When Virgin, one of the world’s most iconic brands, researched aware-ness in the Australian market, even they were astonished at the results. More than eight in ten Aussies had strong knowledge of what Virgin stood for, and a very positive image of its attributes.

But perhaps the company’s chiefs shouldn’t have been so surprised. After all, in the past decade, the venture capital company run by buccaneering British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has audaciously taken on entrenched Australian homegrown products in the fields of mobile telephony, music and, most famously, aviation.

The group claims five million Australians use its branded products in some form or another. Virgin Mobile has one million customers. Virgin Blue, its major airline brand, has a 12 per cent share of the domestic aviation market with revenues of $3 billion in the last six months of 2009 – and a record profit.

Sir Richard has a theory about his Australian success. He maintains he is often mistaken for an Australian. “I think it’s my maverick way of doing business, and my love of a challenge,” he says. Perhaps he is saying this only half in jest.

In 2010, Virgin launched an aggressive campaign to take on its biggest target yet: the Australian banking sector. Australia’s big four banks are admired around the world for the way in which they weathered the global financial crisis. Now Sir Richard has them firmly in his sights – Virgin has launched a suite of products, including superannuation, insurance and credit cards. Retail banking, including transaction accounts and mortgages, is in the pipeline.

Eventually, Virgin plans to be a physical high street banking brand. This is a company that never thinks small. And, as so often is the case when Sir Richard launches a magnificent crusade, he has a powerful ally: in this case, the global financial giant Citibank. It’s a big investment from a company which has 50 new jets on order for Virgin Blue.

The assault on banking is driven not just by the demands of brand awareness, but also the group’s respect for Australia’s sophisticated financial services regime and the availability of well trained and innovative staff. David Baxby, the 32-year-old head of Virgin Group Asia Pacific and an executive said to have the ear of Branson, agrees with his boss about why Australia is a fertile market.

“Look at Richard’s philosophies and ideas — he doesn’t suffer fools, he stands by his word, he likes to cut to the chase, he is very focused on value for money with a service element,” says Baxby. “When you consider Virgin’s attributes and
look at what Australians are proud of as Australians, there are a lot of similarities. It is almost – and my English friends would hate me for saying this – almost more Australian than British.”

Virgin has created more than 200 branded companies worldwide, employing approximately 50,000 people in 29 countries. Global branded revenues last year exceeded $18 billion. Baxby’s brother Matt, managing director of Virgin Money and a former Brisbane corporate lawyer, says that Virgin is a “challenger” brand, not dissimilar to Australia itself, which is focused on tackling entrenched competitive positions to win a place in whatever it does.

Matt Baxby says Virgin Money was attracted by Australia’s financial stability, good government regulation and an acceptance of innovation. Baxby spent over seven years  in Britain working for Virgin Money, which now has 25 per cent of the credit card market.
It is a model he believes he can repeat in his homeland.