Virgin aims to boost online presence with ‘dynamic website’

Google was recently named the world’s most valuable brand, becoming the first to pass the billion dollar mark, or £645 million, demonstrating the power of online companies in the modern age.

The Brandz list, published by Millward Brown Optimor, includes names such as, Amazon iPhone and BlackBerry, demonstrating the increased popularity of the internet in terms of marketing.

Millward Brown Optimor’s report insisted that the importance of branding has not faded despite the recession and the company’s chief executive, Joanna Seddon, asserted that firms that invested in their marketing would be better positioned for business growth once the economy starts to recover.

Another brand which has continued to go from strength to strength in recent years is Virgin Group, headed up by the prominent and charismatic Sir Richard Branson.

A recent survey by HPI Research found that Virgin was the UK public’s most admired brand, gaining almost a quarter of the votes.

The group, which was set up by Sir Richard in 1970, has a diverse range of subsidiaries, dealing in the likes of mobile telephony, internet, flights, holidays, finance and train travel, to name but a few.

Next month, the firm will launch a new version of its group website, Virgin.com, as part of its ongoing strategy to raise the profile of the brand and continue to move with these multimedia times.

“One of the biggest things that we’re doing is that we’re re-launching our online presence, which at the moment is a really flat directory portal, Virgin.com,” confirms Catherine Salway, brand director at Virgin Group.

“In the next month we’re going to be completely reinventing how Virgin is presented online with a really dynamic, interactive portal which will serve up to the consumer what they will be most interested in from the Virgin Group,” she explains.

The company has been working on the project for the past year, with Ms Salway asserting that Virgin has not taken its foot off the pedal despite the recession deepening.

“We felt that that’s been something that we’ve needed to continue to invest in,” she says.

In addition to its online endeavours, Virgin has been involved in high-profile sponsorship endeavours, such as investment in the Brawn Formula One team and the London Marathon, which the company chose because they “are big in terms of coverage and noise” and allow marketers to tell a story around them.

“We’re being selective and I hope smart about the marketing decisions that we’re taking, so I guess we’re relying less and less on traditional media in that sense as well,” says Ms Salway.

She asserts that behind the promotional campaigns, the strength of the brand lies in the maintenance of a core set of standards which the firm has strived to remain committed to - good value, high levels of customer service and quality - as well as being competitively challenging, innovative and fun.

“As a mother brand it’s extremely powerful. So over the years, especially in recent years, we’ve become quite fussy about what we apply our brand to and ensuring that each company lives up to those values in order to protect the mother brand,” she concludes.