"I never think that work is work and entertainment is entertainment." On Nick Island in the Caribbean, richard branson leisurely lies in a hammock outside the villa, with a small black notebook on his knee and a plastic ballpoint pen in his mouth. Although it is 7 o'clock in the morning and he has been working for two hours, it is hard to see a trace of fatigue from his face. He sketched instant inspiration in his notebook and recorded the important contents of business negotiations and contracts. But his book records more than that. For example, Michael Jackson wants to visit the island next week. Nicole Kidman said she wanted to play tennis here; Prepare a letter to nelson mandela and so on. Richard branson, the founder of Virgin Brand, is the most striking hippie capitalist in the world. His image is beyond our imagination. Although he is in a celebrity society, he wears a long shawl, dresses casually all day and is cynical. All this makes him more like a rock star than a "suit gentleman" in business. Such a "hippie capitalist" founded the "Virgin" brand and made it deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in Britain, with a recognition rate of 96%. This brand is of high quality and low price, always leading the fashion trend, and has been warmly sought after by the younger generation. From 1970 to now, Virgin Group has become the largest private enterprise in Britain, with more than 200 companies, including aviation, finance, railways, records, wedding dresses and even condoms, which is like half of the national production department. Branson said: "If someone wants to, he can spend his life like this-growing up drinking Virgin Cola, buying records released by Virgin Radio at Virgin Records Mall, going to Virgin Cinema, making a girlfriend through Virgin Net, taking a vacation with her on Virgin Airlines and enjoying Virgin. Of course, if you are not happy enough, Virgin also offers a lot of vodka for you to choose from. Richard branson, a 54-year-old "old hippie", is lying in his hammock in the Garden of Eden, smiling and freely directing a legendary business empire, which he planned since childhood and is now worth $7 billion. It seems that Branson's "hippie" style is innate. In Britain in the late 1960s, when the air was filled with the smell of marijuana, like many young people, he hung out with rock musicians all day. But the pursuit of wealth in Branson's blood prompted him to start another road unconsciously. 1968 65438+ 10, Branson was unable to join the school football team due to a knee injury. Bored, he relied on his mother's 4-pound postage and telephone bill to publish a magazine called "Students" with several friends. Unexpectedly, this magazine quickly became popular and even attracted the attention of the school principal. Finally, the president of Kingston College wrote an inscription for the publication: "Branson, I congratulate you! "I predict that your boy will get rich without going to prison in the future!" At this time, a friend of richard branson brought him good luck. John Lennon, the core figure of the Beatles, will be a friend of the godfather of rock music in the future, helping Branson understand the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Interview the Rolling Stones and other pop bands. Thanks to this interview column, the magazine sales reached 654.38+10,000 copies? From then on, he began the primitive accumulation of his own career, which laid the foundation for the later creation of Virgin brand. 1970, richard branson used his "first bucket of gold" to set up a small mail order company in London with his original business partner, named Virgin? Virgin, Chinese means "virgin". Because they were young and energetic, and they were novices in business. This is the initial prototype of the entire business empire. But the career is not so smooth sailing. The next year, British postal workers went on strike, and mail order companies were of course affected. Branson was forced to turn the company into a discount retail store mainly dealing in records. This time, Branson's keen sense of art saved his virgin. When buying records, he gave up folk music and ordered a large number of records of avant-garde psychedelic rock bands with serious styles, such as Orange Dream, Pink Floyd (Pink Floyd), Genesis and Yes. These records were welcomed by customers, and since then, they have accumulated a "second bucket of gold" for him. So at 1973, he officially set up his debut album. Branson always works miracles with his artistic sensitivity. By chance, he met Mike Oldfield. Although Mike Oldfield became a talented artist in the future, he was only an accompaniment guitarist at this time. Branson felt this man's extraordinary artistic talent, so Virgin signed a contract with Mike Oldfield and published his first album "Bells" that year. As soon as the record came out, it immediately caused a sensation in the world, and the total global sales volume actually reached100000. The publication of this album is of great significance. It made Mike oldfield instantly popular all over the world, and made richard branson earn the first 1 10,000 dollars, attracting many big-name stars and bands to join. Subsequently, phil collins, boy George and the Rolling Stones signed contracts with them, and the Virgin brand successfully opened up the situation. At the age of 27, Branson registered the notorious punk band "Sex Pistol" as a trademark of Virgin, and then the band began to promote it all over Britain. Branson's natural pursuit of wealth made him move forward again. He decided to lead Virgin Music Group to greater success. 