Introduction
This project will examine the portfolio of the Virgin Group in relation to their stakeholder marketing processes which helps in targeting specific classes of clients. This will be done in two parts:
Part 1: The evaluation of communication approaches and methods used to target various stakeholders and
Part 2: An application of IT Skills and Business Software applications to produce a portfolio of stakeholder marketing communication materials used by the Virgin Group.
Part 1: Stakeholder Communication in Virgin Group
Communication is a system through which an organisation codifies a message, transmits it to a given receiver and the receiver decodes the message, internalises it and takes action. Communication is important in sharing ideas, information or emotions from one entity to another. A stakeholder is an entity or party that affects or is affected by the activities of a specific organisation. Due to proximate impacts that a stakeholder receives or makes due to the operation of an organisation, that stakeholder has some kind of right or responsibility in relation to the organisation. As such, there is often the need for the exchange of information and ideas through communication.
Virgin Group is a British conglomerate of companies that focuses on travel, lifestyle, financial services, entertainment, telecommunication and other products. Virgin was founded by Richard Branson and it contains an array of over 30 companies that it owns fully or partially. Due to this, the Virgin Group has several groups of stakeholders that they have to communicate with on a regular basis.
Figure 1: Companies in the Virgin Group Portfolio
Internal Stakeholders: These are the employees and managers of the respective companies within the Virgin Group. It includes the horizontal and verbal communication that occurs within the company and the inter-company communication that is necessary to keep the company operational.
Intermediate Stakeholders: These are suppliers and distributors who are part of the production and supply chain system of companies within the Virgin Group. They have to stay in touch with Virgin Group companies and ensure that they exchange information and communication in order to achieve optimal results in operation and gain results.
External Stakeholders: This includes potential and actual consumers of Virgin Group companies and the general public. The information exchange is mainly based on the need to attract consumers amongst potential customers, maintain market share by retaining actual customers and maintaining a strong brand reputation amongst the general public.
Internal Stakeholders
Virgin Group maintains a strong intranet system that operates to allow managers to communicate with each other through a system ran by encryption and proper management. This system is known as Virgin Village which managers and employees can use to share information, share mails and share database information and sensitive matters. This allows for intragroup interaction and discussions that ensures that information stays within the group and the different companies in the group can help each other. Figure 2 below shows a simplified organisational chart of the Virgin Group.
Figure 2: Simplified Virgin Organisational Chart Supported by Intranet System
Intermediate Stakeholders
The Virgin Village system is used for constant communication with intermediate stakeholders like suppliers and business partners. This allows for the integration of communication systems and processes to gather information and also provide feedback for prompt actions over issues and matters.
External Stakeholders
Virgin Group has ways of communicating and discussing matters with stakeholders outside its scope. There are several popular processes and systems that are used and applied in gathering information and having discussions with customers.
Actual Consumers
There are numerous approaches and methods that are used by Virgin to communicate with consumers:
Newsletters & Emails: This includes the gathering of the emails and integration of these addresses into the customer relationship management system. The process allows for information that is relevant to consumers from each of the group’s subsidiaries to be gathered and shared in ways that promotes return purchases and interactions.
Social Media Communication: Virgin has various approaches and campaigns to get consumers to join specific specialised social media sites and feeds. This includes various projects and activities on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn that relates to specific consumers who have actually made purchases. This allows for the consumers to receive regular updates and ensure that they can have relevant feedbacks and data that can help them to figure out the decisions on their next purchases.
Loyalty Programmes: Most of the companies in the Virgin Group have loyalty programs. These programs allow for Virgin to have a proactive relationship with consumers by watching their purchasing patterns and preferences so that they can make offers to these consumers and help to retain strong communication patterns and linkages with actual consumers. These loyalty programmes provide a two-way communication whereby the company can study what consumers want to convey to them by way of purchasing decisions. On the other hand, the fact that they control the contact details of consumers, Virgin Group companies are able to stay in touch with consumers and communicate with them.
Potential Consumers
The potential consumer is someone with purchasing power who has not yet made any purchases. However, due to the fact that they have no direct relationship with Virgin Group companies, they are considered to be part of the potential market and not stakeholders yet. There are two main approaches to communication to these consumers:
Virgin Brand Promotion: There are many ways through which the Virgin name is presented to consumers in the mass media. This includes adverts and various billboards outside and around in the open. This allows consumers to get an idea and exposure of Virgin and its activities and programs.
Virgin Company Adverts: Specific products and specific business units and companies within the Virgin Group as depicted in Figure 1 above provide specific adverts. These are directly done to target potential consumers with particular needs and expectations. The communications in these promotions are programmed to convince these buyers to consider Virgin products and services and acquire them.
