Virgin Atlantic

Service Marketing Triangle

OverviewRichard Branson and the Virgin Atlantic team aspire to deliver the very best in air travel services, keeping safety, security and, consistent performance. They built on these foundations by focusing on business and leisure markets, having adopted their highly acclaimed three-year strategy. To grow a profitable airline, where people love to fly and where people love to workThree-Year Strategy Overview (2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09)The three year plan aimed at boosting operating margins and building continuing profitability.The airline targeted and achieved an increase of 8.9% in the first year, 15.4% in the second year and 1.4% in the third year in the number of business travellers. The strategy was adopted as an external marketing device to land the company into a profitable era. Their annual turnover went from 1912m in 2006 to 2337m best the end of FY 2008..Primarily aimed at increasing clientele, their three-year strategy was driven by their USP: Providing premium airline services to the upper middle and middle classes3Promotion and AwarenessVirgin Atlantic are known for their bold slogans lashing out at their competition. Some examples are:No way BA/AA expressing Bransons displeasure at the British Airlines-American Airlines partnership.Still hot for 25 years commemorating their Silver Jubilee.Flying in the face of the ordinary their latest one.Promotion and AwarenessApart from notable slogans, Virgin Atlantic have established a very strong position credited to their incredible promotion strategies. Their most outstanding strategies include painting and naming their aircraft, aside from their strong foothold in social networking websites through advertisement campaigns, innovative branding and eclectic style of leadership. Over the years, they have managed to acquire a strong satisfied customer base which works well to their advantage.

5Employee satisfactionHaving long since achieved the pinnacle of customer satisfaction, Virgin Atlantic also focuses on making sure the employees remain satisfied too. Employment benefits include a pension scheme, income protection, air share (profit share), childcare, life assurance, ticket loans and, gym, staff store and salon amenities. They also cater to holiday needs of the employees by offering a weeks holiday to a destination of their liking in exchange for a pat of their salary. Virgin Atlantics commitment to its staff is very crucial to their business, ingrained so in the very fabric of their success.TeamworkThe staff at Virgin Atlantic undergoes comprehensive training to ensure customer satisfaction whilst maintaining the standard of the corporation. Top class service to every passenger is key to their employee in order to keep the customers satisfied. Richard Branson emphasizes the importance of the employees in the company by stating that the company wouldnt exist without energy, determination, wit and wisdom of every team member.Premium Customer ServiceVirgin Atlantic aircrafts are known for their three-class cabin configuration: Economy, Premium Economy and Upper Class. The benefits keep increasing in each class, starting with the lowest at Economy with all the in-flight basic essentials up till the extravagant Upper Class. Major differences between classes are mainly in the amount of available space per seat. The Premium Economy has housed the majority of their passengers as it employs the decoy effect between economy and upper classes.

8Loyalty Benefits and RewardsVirgin Atlantic have a three tier frequent flyer membership reward system: Red, Silver and Gold. With each successive tier, the customer acquires all the privileges of the preceding tier along with some extra benefits such as high priority check in and seating, lounge pass, extra luggage allowances, discounts etc. The frequent flyer system promotes customers from tier to tier based on their travel record, thus encouraging passengers to fly with Virgin Atlantic more often in order to reap the benefits of brand loyalty.External Marketing. Efforts the firm engages in to setup its customers expectation and makes promises to customers regarding what is to be delivered

Usually through billboards, advertisements, marketing gimmicks

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This advertisement came out in Jan 2013. It stresses on the fact that virgin atlantic employees have extraordinary talent and are dedicated towards providing superior services to their customers. This is what differentiates virgin atlantic from other airlines.

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Superior Design and Style

Virgin Airlines is associated to the following six attributes: stylish, helpful, up-to-date, dynamic, innovative, fun.

Before FITFOO, they came up with this adv. They wanted to show how their airline has the ability to cater a superior service and have an edge over other airlines in terms of design and quality.

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Voon Wong and Benson Saw designer Interiors.

Aesthetically appealing

exciting and engaging social space for passengers, while meeting an immense technical requirement of a wide bodied plane with the strictest safety regulations.

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Upper Class Customers

Virgin Atlantic promises to pick you up at your home and drive you to the airport because this was one of the ways they could deliver the requested customer experience customers wanted airline travel to be as stress-free as possible. What about your luggage? Virgin will pick this up from your hotel and check it in for you. They installed golf and skiing simulators in their executive lounge.]

