The man behind the Virgin empire and one of the most dynamic and successful entrepreneurs of our times, Richard Branson, has a very interesting analogy to offer every time someone asks him how he made it so big. He says an entrepreneur is like an artist and the company started by him is like a blank canvas. The entrepreneur’s job is to start filling it up. Just like a good artist sketches every minute detail on the canvas and makes a beautiful painting, the entrepreneur too, gets every single thing in place. But unlike a beautiful painting the entrepreneur’s job does not finish anytime soon. His business constantly evolves till it scales great and even greater heights.
But what about Brand Branson? How did that story begin? Branson started Virgin in a basement in London. At that moment his main objective was to do something which would earn him a living. And the company was born without a great plan and strategy. Even the name was given as an afterthought. Since the group of friends who started the company was new to the business — hence the name Virgin.
In early 2000, Branson created three new companies in three different countries. In Australia, Virgin Blue had won a 35 per cent share of the aviation market by reducing fares. Branson’s other company, Virgin Mobile became the fastest growing network in the UK and US. Advertising played its part of course. “From the early days of Virgin we always looked to surprise, entertain and sometimes shock people with our advertising. One reason was that we had lower marketing budgets than most of our rivals. Another was that we always felt we were the newcomers: the underdogs. In music, this approach was easier than in some other businesses, since we had edgier bands and were willing to take risks on acts that others were not,’’ said Branson replying to questions on how marketing can increase sales and other small-business topics.
“For our fledgling airline business,” said Branson, “a totally new area for Virgin, and one where people wanted to know we were going to survive and be safe, the approach was a bigger risk. Still, we needed to get the best bang for our buck, so we used me to make the headlines with stunts and stories. We also made sure our advertisements were funny and attention-grabbing. It worked. Immediately we created a character for the airline that was cheeky and irreverent. We have used this tone for many of our businesses ever since.”
Branson believes in creating companies that employees are proud of working for. “Yes, that is definitely the best thing a company should strive for. After all people are a company’s biggest assets,” says Mondira Deb, an advertising professional. And do something different or radical — like for instance, Microsoft, Apple or Google did. “They did something that no one even aspired to do. And that won brownie points for the industry,” says Saumya Chattopadhyay, director, Strategic Plan-ning, Ogilvy Africa. Being a good leader is what ultimately counts and to be one, you have to be a good listener. There is no point in imposing one’s views on others. After all, no one has a monopoly on good ideas or advice.
Brand visibility is important. Although Branson has always worked from home he has gone out and met people. Whenever he travels he has a notebook in his pocket to jot down the concerns of his employees — and yes, sometimes even good ideas. “You will be amazed to note how many grand ideas people come up with when they know that someone is listening to them seriously,” says Deb.
Branson once said that when he met his group, they came up with at least 10 ideas. And he felt that if he did not write them down immediately, he might have forgotten them. He also interacts with his airline passengers. During one such interaction passengers bombarded him with suggestions which he jotted down. The next day he ensured that he responded by mail to each of their ideas! That in short is the journey of brand building a la Branson!
The writer is a well-known industry watcher