The Innovation Station
Virgin Holidays
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin have built up their business and reputation using a carefully crafted and successful eco-system. This has allowed them to utilize their operations through numerous industries, whilst gaining a base of varied customers. Without this eco-system the Virgin Galactic Venture would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, making the Virgin infrastructure a vital and imperative area of their operations. Below are the Virgin business's we feel most aptly represent Virgins continual model of providing a pinnacle service to their consumers, which also link suitably to Galactic venture.
Virgin Atlantic epitomizes Virgins' delve in the air travel industry. Their 51% majority stake in the company (Delta airways owns 49%) sees them offering a heightened services, aptly represented by their recent adverts proclaiming their staff are "born to be different", showing a number of superhuman capabilities across their different employees. When contrasting with Virgin Galactic, this shows how Virgin already have experience dealing with aircrafts and customers. They are also similar in the way they focus on the experience of consumers as apposed to just an avenue from which to get from A to B.
Much like the travel experience had with Virgin Atlantic, Virgin holidays provide the next stage in satisfying the consumers’ needs, by going a step beyond. Virgin Holidays was voted Best Long Haul Operator at the TTG Awards 2010 and won 13 awards at the British Travel Awards 2010, including Best Package Holiday Company Long Haul, as voted by customers. They use tag lines such as "Rock Star Holidays" and "Unleash Your Mojo" to infer that their holidays are beyond the standard packages, something their illustrious awards would support. This links effectively to Virgin Galactic in the way they are focusing more on the experience of consumers and offering them exotic destinations, such as space!
As you can imagine from the instances previously mentioned, Virgin's focus on the consumer experience is a consistent element of their operations. This is moreover apparent when they utilize their existing operations in the music and entertainments industry (Virgin music, Virgin Television) as part of their inflight packages on Virgin Atlantic.
A vast variety of 150 albums is available for consumers to choose from, free of charge during their Virgin Atlantic flight. This is accompanied by big names in film such as Harry Potter using their VERA service which showcases top movies which Virgin have the rights to display to its customers. This and other features such as games, and the capability to order food through the interactive headrest screen is available through their award winning service package from pre takeoff right up until you step off the plane.
Linking this to Virgin Galactic and supported by the other areas of the eco-system, it is clear to see that Virgin and their experience of consumer satisfaction are more than equipped to offer an entertainments package, even of the appeal of space travel isn't quite entertainment enough!
Virgin Experience Days was launched in March 2001 under the name of Virgin Experience. The company originally offered experiences to corporate clients as a way of incentivizing staff and customers. The company rapidly expanded to bring the Virgin values of quality, innovation, value for money and fun to the consumer experience gift market.
Experiences to date range from romantic getaways, adrenaline fuelling supercar days, indoor skydiving, comedy nights, or even clay shooting sessions.
This is perhaps the closely linked sector of Virgin's eco System. Virgin Galactic offers consumers the chance to participate in preparation training for two or three days with their crew before exploring the world in a way limited to a chosen few till this point. This rounded experiences is perhaps the pinnacle of any experience previously offered by Virgin.
Virgin Entertainment
