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The Virgin brand is still rock solid despite Galactic tragedy

No mainstream company would risk attaching itself to as risky a venture as space travel, yet Virgin is doing so

Hamish McRae
Wednesday 05 November 2014 10:42 GMT
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Richard Branson poses with a model for Virgin Galactic
Richard Branson poses with a model for Virgin Galactic

Nothing takes away from the personal tragedy, but equally nothing seems to take away from the strength of the brand.

The brand of course is Virgin and its creator, Sir Richard Branson, is Britain’s most admired business leader.

Yet his businesses seem to break all the rules: rules such as focusing on markets and activities you know something about, or having a clear corporate governance and ownership structure, or paying attention to succession planning – all the stuff conventional business does.

No rational business would attempt to span such disparate activities as airlines and banking, yet Virgin is doing so. The floatation of Virgin Money on the London Stock Exchange is going ahead later this month. No mainstream company would risk attaching itself to as risky a venture as space travel.

It may be a sprawling business empire – lots of different companies, all with different ownership structures – but to have assembled them and maintained a stellar reputation is an astounding achievement. It is an achievement that tells us a lot about public attitudes to business.

In Britain, at least, there are few business heroes. On TV, business executives are frequently portrayed as greedy or unethical. In adverts, the boardroom is populated with elderly white males and we’re invited to sneer at them.

Yet we admire entrepreneurs. If people build up their own business and get extremely rich as a result, that is all right. If they run an existing business and get moderately rich, that is all wrong.

Branson is an adventurer in all ways and we admire him for that. But he is quick to lay off the risks whenever possible, and shut things down if they don’t seem to be working. It is his Virgin brand but it is mostly other people’s money.

He has helped make entrepreneurship both fashionable and fun. We benefit in Britain from that, even if he sits in the Caribbean. His dream of affordable (well, affordable to a few) space travel may be a distant vision.

Some of us may admire the meticulous attention to service by, say, the John Lewis Partnership, more than the publicity stunts of Virgin. But promoting the idea that anyone can start a business is a huge achievement and whatever happens to the different parts of the Virgin empire, we should salute him.

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