Branson: the global brand builder

Diversification on the scale of Richard Branson's Virgin group of companies shouldn't really work, say the academics. And yet it has. It's all down to branding, publicity and getting in the right management. Richard Branson may have his occasional little local difficulties such as Virgin Media's spat with BSkyB, its £4.3bn debt, payment of which has been successfully deferred for three years, and engineering work delays for Virgin's latest high-speed train but as a super business builder and manager he has few equals. Who else could have built eight billion-dollar companies including the fast-growing Virgin Mobile business in America and still enjoy the escapades and visual stunts he's been involved in over the years to promote the brand? A large part of the Virgin story, he readily admits, has been his willingness to be a central character in its publicity. In return the media has been more than fair to the Virgin brand.