Virgin

Virgin

The Virgin brand was founded back in 1970 by entrepreneur Richard Branson. Its core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle, and it also manages ventures in financial services, transport, health care, food and drink, and telecommunications; together, Virgin's businesses consist of more than 400 companies worldwide.

The Virgin marque is bold and clear, using the colours of red and white. The red contributes passion and love for the company and the white shows to be clashing with the red showing the power and drive the company represents. The colours also work extremely well together as they clash and ultimately grab our attention. The brand name "Virgin" came together when Branson and a partner were starting their first business, a record shop. They considered themselves virgins in business. The current Virgin logo was originally sketched on a paper napkin by graphic designer Trevor Key and worked on by Ray Kyte. Branson has described the "V" in the logo as an expressive tick, representing the Virgin seal of approval.
 

With the modern graphics and clashing colours this will stand out everywhere, in particular to a younger audience of most likely between 16-40 years. This is Virgin's immediate target audience, although they do try to branch out and appeal to a wider audience.

Four physical elements the organisation has are included within their logo or marque onto their carrier bags, Virgin staff also wear a uniform consisting of the brands colours, Virgin's transport businesses airplanes and trains are also decorated and branded in the Virgin marque and colours and also branded themselves within one of most talked about music festivals of the Summer; V Festival. 

The company invests in and has business with numerous products which include: Banking, Beverages,Travel, Video games, Consumer electronics, Financial Services, Films, Internet, Music, Radio, Books, Cosmetics, Jewellery, Houseware, Retail, Mobile Phones and Commercial spaceflight.

The company's states: “Our vision is to contribute to creating happy and fulfilling lives which are also sustainable – surely a vision worth aspiring to? With businesses spanning many sectors and touching many aspects of our customers’ lifestyles we feel that Virgin is in a perfect position to contribute to this vision. After all, the Virgin brand has always been about having fun in a unique Virgin way.
We believe that we have a part to play in making this a reality and so our vision for sustainability within the Virgin Group is: “to make a credible contribution towards sustainable lifestyles whilst meeting or exceeding the expectations of our staff, customers and other stakeholders."

By using such a strong and clear mission statement this implies to their customers and possible shareholders that they mean business. They know what they are striving for and won't stop until they have reached the impossible. Virgin have already branched out to Commercial Spaceflight, more than any other aircraft company could say. Personally, I feel that Virgin have a great statement and they really are working towards their mission. Soon Virgin will take over; with Branson taking over the world making the impossible, possible...the Virgin way.