1992, Branson reluctantly gave up what he wanted and sold Virgin Music Group, including record label, music publishing and record studio, to EMI for $65,438 billion. Although he lost his record company, he got enough money to give Branson more room for development. He immediately pushed Virgin Group to all directions, extending its reach from Britain to the whole world. Virgin Group has more than 65,438+000 companies in 65,438+05 countries, and its business includes music retail, book and software publishing, film editing equipment, clubs and hotels. 1984, richard branson, which has achieved great success in the record entertainment industry and chain retail industry, has started a new journey. From the successful operation of the record entertainment industry and chain retail industry, he realized that low price and good service are very important to his career, so he had the idea of "letting customers from all walks of life spend the least money and enjoy the most distinguished service". He believes that this applies not only to the entertainment industry, but also to other industries, so he plans to introduce Virgin's successful experience and value orientation into the air transport industry and rely on renting passenger planes to carry out new business. At that time, Branson's relatives, friends and colleagues thought that he was crazy. The first test flight failed because of a miraculous encounter with birds that caused the wing to catch fire, but Branson did not stop entering the air transport industry. Three months later, Virgin Atlantic's maiden voyage finally took off from London's GATT airport, which marked Virgin Atlantic's all-round attack on the aviation industry. Today, Virgin Atlantic Airlines has become the third largest airline in the world. Since then, Virgin's diversification process has been out of control. 1998, richard branson began to invest in railways; 1999 set foot in the beverage industry, successfully launched virgin coke and virgin juice, and launched a coke war with Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the global market; In 20001year, Virgin Investment10.50 billion USD set up a joint venture company with the famous American Sprint Telecom Company, becoming the largest MVNO mobile network operator in the world and successfully entering the American mobile communication market. Provide entertainment information and content services for MTV after consultation with MTV Music Station. At present, Virgin Group has become an international company, with 200 branches and 24,000 employees worldwide, with annual sales of 7 billion US dollars and stock market value of 65.438+0.5 billion US dollars. Small shrimps can also challenge big whales. Why is the Virgin brand so powerful that it has penetrated almost every corner of Britain? Branson has a very unique view on brands. The traditional concept of brand competition generally holds that new brands should try to avoid direct confrontation with leading brands in the industry, but succeed by stepping into areas they ignore. The case and slogan "We are the second in the industry" have become the classics of textbooks and imitated by many brands. One of the secrets of the success of Virgin brand is to surpass its own assets and capabilities and constantly challenge big brands directly. Richard branson always has the boldness of vision of "fighting big with small". At the beginning of the airline's establishment, the struggle with British Airways was particularly exciting. However, this is just one of the experiments that richard branson used to prove that "small shrimps can also challenge big whales". Many companies in Virgin Atlantic are aiming at affirming the value of ordinary people, and Virgin Atlantic also adheres to this belief, such as Virgin Direct, and many newly opened financial services companies are even more so. Of course, this behavior is the result of bold marketing strategy, but what is certain is that Virgin is only willing to engage in challenging industries. As a member of the new era business, Branson intends to choose the market where customers are exploited or have not received due service, and the market with calm market and lack of competition as the target. He likes to describe Virgin as a cheeky puppy, not as big as a dog. This cheeky puppy runs very fast and can follow the big company to grab something to eat. This is a marketing strategy that attracts millions of people's attention. Dissatisfied with the dominance of Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola in the beverage industry, he launched Virgin Cola, which soon occupied 20% of the European market. He founded Virgin Mobile, which is actually an attack on the most closed telecommunications industry in the world. Anyone who knows some brand theories knows that brand extension is not only an important strategy for brand growth, but also a trap for brand