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Case Study: Virgin Airlines

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7-19 Using the full spectrum of segmentation variables, describe how Virgin America

segments and targets the market for airline services.

Geographic segmentation, Virgin America emphasized a specific segment which is one

of the frequent young, intelligent, and influential passengers who were willing to pay a little

more for an airline that would provide them a better service, this is mainly the Silicon Valley

segment. Demographic segmentation, the company emphasized in a youth market that can be

considered between the ages of twenty and thirty-four years, which can be included in the

generation. Psychological segmentation, Virgin America focuses on young entrepreneurs,

intelligent and influential, from an upper-middle-class with a lifestyle based on technology and

comfort. Behavioral segmentation, Virgin America is based on customers with great knowledge,

with assertive responses towards their well-being. These clients seek greater technological

benefits when moving to different geographical areas.

7-20 Which market targeting strategy is Virgin America following? Justify your answer

Virgin America uses the focused segmentation marketing strategy as it targets youth and

also uses the functional marketing strategy with 4Ps. Product, the product Virgin America has is

an airline company that offers flights in the United States, the airline is a premier airline that it

mainly focuses is the quality, which is why they have the best inflight technology, the most

comfortable seats, and high-quality service. The price that manages the company is high and that

is why they have these upper-middle-class customers who are willing to pay for better services.

Place, most west coast flights mainly Silicon Valley and Burlingame California and this is

because most of their tech clients came from Silicon Valley. Promotion, it is mainly by social

media because its target is mainly young, tech-savvy professionals, and celebrities. So the best

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way to get to the customers where their customer can see them faster which is social media,

mainly Facebook and Twitter. (The Realtime Report, 2011)

7-21 Write a positioning statement for Virgin America.

Virgin America is not just a flight.

7-22 What are the potential issues for Virgin America following the Alaska Airlines

acquisition? Will Virgin America continue to appeal to the same types of customers? Why or

Why not?

Virgin America will have some advantages and disadvantages, some of the advantages

are the routes they are going to have because of the expansion of the company it will cover more

routes in all the United States, it will also have many flights daily so it will be easy to get a flight

with the company. The frequent flyer program is going to expand because Alaska Airlines has

more partnerships than Virgin America has. “Alaska Airline will maintain its new, refreshed

brand, as it works on the Virgin America brand and customer experience,” says Zaninovich

(Bender, 2016). Some disadvantages of this merge are, the merge of information and reservations

of the customers from one company software to another because Alaska Airline is going to keep

their software, reservation web page, and app, but the ones of Virgin America are going to be

deleted, so in the process of transferring all the information they can have some losing

information trouble. Another issue will be that even though both airlines have excellent customer

services, both airlines have a very different style because Alaska is going to make changes

eventually on the inside of the Virgin’s Airbus. Virgin America, now better known as Alaska

Airline is not going to have the same type of customers because it’s true that they have a good

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customer service, but Virgin people are edgier, stylist, and fun so they like the different lighting

inside the airplane, the leather seats, and the inflight tech services that Virgin offered. Alaska

Airlines will keep good customer service but will not keep the high-tech service that virgin has,

which was a plus for Virgin customers.

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References

- The Realtime Report. (2011, September 19). The Realtime Report.

https://therealtimereport.com/2011/09/19/virgin-americas-social-media-strategy-
takes-off/

- Bender, A. (2016, April 4). Forbes. Forbes.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbender/2016/04/04/alaska-airlines-buys-virgin-
america-what-will-happen-to-the-virgin-brand-and-your-frequent-flyer-
miles/#6b2771c75d50

- Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2018) Principles of Marketing.

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