Marketing_Management_14th_Edition-min

MANAGING A HOLISTIC MARKETING ORGANIZATION FOR THE LONG RUN | CHAPTER 22 651
Games, an online gambling Web site, promotes responsible
gambling and helps identify and alleviate gambling addiction.
Virgin Money focuses on fair lending, and the list
goes on.
Virgin Aviation is perhaps the toughest challenge; it
represents 7 million of the 8 million tons of CO 2 Virgin emits
each year. Branson, however, has turned the problem into
an opportunity. In 2006, he announced that all dividends
from Virgin’s rail and airline businesses “will be invested into
renewable energy initiatives . . . to tackle emissions related
to global warming.” That effort has evolved into the Virgin
Green Fund, which invests in renewable energy opportunities
from solar energy to water purification and is estimated
to reach $3 billion in value by 2016.
But Branson hasn’t stopped there. 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. Submitted inventions are now being reviewed
by a team of scientists, professors, and environment
professionals.
Once known as the “hippie capitalist” and now
knighted by the Queen of England, Sir Richard never does
anything small and quiet. Whether looking for a new business,
generating publicity in his characteristic style, or encouraging
research to help the planet, Branson does it with
a bang.
Questions
1. How is Virgin unique in its quest to be a socially responsible
and sustainable company?
2. Discuss the pros and cons of Virgin’s “green” message.
How do you feel about the company’s having
such a negative environmental impact on the world (via
air and rail) and the message it communicates through
efforts like the Earth Challenge?
3. If you were Richard Branson, what would you do with
Virgin’s holistic marketing strategy?
Sources: Peter Elkind, “Branson Gets Grounded,” Fortune, February 5, 2007, pp. 13–14; Alan
Deutschman, “The Enlightenment of Richard Branson,” Fast Company, September 2006, p. 49;
Andy Serwer, “Do Branson’s Profits Equal His Joie de Vivre?” Fortune, October 17, 2005, p. 57;
Kerry Capell with Wendy Zellner, “Richard Branson’s Next Big Adventure,” BusinessWeek, March 8,
2004, pp. 44–45; Melanie Wells, “Red Baron,” Forbes, July 3, 2000, pp. 151–60; Sam Hill and
Glenn Rifkin, Radical Marketing (New York: HarperBusiness, 1999); “Branson Pledges Three
Billion Dollars to Develop Cleaner Energy,” Terra Daily, September 21, 2006; Virgin,
www.virgin.com.