Public
The public is given information about Virgin product through brand exposure campaigns. This include general information and general data about what Virgin Group has. This includes:
Corporate Brand Exposure: This includes various adverts and marketing campaigns that are carried out with the hope of making Virgin a household brand.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Philanthropic Activities: This is done through the presentation of various campaigns which are carried out with communication activities and processes to give consumers some kind of information about the projects and activities.
Richard Branson: Richard Branson is an ambassador for Virgin and any time he speaks about the company, this resonates to the general public and makes Virgin a more household company.
Part 2: Stakeholder Communication Materials of Virgin Group
This section of the project will present information about the different stakeholder marketing communication that occurs within the Virgin Group of companies. This provides a portfolio of the communication systems and processes that have been used by Virgin to build stakeholder relationship.
Public Relations
There is a marketing communication message and features that everyone knows about Virgin – the company profile and the charismatic and ever-successful Richard Branson. Branson is to the UK what Donald Trump is in the United States. Known as a successful entrepreneur and his success is common knowledge that everyone in the UK and most people in the British Commonwealth and around the world know about. Branson provides information in an authoritative form that consumers believe and get to accept and achieve in the best way and form. This helps the brand to gain more exposure and become more popular amongst consumers.
Figure 3: Richard Branson and the Virgin Logo
Figure 4: Company Profile of Virgin Group
These two things – the image of Richard Branson and the Virgin logo are major pointers and elements of the Virgin Group and it is symbolic and central in the presentation of information about Virgin Group. This is something everyone can identify with in the UK and it forms the anchor on which the communication with stakeholder marketing is based.
The company profile is also significant and common knowledge. And it forms the basis for communication and exchange of information. This includes the presentation of major trends and procedures that exist in the market and gives the basis for the presentation of information for consumers.
Video Communication & Brand Exposure
Virgin is known for exchanging information through videos. These videos often present information about companies within the group. And in such videos, exposures relating to the Virgin logo is often shown. This is because almost every company in the Virgin group of companies has a logo that brings to the fore the red or white Virgin signature logo and the specialised function of the company.
However, in some situations and some contexts, there is a presentation of information about the Virgin Group. A 2009 video provides information about the Virgin Group. It is a simple narrative video which provides various images and information in an innovative manner. Extracts are presented below.
Figure 5: Extracts from Virgin Group Video Campaign
Websites of Virgin Products and Promotions
Virgin companies are known for starting events and promotions that lead to the creation of unique and distinct website. These websites almost always have a name that includes the word “Virgin”. And this is done in such a way that the information of a promotion or an event is presented on this site. The site is often an anchor page and this page is to be used to gather information from consumers including the email address and a means of expressing interest. Through this, Virgin is able to inform consumers and also take consumers’ insights and information. The advantages are that they are cost effective and they are able to gather information in ways that achieve results. On the other hand, the downside is that it requires attention and specialised care and attention from some kind of professionals who have the communication abilities.
Social Media Communication of Virgin Group
Virgin Group communicates with consumers through the social media. This is done through a system of ranking and the presentation of Communication and Gamification in order to show the procedure and approach through which people could interact and present their information. Through this, Virgin Group is able to present a series of materials onto the market as per Figure 6 which include information on Google and other forms and processes. This is supported by content and materials that consumers are going to be interested in. Through this, Virgin Group is able to have a strong connection and link to the consumers and their followers.
Figure 6: Social Media Communication of Virgin Group
Virgin Group remains in touch with its consumers who are on their loyalty program and on their database. This includes various consumers who have already purchased from them and consumers who have given their contact details from various data collection systems and processes. The procedure of email marketing is often presented to consumers in ways that enable them to understand and accept popular processes and offers that fit into the consumer’s profile. Through this information, tempting offers and proper data and information that is honoured and expected by consumers is made available to consumers.
Figure 7: Sample Email Marketing Collection Exercises
Figure 7 above shows a typical email marketing campaign in the Virgin Group. This is an important and vital element of how the messages flow and come with contact details of the Virgin Group. This opens a communication channel through which buyers are able to make enquiries and also get to understand what is on offer in order to provide a system of making new purchases.
Customer Feedback
Customer feedback is a system through which Virgin gets to communicate with consumers. Although this is something that exists in a bottom up approach, it is effective and plays a major role in providing information and feedback from consumers.
Figure 8: Feedback Solicitor of Virgin Group
Figure 8 above shows how feedback and information is solicited from consumers. This is something that allows consumers to report incidents that are significant and are of the major and greatest intensity. Through this, Virgin Group is able to gather information from the markets and this is important and vital in order to make adjustments and changes. This is because there are many situations that consumers go through and this occurs in ways that leads to improved and enhanced performances.
Conclusion
Communication is an important and fundamental aspect of companies. A group will want to ensure that its brand is known and through this, they are able to find ways of communicating regularly with clients. This includes various approaches that uses online and offline methods to gather information, analyse it and also give back to consumers and get them to gain interest. Through these interactions, commercial sales are made and this leads to better results.
References
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