The Branson Hoax

April Fools’ Day came a day early to Branson this year, delivered by an eccentric billionaire who shares a name with the city’s founder.

Sir Richard Branson, chairman of United Kingdom-based Virgin Group, a conglomerate of companies under the Virgin banner, has a penchant for pranks. And as it turns out, officials with the city were all too happy to participate in his fake plans to move Virgin America’s headquarters to the city of around 11,000.

“I would consider it to be the social-media event of the year for our community,” said Jeff Seifried, the new president and CEO at the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau.

News of the ruse broke March 31 on Virgin.com via Richard Branson’s blog. On April 1, city representatives played along for the free publicity as news organizations from across the country clamored to cover the story.

Among claims in the post, Branson said: Virgin America would fly to Branson from San Francisco in a plane named “Jolene” to honor Dolly Parton and the Dixie Stampede; Virgin Hotels would develop its next property in the city; Virgin Limited Edition would offer “exclusive wagon trails” with its next luxury property in Branson; and Virgin Active would introduce a Branson-themed gym where customers toss hay bales and roll wagon wheels.

The post follows a March 16 claim that Richard Branson is a distant relative of Reuben S. Branson, the city’s namesake.

Seifried said Richard Branson’s staff contacted the city about the joke a couple of weeks before the March 31 blog post.

“We provided very minor input along the way, but this was really driven by Richard Branson’s folks,” Seifried said. “Our role was really just to be prepared. And to be prepared to capitalize on the (public-relations) value.”

The April Fools’ prank casts doubt on the validity of Branson’s mid-March claim that Reuben S. Branson was his great-great uncle.

John Rutherford, a local historian with the Springfield-Greene County Library District, said a cursory review of Reuben Branson’s family leads him to believe it was all part of the gag.

He said there was no direct connection to England until Thomas Branson in 1671. The great-great-great-great grandfather to Reuben Branson died in New Jersey in 1744, records show, and because Richard Branson was born in England to English parents, the family ties are unlikely without a reverse migration.

“Directly related? He could be, but I’d find that pretty difficult to believe,” Rutherford said.

City buy-in
In preparation for the post, Branson Mayor Raeanne Presley played an active role.

“We’re incredibly excited about Virgin’s move to Branson,” Presley says in a video with an ExploreBranson watermark that appeared in the billionaire’s blog. “We’re a family-friendly city known across America as one of the top places to vacation.”

Other city leaders kept the gag going for a while.

Reached by phone on March 31, Branson Airport Executive Director Jeff Bourk declined to discuss Branson’s Virgin claims but said a factual component of the gag was the dual flight promotions between the airport and the airline: $10 off a round-trip ticket or 10 percent off a Virgin America flight on March 31 and April 1.

Ahead of April Fools’ Day, the Branson chamber received a box of T-shirts from Virgin headquarters in England. They read: “Welcome to Branson, Branson.”

Media including CNN, PBS, The Associated Press and Newsweek picked up the fake move, even if most weren’t fooled. IncentiveTravel.Co.UK did announce the plans as straight news.

The CVB estimates the value of the media coverage at $1.5 million.

“It really helped to drive people to ExploreBranson.com, which saw a huge jump in visitors,” said Seifried, who came clean by morning of April 1.

About 7,000 visitors were on ExploreBranson.com on March 31, which is over a 100 percent jump for a typical weekday this time of year, said CVB Communications Director Lynn Berry.

“My guys are telling me that yesterday was one of our top five days,” she said of traffic to the site.

The discounted travel promotions sprung out of the plans, Berry said, hinting there could be more buzz on social media in the coming weeks.

The Branson shirts pictured in the Virgin.com post were not for sale anywhere, Seifried said, though they’ve drawn quite a reaction.

“There have been so many requests for the shirts. I would be surprised if a local retailer doesn’t capitalize on the opportunity,” he said.

Old hat
It seems Richard Branson and Virgin Group are known for their April Fools’ Day jokes. Two years ago, Branson announced the company had developed a glass-bottomed airplane. In 2011, he said he bought Pluto with the intention of reinstating it as a planet.

According to a March 31 Business Insider story on the fake move to Branson, the billionaire reportedly spent a night in jail in the 1990s after he leaned on hired hands to enter the home of Virgin Records partner Ken Berry to temporarily remove some furniture as part of an elaborate April Fools’ prank.  

Not everybody loved the local joke, branded by the hashtag #BransonToBranson.

KSPR-TV news anchor Melody Pettit shared some negative reactions on Twitter, including one attributed to Mark Davis: “Not funny at all. The ‘city leaders’ who took part should be ashamed for building false hope in such days.” Another, attributed to Ryan Pinkston, said, “What a mean joke. This could have changed the entire #Branson demographic.”

Branson’s antics come after a year where Branson Airport lost its two major carriers: Southwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines. About a week earlier, the Taney County Commission approved $500,000 in risk-abatement funds designed to lure a big-name successor to town.

The situation positioned Virgin America as an appealing answer for Branson Airport.

Seifried said he wasn’t concerned about the negative comments on social media.

He said Branson Airport officials have reached out to and promoted local air service to Virgin officials for years, but this prank has renewed conversations. He added that Virgin’s top executive is very familiar with the city.

“President and CEO David Cush actually visits Table Rock Lake often and is very familiar with the market. He has a lake house here. I think the relations are much stronger than people realize,” Seifried said.

Virgin officials declined to discuss the April Fools’ announcement but provided a statement about the flight-service talks.

“With 10 new aircraft being delivered over the next two years, we’re always looking at and evaluating new market opportunities – and have had positive conversations with the Branson air service development team,” said Abby Lunardini, Virgin America’s vice president of brand marketing and communications. “We know that Branson attracts millions of visitors each year and is a world-class destination.”

Virgin officials also said company CEO Cush planned to vacation in Branson this summer. Seifried said he feels any criticism of the effort is outweighed by the exposure the city received.

“You’re always going to have haters. That’s the bottom line,” he said.[[In-content Ad]]