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RICHARD BRANSON: KING OF PR STUNTS
How Sir Richard Branson was able to consistently get millions of eyes on Virgin through his crazy PR stunts...
Niall Ratcliffe
August 13, 2023
Morning!
It’s 11:34 AM. Headphones in. A litre of water in front of me. Laptop on 12%. 0 words written. The perfect environment for a banging breakdown.
And that’s exactly what you’re getting.
We live in an age where attention is priceless, and this man was able to get a whole bunch of it on his business… virtually free of charge.
He’s worth $4+ billion
Lives on a private island
And is known as the “King of publicity stunts”
His name is Richard Branson and this is how he grew viral…
Listen to the audio version of this breakdown HERE.
This breakdown is brought to you by… The Part-Time Creator Club
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Breaking Down The Strategy
Today, we all know Richard Branson as this crazy, private-island-owning billionaire.
But success didn’t come easy to Richard, in fact, he spent the first portion of his life failing miserably.
In his teens, Branson planted 400 Christmas trees in an attempt to start a Christmas tree business. But the venture tanked when rabbits devoured them before they grew big enough.
He then tried his hand at breeding Parakeets, but that also tanked when he realised, well… no one wanted Parakeets.
It was failure, after failure.
Then at 20 years old, Branson was thrown in jail for evading purchase tax on vinyl records - after falsely declaring them as export stock.
It was at this moment that a switch flipped for Branson.
He was given a hefty fine for the tax evasion charges and if the business was going to pay that fine they were going to have to expand.
And they did.
Over the next few years, Virgin Records exploded.
They signed multiple big-name artists, released chart-topping albums and were beginning to cake it in.
But Richard wasn’t satisfied with a successful record business, he wanted to go bigger.
So he began to expand Virgin into completely new avenues and over the next 30 years…
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Vodka
Virgin Cola
Virgin Mobile
Virgin Rail
Virgin Media
Virgin Hotels
Virgin Voyages
Virgin Galatic
…and 40+ other Virgin businesses were all born.
But Branson was breaking every single rule in the traditional business playbook:
He was starting multiple businesses per year
Spreading his resources as thin as possible
Going into markets that were almost impossible to have success in
Constantly going toe-to-toe with industry giants
Yet 50+ years later the Virgin Group is a globally renowned brand worth billions, with Branson himself sitting on a sizeable personal fortune of $4 billion.
But the question is, how did he do it? How did he manage to launch business after business and make them a success?
The answer: He was a master at getting attention.
(Especially while on a shoestring budget)
I spent the last 6+ hours researching every single Virgin launch campaign since 1972.
Here are 6 key lessons on getting eyes on your business from the king of publicity stunts:
Lesson 1: Be “Ballsy”
It’s safe to say that Branson hasn’t always been the most liked man in the world.
And his PR stunts definitely don’t help him at times - but it’s one of the many reasons they are so effective.
Take his “Stiff competition” stunt for example:
It was ballsy (in both aspects of the word).
Many people called it “Disrespectful” & “Embarrassing”. While others found it hilarious and loved it.
Both opinions were wins for Branson & Virgin.
Because whether it was positive or negative, the stunt got people talking about it.
Yes, one part of that stunt was Branson in his underwear. But the other side was Virgin Atlantic announcing they were now operating in Scotland.
His aim was to let people know Virgin Atlantic will now fly you to Scotland and that’s exactly what this stunt did.
If you get off the fence, you get people talking. If you get people talking, you get eyes on your message.
Lesson 2: Be Where The Attention Is
Although Branson often got creative and planned Virgin PR stunts for months in advance, some of his most famous stunts were actually off the cuff.
Take the infamous “BA can’t get it up” blimp for example (one of his most famous stunts ever):
If you’re not familiar with the event, at the time Virgin Atlantic (Virgin’s aeroplane business) was in a heated feud with British Airways.
The pair were competing for British customers and BA were running a series of concerted campaigns.
One of which was having their reps impersonate Virgin employees and trying to get Virgin customers to switch their flights to BA.
Crazy times.
Then one day Branson got a call at 5 am saying there was a big story on the news - the London Eye was stuck on the ground.
With British Airways being proud supporters of the London Eye, Sir Richard quickly pulled together a blimp with the words “BA CAN’T GET IT UP” on it and had it fly over the downed ferris wheel.
The downed London Eye was already front page news, so the second the blimp arrived Branson was able to steal all of that attention.
The blimp became the talk of the country and the British public found it hilarious. Many of them converted to fans of Virgin Atlantic because of it - all for little to no cost.
A classic Richard Branson move and a highly effective way to get the whole of his target audience looking towards his brand.
Lesson 3: Ride The Waves
You don’t have to pull the craziest stunt in the world to get attention. Sometimes all you need to do is ride an “Attention wave”.
Virgin’s Branzilla stunt was the perfect example of this in action.
Back in 2014, the talk of the town was the newly released “Godzilla” movie.
Branson clocked that there was some strong PR around the movie and people were paying attention.
So, he had an 8ft sea monster made with his infamous blonde locks and beard. Then went and placed it on Bournemouth beach.
In the hands of the sea monster?
A Virgin Media plaque promoting their new Virgin Media bundle deal.
Everyone was already talking about Godzilla’s release so the second this came out all of the news outlets jumped at it (it even got a feature in the Financial Times).
Branson simply rode the attention wave and got his new offer in front of millions - again for little cost.
Lesson 4: Have 1 Clear Message
Although each of these stunts may seem a little “Out there” at first glance. Every single one of them was crafted to drive home one simple message to people who saw them.
Whether it was launching a new business, a new service, or even just a new offer - every single campaign had a clear message behind it.
Just take a look…
Dressed up in drag → Message: Virgin Brides is now open
Dressed up as a Zulu warrior → Message: Virgin Atlantic is now in South Africa
Bunjee jumping off a Las Vegas Casino → Message: Virgin America now fly to Las Vegas
This is arguably the most underrated aspect of every one of Branson’s PR stunts. Because without that clear message, all the attention he garners would be completely wasted.
Instead, Branson is able to broadcast any message he wants to millions of people - almost free of charge.
It’s honestly crazy to see the sheer number of stunts Branson & Virgin have pulled off over the years.
But it makes sense why they did so many when they realised just how effective they were.
After the sheer number of viral stunts he’s pulled off I think it’s pretty safe to say Sir Richard Branson is well and truly the king of the PR stunt.
An amazing businessman, but an even better marketer.
Right, that’s all for today!
What did you think of this breakdown? |
Until next Sunday.
— Niall
If you’ve read this far, why not see how else I can help you:
This has been a breakdown of Richard Branson’s marketing strategy. I hope you have learned something and can implement a similar strategy in your business!
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