Promises a stress and hassle free service.17Internal Marketing

Recruiting A candidate planning to apply for a job at Virgin Atlantic need to 1st send in a covering letter and CV.The covering letter needs to be well drafted and to the point.Once the candidate is selected for the recruitment process, he goes through the assessment process.The assessment process has stages like group discussions, role play, aptitude test and presentations.The candidates may also go through a behavioral interview.For posts of cabin crew, pilots, engineering and airport staff they have a security interview.The candidate needs to be able to fit in the culture of VA.Training Virgin Atlantic's training team supply the highest levels of training to all employees, ensuring they are best equipped to meet and exceed our customer's expectations.The Base- Team training facilities Virgin Atlantic style.

The Base- Team training facilities Virgin Atlantic style.

Opened in 2007 and located just ten minutes from Gatwick International Airport, The Base is the state of the art Virgin Atlantic airline training facility.From conferences and aviation training to intimate workshops and receptions, it has a whole host of perfect spaces ideal for any kind of event

The Base is the venue for all Virgin Atlantic training, which means we have some really fantastic, light, bright classrooms. If VA need to deliver professional safety, security, aviation medical, customer service or cabin service training, the Rigs Hall is perfect. Rigs Hall offers state of the art technology, and a unique, contemporary learning space.

Facilities include cabin service, safety, medical and aviation training rigs, aircraft door trainers, a slide and a life raft.Rigs Hall is the most realistic airline training environment in the UK, and a great location for all teambuilding, airline and customer service training.

Motivation Employee motivation tools exercised by Virgin Atlantic include offering various charitable perks. For example, 60 members of the company employees have climbed Mount Kenya in order to raise 35,000 for a village in Kenya.

Moreover, communication and employee involvement is another powerful motivational tools exercised in Virgin Atlantics. Namely, Richard Branson, founder of the brand is engaged in writing his staff what he describes as chatty letters and emails to let them know what is going on, and encouraging them to write back with comments and ideasHe regularly takes out entire flight crews for dinner and parties when he arrives on a Virgin Atlantic flight. He even stays at the crew's hotel rather than in expensive digs downtown. He gives every Virgin employee a Virgin card, which provides big discounts on the airline as well as at Virgin Megastores and other Virgin businesses.29Mr. Branson is known for his ever-present notebook and pen, which he pulls out whenever he chats with employees or customers. He insists that this is a crucial element in his role as chairman and that by writing things down, he creates a regular list of items for immediate action. Most chief executives, he notes, will chat with employees in the course of their travels but by the next day will remember little of what they were told.All these methods adopted by the founder gives the employee the feeling of belonging.This motivates them to work more efficiently and makes them feel like a family.The employees work with passion and are constantly working toward making the service experience better for the employees.

Leadership Leadership style at Virgin Atlantic stems from the organisational culture of the company that has been set by its founder Sir Richard Branson, who successfully exercises charismatic and transformational leadership styles. It has been specified that his leadership style is often described as transformational, because of his informal style and lack of emphasis on hierarchy within his companies, and charismatic because Branson and Virgin are so inextricably linked.Rewards/BenefitsFull-time employees receive up to seven concessionary standby flights a year to any of Virgin Atlantics glamorous global destinations.Employees are given the flexible pension plan where they can plan for their financially secure future.Income protection: Provides long-term income protection benefit in the event that you are unable to work due to illness or injury.They provide childcare benefit to all employees wit children under the age of 16.

Airshare is a scheme where the employees have the opportunity to share the success of the business.

VIRGIN ATLANTICINTERACTIVE MARKETINGSERVICE MARKETING The famous friendly crew of Virgin Atlantic makes sure that the customers have everything they need, a memorable services by the most well trained air hostesses/employees, a choice of 3 complimentary meals, a free amenity kit, an award winning blockbuster entertainment, a free newspaper from London and Manchester, as well as extra legroom options for a more roomy journey.

INTERACTIVE MARKETINGA Taste for the High life:- VIRGIN ATLANTIC keeps the customers topped up with wide choices of complimentary drinks and delicious meals. They also cater to customers specific or special dietary requirement and happily tailor the inflight menu.

Keeping the kids happy:- If you are travelling with family especially with children one need not worry as there are tasty child meals, a kid's channel on the seat-back, K-iD backpacks bursting with goodies.

Interactive Social MediaThey sponsored a contest where customers took pictures of themselves Clubhousing and shared it on Twitter or Instagram with a Hashtag #Howlclubhouse.FunA Virgin Crew took a Social Media and found customers at work who were having a grey rainy day, since their colour are red and purple they bought a pair of red rain boots and delivered it to the customers office.

ConclusionOverall, Virgin Atlantic have a very comprehensive marketing strategy. Their external, internal as well as interactive marketing policies have led them through years of success and acclaim. They cater to the needs of the external as well as internal customers, which is crucial for corporate giants like themselves to maintain their hold in the market.