Revised - Virgin employee engagement and contact point strategy

Introduction

When Richard Branson dressed up and acted as an air-hostess on a competitor flight, as a result of losing a bet with a competitor, it was a the pinnacle of a process of employee engagement designed to deliver the Virgin brand experience of the airline and wider brand.

By developing an internal brand through management of contact points and development of an employee culture through values and behaviour at the contact points, brands strengthen themselves by aligning to the expectations that they desire of customers.

Through concern for its employees embodied in a values-driven corporate culture and internal brand, Virgin delivers superior customer service.

The importance of translation of internal values into customer experience

Internal values are a mirror of external experience. The external experience must be goal directed to produce the desired business result. So, for instance, a high degree of service leads to an effortless experience with the brand. This in turn leads to loyalty as the desire for the same experience is felt by the customer. The customer returns to the brand repeatedly, generating ongoing revenue streams, without the expense of costly and time-consuming push marketing.

Virgin offers heroic service which it delivers through its employees.

The role of brand cohesion

Brand cohesion plays a central role in guiding a strategy for contact points. Cohesion is the management process that leads to a strong, planned position and identity that creates a strong image with a narrow brand gap leading to high brand equity. This is the root of loyalty.

In order to understand how Virgin will plan and manage its contact points, it is important to understand its values. The two most important values are outward looking principal values. These are ‘heartfelt service’ and ‘delightfully surprising’, as echoed in Richard Branson’s dress-up on the plane. The two values translate directly into customer experience and lead to loyalty.

The second set of values are ‘red hot’, ‘straight up’, ‘insatiable curiosity’ and ‘smart disruption’. These are self-referential principal values. They might not be experienced by the customer but they support the first set of the two most important values.

The combination of these values feeds into delivery of Virgin’s central brand purpose ‘Changing business for good’, which will be evaluated by the customer. “Will Virgin be a good business for me, and will I experience it as good?”

Planning and managing the contact points

Contact points are points at which the brand is experienced. External contact points dictate experience. Internal contact points are points of near equivalency to external contact points that determine the experience at the external contact point. So, for instance if an external contact point is service at a counter, an internal contact point will have to be found to develop, manage and maintain service at the counter.

There are five elements of planning and managing contact points.

Firstly, all contact points have to be identified for products and or services. This will include unplanned contact points. Secondly a pattern of contacts needs to be identified. From this the most important contact points need to be identified. Not all contact points are equally important, and some will have a greater impact on experience of the brand than others, Fourth, the contacts need to be considered in light of the desired cohesion. Finally, the cohesion strategy needs to be implemented and managed, so that the desired experience is delivered particularly at the most important contact point, but at others as well.

Virgin values-driven contact point strategy

The Virgin internal contact point strategy will orbit around the two particular values, firstly good service, and secondly, the element of surprise. Good service is easy enough to understand. It is efficient, responsive and recognises the customer’s need. Good service can be developed at four contact points which are recruitment which facilitates delivery of good service, service, business processes (undocumented but should be rapid and effective) and customer care.

The element of surprise is more complex, as it implies variance from standardised processes involved in good service. It will be managed at the service contact points, but the value has to empower the employee to vary from standard services and make judgements and decisions to deliver added value, either in non-tangible emotional ways or deliver tangible added value which may come at a cost to the enterprise.

 Virgin is tolerant of mistakes as a pathway to surprise.

To facilitate this, Virgin is tolerant of failure and treats it as a way to learn. This is supported by its self-referential principal values of ‘red hot’, ‘straight up’, ‘insatiable curiosity’ and ‘smart disruption’, all of which contribute to the delivery of surprise.

Virgin encourages learning as an experiential element of its internal brand which is a facet of the values of 'insatiable curiosity' and 'smart disruption'.

Implementation of the value-driven strategy

If the internal brand is to succeed, however, there are three critical factors which have to be considered to achieve brand cohesion. Firstly, if the internal brand is to be credible and authentic, it must take root among leadership and across the hierarchy of leadership. 

Richard Branson is a strong internal brand figurehead and symbol who is seen to engage with Virgin staff.

Secondly, employees must be empowered to use the internal brand, as exemplified in its approach to learning and failure.  

Thirdly, it must be communicated effectively, which Virgin does by using its employee engagement Virgin Pulse , which 'employee well-being solution helps employees create habits that matter so they can be their best at work and at home', but most significantly Virgin’s brand-oriented engagement platform Virgin Way which is unfortunately not accessible. However, the purpose of the platform can be seen on the landing page of the platform. Virgin supports this in practice by putting people first, listening to feedback and strong recognition of its employees achievements.

Conclusion

The depth of Virgin’s commitment to its internal brand is perfectly illustrated by Richard Branson serving the customers wearing an air-hostess uniform. The event illustrated Virgin’s commitment to service as well as its quest for surprise (and fun). And while doing so, Branson overshadowed the competitor’s airline and scored significant publicity gains and a brand win for Virgin airlines.