Virgin - Corporate responsability

Richard Branson clearly cares about Virgin's customers and the impact his companies have on people and the planet. That's why he recently made corporate responsibility and sustainable development a Key priority for every one of his companies. Each must act to be more socially responsible through reducing its carbon footprint. From a marketing perspective Virgin categorises its businesses into eight socially responsible groups. Flying high, We're on a summer holiday, Staying in touch, Watching the pennies, Getting from A to B, My body is a temple, Out of this world, and just get out and relax. Each is to do good things for its industry and help to alleviate the bad things that come with the category.

For example: Virgin Wines aims to purchase only from small farms and pay fair prices. It also encourages responsible drinking practices.

Virgin Aviation represents 7 million of the 8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide that Virgin emits each year. From a marketing perspective Branson has turned this challenge into an opportunity. In 2006 he announced that all dividends from rail and and airline businesses will be invested into renewable energy initiatives to tackle emissions related to global warming. Virgin has also launched its green fund which invests in solar energy, and water purification opportunities.

Further to this, Branson has also established the earth Challenge, to award $25 Million to any person who creates a way to safely remove greenhouse gases from the planet.

This insight helps me to understand that in the future and working as a marketing manager, I believe that there is a valuable lesson to be learnt from Virgin, and the degree to which it uses a corporate responsible message to deliver a green message to customers. On the flip side of this, Virgin avails free publicity through media coverage of these green marketing initiatives which are all very cool ideas.