Mini case assignment on Virgin Group.

1. Virgin Group
Consolidation of coherent companies
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2. Inspiration, innovation and changing business for good.
This is the place for those who, like Richard Branson,
love to say yes.

3. What is Virgin Group’s moto ?
• The Virgin Group looks for new opportunities in
markets with underserved, overcharged customers
and complacent competition.
• Branson cares about Virgin’s customers and the
impact his companies have on people and the
planet.
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5. What’s their focus is on ?
• Identify opportunities in geographies or market segments where consumers are
underserved
• Work with entrepreneurs to identify and commercialise innovative and exciting new
services, business models and technologies.
• Provide financial, operational and marketing experience to our portfolio companies,
enabling rapid growth either organically, through acquisitions, or brand-led
turnarounds
• Provide access to Virgin’s global network to facilitate best practice sharing and co-
operation between portfolio businesses
• Leverage the Virgin brand and association with Sir Richard Branson to accelerate
consumer take-up of new business launches
• Bring the unique Virgin touch, purpose-driven approach and customer service
prowess to portfolio businesses
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7. Eight socially responsible and sustainable groups
• Flying high
• We’re all going on a summer holiday
• Staying in touch
• Watching the pennies
• Getting from A to B
• My body is a temple
• Out of this world
• Just get out and relax
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9. That’s virgin media for you

10. What it has achieved ?
• The Virgin name—the third most respected brand in Britain.
• The flamboyant Branson sold Virgin Records (to Thorn-EMI
for nearly $1 billion in 1992) but went on to create over 200
companies worldwide whose combined revenues
exceeded €11.5 billion (about $16.2 billion) in 2009.
• In 2007, he established the Earth Challenge to award $25
million to any person or group who develops a safe, long-
term, commercially viable way to remove greenhouse
gases from the atmosphere.
• Virgin Atlantic completes £220m senior secured note
transaction.
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11. OVER FIVE DECADES, THE VIRGIN NAME AND LOGO
HAS BECOME RENOWNED FOR PROVIDING A
UNIQUE AND EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE.

12. Virgin Group is at safe hands !
• Josh Bayliss - Josh was previously at a leading international law firm Slaughter and May. Josh
holds a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
• Peter Norris - Peter graduated in Modern History and Modern Language in 1976, from
Magdalen College, Oxford.
• Patrick McCall - At Virgin Group Patrick has led the group’s investments in a large number of
companies including Virgin Active, Virgin Rail, Virgin Blue.
• Evan Lovell - Lisa graduated from Cambridge in French and Spanish.
• JP Moorhead - JP previously worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and graduated
in Engineering from Trinity College, Cambridge.
• Nick Fox - Nick joined the Virgin Group in 2007 and sits on the board of Virgin Care and Virgin
StartUp.
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14. The breadth, width &
length of the brand
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15. Salient features
• Whether in banking, travel, entertainment, health and fitness or communications the Virgin
Brand has become one of the most desirable brands in the world. The Brand's backbone is
its values; providing heartfelt service, being delightfully surprising, red hot, and straight up
while maintaining an insatiable curiosity and creating smart disruption.
• Our values are what keep our people, our products and our partners on the path to change
business for good. They are what makes Virgin so special and provide the magic everyone
experiences when they spend time with us.
• Working with carefully selected business partners, we leverage Virgin’s brand expertise to
develop new businesses, or turn around existing businesses, creating successful customer-
focused operations that put the experience at the heart.

16. Some milestones

17. An example of how
marketing is done !
A master of the strategic publicity stunt, Branson knew
photographers have a job to do and they’d turn up at his
events if he gave them a good reason. He took on stodgy,
overpriced British Airways by wearing World War I era flying
gear to announce the formation of Virgin Atlantic in 1984. The
first Virgin flight took off laden with celebrities and media and
equipped with a brass band, waiters from Maxim’s in white tie
and tails, and free-flowing champagne. The airborne party
enjoyed international press coverage and millions of dollars’
worth of free publicity.

18. Investment portfolio
• Our investment team focuses on our core consumer sectors of Travel & Leisure,
Telecoms & Media, Music & Entertainment, Financial Services and Health & Wellness.
• We aim to deliver long term capital appreciation through investment in these sectors.
We actively seek new investment opportunities and to partner with like-minded
investors.
• We provide value to our investments in three ways:
1. Sector expertise and track record across our five core sectors
2. Experience and understanding of consumer behaviour, brands and marketing
3. Strong network of investors, management teams and alumni
• Virgin Group is also an active technology-focused venture investor with a portfolio of
over 35 companies spanning the consumer internet, fintech and sharing economy
sectors.

19. Virgin Group in advertisement

20. Summary
• Virgin Group introduce trust, innovation, and customer
friendliness where they don’t exist.
• Although Branson eschews traditional market research for a
“screw it, let’s do it” attitude, Branson stays in touch through
constant customer contact.
• Virgin Group are a family owned growth capital investor with a
globally recognised and respected brand.
• Having 60m customers worldwide and $24bn in annual
revenue, Virgin Group is sure a market leader in various
prospects of industry.