virgin Atlantic the company has a unique way of enforcing its brand as a company to others. Virgin Atlantic believes that, people who have similar values, ideas, interests and goals would be most ideal for the company as this type of method can adapt all staff in the company to be similar and face all in the same direction. Virgin Atlantic as a company is more like a family than a hierarchy, if there are any problems occurring than as a Virgin Group, companies can help each other as mentioned above, Virgin Atlantic believe in people that have similar values, ideas, interests and goals.

According to Baker (2003), “In the early days of some corporate brands (e.g. Virgin) strong personality entrepreneurs had a philosophy about their bran making the world a better place and recruiting staff with similar values to there’s”.

Corporate branding is used to create product brand recognition. Virgin is a brand that is used in many different types of industries with each industry using the word “Virgin”. The name Virgin is promoted to create a brand throughout all its industries which then builds up Virgin’s corporate identity. For Virgin Atlantic to recognise such corporate branding throughout the company would be to use the Holistic Marketing Model which pin points out areas of internal marketing, integrated marketing, performance marketing and relationship marketing. This can outline areas for Virgin Atlantic to see what areas would need to be looked into more depth when dealing with corporate branding.Below is a diagram of the Holistic Marketing Model;

3.3Brand as Shorthand

Brand as a Shorthand is when a customer may search for a brand but the reputable brand would help the consumer reach a decision more efficiently. When a customer buys a brand they are being promised by whatever organisation they are buying form the product is at good standards. At Virgin Atlantic the approach they give to customers about their services and how they operate as an organisation, can be seen to customers as well dedicated services to all people involved within the company. Using the airline or working for the airline, the mission statement that reads within Virgin Atlantic can be perceived as a reputable airline with good services and standards.

3.4Brand as Risk Reducer

At Virgin Atlantic risk reducers can be seen as many potential types being it, performance risks, financial risks, time risks, social risks and also physiological risks. When customers think of booking holidays, Virgin can be seen as one of the most appreciated company in this field because of its reputation it has dealing with such types of holidays. Virgin Atlantic, comparing them too many other airlines in the industry, Virgin Atlantic gives the approach to customers a tailor-made package holiday. The last thing Virgin Atlantic would do is let any of its customers down as being known as more than the brand itself, Virgin Atlantics reputation will be at stake too. There are many departments that the airline has in place for the customer to be full strength in being committed from using Virgin Atlantic. The Loyalty-flying club is one where this programme recognises its most important customers with a reward. This type of reward is given to customers by all forms of communications with the frequent flyers, including letters and other types of communication. In this aspect Virgin would always record its frequent flyers and not forget them. The research department that Virgin employs is not only for frequent flyers but for all passengers using its services. The research department surveys and monitors everything from the flight departures to the length of check in queues to the quality of the in flight entertainment and service. After all these types of checks have been looked into, surveys are fed back to managers globally, proving the airline company with many valuable points and areas that may need improving on its services to benefit the customers as well as the company. Giving the customer an option to choose from, gives them more reassurance in the sense of having a wider range to choose and not to just be settling with one option.

There are many polices that Virgin Atlantic have in place for customers before they book and when they travel so that they are well aware of the conditions to follow. Polices such as baggage allowance, sports equipment allowance, pets, health, air travel during pregnancy etc all are well elaborated within the company so that customers are aware what Virgin Atlantic can do if any customers have any queries or worries.

Every time the name Virgin is mentioned in many industries, Richard Branson’s image comes to many people’s imagination as he has created himself to the brand, which makes people think automatically this brand will be the safest to use as it’s well recognised and popular.

