Branson’s Still the PR King
Arabian Business
In 1998, during an interview with Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson, I asked him what the secret was to starting billion dollar companies. “I’ll tell you one day,” he said.
Two years later, I was waiting to get off the first ever Virgin Atlantic flight from London to Las Vegas, when I saw Branson at the front – getting dressed as Elvis Presley. His mother, who was also on the flight, looked at him in horror. “What on earth are you doing?” she asked.
A grinning Branson spotted me and said: “That question you once asked me about what it takes to create a billion dollar company – erm, I’m afraid this is the answer.”
Branson was right – the power of PR cannot be underestimated. That same year, thanks largely to his Elvis stunt, Virgin Atlantic became the most talked about company in the US.
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