Shannon Craig
While the lawsuit occurred close to 30 years ago, the results and marketing that came from the intense feuding are still relevant today.
Paying for “Dirty Tricks”
In 1993, following two years of unmatched rivalry in the airline industry, British Airways admitted that it made improper attempts to undermine its rival, Virgin Atlantic. British Airways agreed to settle the case with an apology to Mr. Branson of Virgin Atlantic and to pay $945,000 in damages.
Virgin Atlantic, in a statement that was issued after a hearing, explained their allegations against British Airways. They cited illegal and unethical actions coming from British Airways as their main cause for the allegations, some of which are illustrated in the news stories that appeared over the course of the year:
- The solicitation by British Airways representatives of Virgin Atlantic passengers inside airports and at their homes. British Airways obtained confidential information about Virgin Atlantic passengers and proceeded to offer them incentives to switch to British Airways flights.
- Attempts by British Airways representatives to impersonate Virgin employees. British Airways staff were instructed to impersonate Virgin representatives as a way to spy on their rival.
- British Airways also paid security advisers over $300,000 to conduct a counterespionage campaign after they suspected Virgin of spying on them.
In response to the intense allegations, Mr. Branson of Virgin Atlantic said the following:
Although Virgin Atlantic is a small independent airline our competitive threat obviously proved too much for certain people at British Airways. Despite their overwhelming dominance of the British aviation industry…they appear to have felt the need to resort to unfair and at times illegal competitive practices.
Richard Branson
“BA Can’t Get It Up!!!”
Six years following the lawsuit, British Airways owned a third of the London Eye and was the title sponsor, but the London Eye experienced some technical issues on the day it was supposed to be erected. In response to the difficulties, Mr. Branson scrambled to get an airship to fly over the site bearing the slogan: “BA can’t get it up!!!”.
“Screw It, Let’s Do It!”
In later years, “Screw it, let’s do it!” is how Mr. Branson described his approach to business. Branson’s approach to taking advantage of the opportunity to poke fun at the competition and gain some free advertising in the process comes from some advice he received early on. When entering the industry, he was told to take advantage of free advertising when competing against larger airlines with the marketing budgets to match. And while creative marketing efforts don’t always have to result in an entire airship flying over the mistakes of our competitors, don’t be afraid to add some “screw it, let’s do it” energy into your strategies.
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