Impudent… Eccentric… Pioneering… Enterprising… and Entrepreneurial. Sir Richard Branson, the man with the Midas touch, has built a multi-billion Dollar empire that stretches across continents and that covers just about everything: spacelines, airlines, retail, media, communications, tourism and finance. The Virgin mega-brand is respected by its peers, viewed with trepidation by its rivals, and loved by consumers everywhere.

Already known for their health centres and spas in South Africa, Virgin launched their attack on the telecommunications sector in the form of Virgin Mobile on the 22nd of June 2006. And, a mere four days later, on the 26th of June 2006, they delivered a coup de maitre (or master stroke) on the financial services industry, when they launched their much anticipated Virgin Money Credit Card.

There were no punches pulled (not even at Absa, with whom they had to form an alliance to issue the cards) in the message Sir Richard Branson delivered to the press, the South African credit card consumer and the competition: "South African banks are ripping off credit cardholders to the tune of R1.5 billion a year through inexplicably high charges and complex fee structures. The Virgin Money Credit Card now represents the best value in the market and it signals the beginning of the end of the great South African banking rip-off."

And, to make this measurable, he went on to say that Virgin Money would have no fewer than 180,000 South African credit cards in circulation by the time they blow out their first birthday candle. (Which, incidentally, they did deliver.)

True to form, Virgin Money’s credit card was more like a Cape Canaveral shuttle launch than an aeroplane take-off at O.R. Tambo: During the first 48 hours of operation, there were in excess of 80,000 hits on their website; for the first two weeks after the launch, the Virgin Money call centre received an average of 5,000 calls every day; within the first six weeks, 50,000 Virgin Money credit cards were approved; and, to top it all, within less than 8 weeks, Virgin Money delivered a collective R 13 million savings in fees to their credit card customers. These are gargantuan numbers in the South African context.

You would think – given Virgin’s formidable reputation - that the banking boardrooms in the country would have had the foresight to set the cogs in their slow machines in motion to save them from the archetypal belligerence that is so characteristic of the Virgin brand.

But, they did not. Nor were they prepared for the barrage of exposés, the innovative marketing campaigns and relentless consumer education drives that followed. Precious little escaped the vigilance of Virgin Money. Loyalty points, Air miles and Gold cards have all been under fire, as have the levels of ethics and ‘the dirty little tricks’ of South African credit card issuers.

But perhaps the most severe of the blows delivered, is the stark contrast between the Virgin Money credit card offering and that of, what Virgin terms "their fat-cat South African credit card market", competition: Competition that is perhaps coming to realise – albeit late in the game - that this offering is not the ‘launch gimmick’ they originally made it out to be.

To give you an idea: The Virgin credit card sports a 0% interest introductory offer, with low ongoing interest rates on negative balances and high interest rates on positive balances thereafter. No annual fees are levied on the card. Both the VIP loyalty programme and the Virgin Money Online (internet banking) services, are free. Making the Virgin credit card offering even sweeter is that no fees are charged when you use your credit card to make purchases. The card is single tiered: There are no silver-gold-platinum gimmicks, meaning that everybody gets the same card at the best possible interest rate.

There is general consensus among the local credit card gurus that the Virgin credit card is the best value for money credit card on the South African market today. Hundreds of thousands infatuated South African customers seem to agree: Virgin is definitely walking the talk. The man, the card, the brand…when you think of it, what is there not to love?