development. There are too many examples of brand extension failure in textbooks. Branson only pursues the concept that "anything can be done and any conditions can be created". As long as it can bring him quantitative growth in value in any industry, the Virgin brand can be extended. So now the British consumer market is full of Virgin brands. The unforgettable magic of Virgin lies in that in recent years Virgin has continuously extended its brand to high-tech fields such as communication and Internet. For example, www.virgin.net, as the gateway to the Virgin Kingdom, is not only one of the best corporate website brands in the world, but also a world where consumers can make their own decisions. Consumers can order anything they are interested in and experience all kinds of fashionable entertainment. These products and services have little relevance, and there is no so-called leading industry. This seems to be the taboo of brand extension. But if we look at the virgin from another angle, we will know its mystery. The second section of the second part means an attitude towards life. First of all, Virgin is not just a company, it means a brand. In Branson's autobiography "Losing Virginity", when he was 19 years old, a reporter from a magazine asked him why he named his new company "Virgin" (which means "Virgin" in Chinese). He explained that the name "Virgin" was sexy and easy to associate, so he would never forget it. Secondly, Virgin is not only the name of a brand, but also an attitude towards life: a free lifestyle, rebellion, openness, advocating freedom and extremely precious romance. Virgin's distinctive brand personality and culture provide the foundation for its brand extension. The brand logo of Virgin is richard branson's handwritten Virgin, which is in sharp contrast with the traditional and steady printed words. When most consumers value Victoria as synonymous with quality, value, innovation, entertainment and challenges, they can feel that Virgin is more than just aviation, CD or insurance. Virgin brand will never equate the brand with a product or service strategically, so it will not limit its cross-industry extension. Unlike some famous brands, such as IBM means computer, Kodak means film and Ford means car, brand name has become a fixed trend. Although Livingzhen Group is not the industry leader in all industries, Virgin has already become the "brand leader" in the minds of young people. Of course, Branson did not blindly expand his empire. In recent years, he has been thinking hard about the meaning of Virgin brand. In his view, any new product or service of Virgin must have the following attributes: 1. The quality is the best; 2. creative; 3. Higher monetary value; 4. Challenge the existing alternatives; 5. It can add a feeling of fun or naughty. Among them, the most thought-provoking is the sense of interest that cannot be explained but can definitely be felt in the brand. This is exactly the same as his maverick "hippie" character. Therefore, although many plans faced by Virgin have very good profit prospects, if the plans do not conform to the brand image of the whole group, they will still be resolutely abandoned. Buying an Island for Employees Branson once spent 5 million Australian dollars (about 3.24 million US dollars) to buy an island with an area of 10 hectare in eastern Australia, which was used exclusively by his company employees for vacation. In the eyes of employees, Branson has always been an eclectic good boss. This sense of being ahead of the times is one of his most important business characteristics, and with this as the key link, his Virgin brand has been shaped into a symbol of "coolness". As a hippie, Branson is tired of "decent people" wearing suits and ties in big enterprises, and also tired of those who graduated from business schools and think that managing enterprises is just playing with numbers. It is this unruly personality that makes employees feel deeply cordial. Influenced by the idea of democratization in the 1960s, Branson established the Virgin brand according to the concept of people-oriented (that is, customers and employees), and believed that all people should be respected. Today, companies all over the world are busy streamlining their hierarchical structure, and Branson has long been ahead of them, eliminating clothes symbolizing power and status from the beginning. Branson likes to treat Virgin employees as members of a big family. In the early days of Virgin, every new employee got Branson's phone number. Branson encouraged them to call him at any time if they had any good ideas or complaints. They can come to his private residence and even be teased by employees during the carnival. To this day, everyone in the company calls Branson by his first name. Branson won the lawsuit related to British Airways, and after receiving the compensation of 6 1 1,000, he distributed the money to every employee of Virgin evenly, and everyone got the "British Airways Bonus" of 1 1,66. This is tantamount to sending a message that all employees have won this great victory together. Branson believes in maintaining confidence in employees in good times and bad times. If an employee is dismissed and thinks that the company has not handled it