Branson: the global brand builder

Diversification on the scale of Richard Branson´s Virgin group of companies shouldn´t really work, say the academics. And yet it has. It´s all down to branding, publicity and getting in the right management. Richard Branson may have his occasional little local difficulties such as Virgin Media´s spat with BSkyB, its £4.3bn debt, payment of which has been successfully deferred for three years, and engineering work delays for Virgin´s latest high-speed train but as a super business builder and manager he has few equals. Who else could have built eight billion-dollar companies including the fast-growing Virgin Mobile business in America and still enjoy the escapades and visual stunts he´s been involved in over the years to promote the brand? A large part of the Virgin story, he readily admits, has been his willingness to be a central character in its publicity. In return the media has been more than fair to the Virgin brand.