3.5Brand as Positioning

Brand positing occurs when customers associate their views and opinions in association with the brand. This can be seen as a way for the brand to become the customer’s choice of everyday’s life. Being a known brand for having such a reputation, for example, “BMW as performance and Volvo as safety” (Baker 2003), Virgin Atlantic Online state that they, “We deliver a quality service by empowering our employees and we facilitate and monitor customer feedback to continually improve the customer's experience through innovation”.How the product appears in the market is the way consumers would perceive the product. So for instance, if the product is doing well within the industry and the recognition is there, consumers would not have any problems into choosing the brand. According to Jackson (1994) “in many ways Richard Branson is a model of what the socially responsible company chairmen ought to be”. Consumers knowing how the director carries onto operate with such fundamentals like social responsibility, consumers would know the approach of the airline is making sure, everyone who uses the airline are being cared for. The table below shows in how brand positioning can be developed.

The table above can be used to see where and how Virgin Atlantic can implement brand positioning. The model is used develop sustainable for brand positioning following the statements within the model statements.

3.6Brand as Personality

Brand as a personality is set of human characteristics that basically are associated with the brand. Brand personality is used within an organisation to help gain in-depth understanding of consumer’s perceptions and attitudes towards the brand. It’s a way for the brand on how it speaks and behaves, so for example for Virgin Atlantics case this would be representing its brand through its employees as well as through many advertising methods such as commercial T.V adverts. Virgin Atlantic’s new airline commercial in the year 2010 represents how virgin have progressed from being in business for 25 years. The TV commercial is representing the brand in human traits, for example, on the advert all staff members of the cabin crew are wearing shiny red dresses which resembles Virgin’s brand image. (see appendix 6).

3.7Brand as a Cluster of Values

Brand of a cluster of values is when a company separates themselves from other competitors in the same market into being unique and different. According to Baker (2003), “Virgin brand is a cluster of four values, i.e. quality innovation, value for money, fun and a sense of a challenge”. If staff doesn’t believe in the values that the company set out, then the consumers will generally identify this and change to use another service.

Quality Innovation: Virgin Atlantic using quality innovations keeps causing itself to be a unique airline. Virgin Atlantic was the first ever airline to fly running partially on bio-fuels in the year 2008. Lastly for being innovative founder, Richard Branson has also donating all his profits into renewable technologies research over the next 10 years to date from the year 2008, Jones (2008)

Value for Money: Virgin Atlantic’s value for money is created in such a way that benefits all types of people, being it, children to adults. Family offers, business offers, business travellers etc have the chance to customise their travels. (see appendix 7). With a number of initiatives Virgin Atlantic can offer, there are always offers etc happening occasionally so that customers are happy.

Fun: Virgin Atlantic being run as a unique type of airline with the brand name knows in many different industries, the founder, Richard Branson has made it very clear to many people involved with the company it is a fun environment. The way people see the brand Virgin, they perceive it as unique, fresh and very exciting.

Sense of Challenge:......

Values are important to the customers as depending on how the brand values itself from others will determine wherever or not the consumer will opt to choose which brand. Virgin having values like the ones mentioned above would be very appealing for many consumers to choose from as it outlines itself from competitors.

3.8Brand as Vision

Brand as a vision is when within a company an essential dream inspires people to keep going forward even when financial risks occur or even when products may not be shifting. Keeping a brand alive and knowing that it is not fully working would determine the way the organisation looks forward as a company. Virgin Atlantics vision is to be the best and having a vision for safety, security and consistent delivery, would enable the airline to become a more branded and reliable airline. Richard Branson strides the airline forward and with his entrepreneurial background and funds available, can see Virgin Atlantic to become the customer’s only airline for long haul flights. One of Virgin Atlantic’s vision for the future as mentioned before was to use a source of clean fuel compared to the regular fuel which every other airline use within the industry. This shows to customers and rest of the airlines that Virgin are dedicated into becoming aware of global warming and have a vision to keeping the sky a cleaner place and less pollution. A good dedicated brand vision can alert all the people behind the company from managers to staff to bring the company to better places and with Virgin Atlantic the way the company is structured the brand vision has high standards.

As a whole Virgin Atlantic are part of the Virgin Group, and within the group there is an approach that they carry out, “Virgins emergent approach”. This basically is an approach in order for all group companies to help them proceed with success in the future.

Virgin’s ‘emergent’ approach