properly, he can directly appeal to Branson. If he thinks that the employee's complaint is justified, he will personally intervene. Branson said: "We should try our best to avoid layoffs. Some employees can take a half-paid vacation, but they know that if their business improves, they can come back to work if they want. " Virgin has a long-standing tradition of not paying excessive salaries to its employees, but Virgin also tries to provide a long-term career for those employees who have always been loyal to the company, which makes many employees willing to stay here because they like a busy and colorful working atmosphere. What does Branson want? Branson's unconventional, rebellious and humorous personality is not only reflected in his brand image, but also in his advertising creativity. In the British premiere of Virgin Group TV commercials, Branson streaked in a shoal in the English Channel, and then ran back to the shore with his hands covering his lower body, carefree; Wearing only briefs and co-producing virgin Nutrilite drinks with famous actresses; Shooting the advertisement of Virgin mobile phone service with a group of hot models; Dress up as Cossacks, sell virgin vodka and so on. General brands often use stars as brand spokespersons, except luxury goods? Luxury brands are rarely used directly by enterprises. Brand experts believe that it is dangerous to maintain the brand image excessively with personal image, and enterprises that pay attention to the long-term development of the brand will never easily maintain their destiny with a so-called brand spokesperson for a long time. For Branson, this is not the case. Branson is one of Virgin's best live advertisements: his long hair, timeless casual clothes and unrestrained manners need no other explanation among the "people in suits and ties" in the business world. In public relations activities, Branson often has unexpected ideas. He personally ran over Coca-Cola in Times Square with a tanker and announced that Virgin Group had officially declared war on Coca-Cola. In order to please the media, he once appeared as a woman at the opening ceremony of a virgin wedding dress. Even in order to establish the company image, he mediated between Britain and Iraq during the Persian Gulf War and flew directly to Baghdad to take back the hostages. Since 1985, Branson has participated in many record-breaking land and air speed and distance challenges. 1986, his ship "Virgin Atlantic Challenger II" crossed the Atlantic at the fastest speed ever, which once again inspired the Virgin spirit. A year later, Virgin Atlantic Voyager became the first and largest hot air balloon to fly across the Atlantic. 199 1 year, Branson flew a larger hot air balloon (2.6 million cubic feet) from Japan across the Pacific Ocean to northern Canada, with a maximum distance of 6,700 meters and a speed of 24 kilometers per hour, breaking all records again. On June 15, 2004, he successfully crossed the English Channel in an amphibious sports car of James Bond, and he also set a new world record, that is, driving the same kind of vehicle across the English Channel in less than two hours. Every adventure of Branson will inevitably produce a sensational advertising effect, which will add more color to Virgin. European business people frown at the mention of Branson because they will never guess what the hippie capitalist will do next. Living to the extreme, although Branson has been carrying the name of "hippie" and has been fighting and killing in shopping malls, he has always had irreplaceable attachment to his family. He always said that home is the cornerstone of life. He and his present wife Joan have been in love for 25 years, and their feelings remain the same. When it comes to his wife, Branson never hides his pride. He said, "Joan and I are as happy as we were 25 years ago. She is a very clever woman. She clearly knows that as a woman, you can't tie a man's hands and feet, you should let him have his own space. I think this is one of the main reasons why our relationship between husband and wife has always been strong. " Branson always remembers a sentence in a letter her grandmother wrote to him on her 99th birthday. She said that in the 10 years when his career was in full swing, she had the happiest time of her life. She also encouraged the billionaire grandson: You have chosen to take a chance in life, and you will do your best! "Strive hard and achieve the ultimate", which is exactly what Branson, the most legendary hippie capitalist, has always pursued! It is inconceivable that he can become a billionaire. I prefer adventurous career ideas, but I almost always make a lot of money. Richard branson started from a student magazine in the late 1960s and founded Virgin Company with the entrepreneurial spirit of "newborn calves are not afraid of tigers". Now it has developed more than 200 branches, and planes, trains, mobile phone servers, music chain stores and even wedding shops are all filled with Virgin's name. It is the largest private enterprise in Britain, with an annual income of over $5 billion. Branson is passionate about the challenge of running such a big company. He also said that he lived with a sense of crisis and was always ready for the next adventure.