Virgin exuberance

Posted on January 7, 2009 at 12:26 pm (UK)
in: Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations, Television, Travel

This ad spot for airline Virgin Atlantic is currently running on TV in the UK:

It’s one of the best ads I’ve seen for a long time, one that grabs your attention and keeps it. Once you start watching, you’re hooked. Those 80s icons! Just see how many you can spot, from mobile phones to fashion to brand names. And with Relax, one of the greatest music tracks from the 80s.

The ad – titled “Still red hot,” recreating the airline’s launch in 1984 – is part of a £6 million campaign to celebrate Virgin Atlantic’s 25 years in business. BrandRepublic has the details.

(Via Jazamatazz.)

Related: another great TV ad, from Virgin Media promoting their new 50 megabit broadband internet service. Samuel Jackson fronts the “Mother of all broadband” campaign.

If more companies come up with imaginative, exuberant TV ads like these, it might get me watching more TV.

At the very least, I’d be less likely to skip or fast-forward through the ads.

Bookmark and Share

Print This Post Print This Post

{ 1 trackback }

Unfiltered Branson — NevilleHobson.com
February 21, 2009 at 9:14

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Jaz Cummins January 7, 2009 at 9:37

Thanks for the hat tip Neville.

Good point Chris, considering the attention it's got, I'm surprised it wasn't shared with social media people more. I'm increasingly posting good ads on my blog that I'd never catch on TV.

Fab ad though, would definitely watch more TV if the ads were all like this!

Reply

2 Chris Reed January 7, 2009 at 12:52

It is a great ad – but I can't understand why it wasn't sold in to social media types pre-launch?! or why there's no shareablity on it at all. Given how obvious it is that it would resonate with "people of a certain age" (like me) – it's bound to get passed on.

But they could have made it much easier to do so…(sorry, one trick pony, as I'd posted on this point myself), but it does surprise me that a company like Virgin would appear to go so far as to put it on a microsite, PR it to trade media, but not send shareable clips/background/content to social media people. I think they've missed a real trick here.

Reply

3 Freelance Website Designer January 30, 2009 at 17:49

It certainly is an attention grabbing advert…

Reply

Leave a Comment

« Back to text comment

Twitter Users!
Enter your personal information in the form or sign in with your Twitter account by clicking the button below.

By submitting a comment to this site, you warrant that the information in your comment does not infringe on anyone’s intellectual property rights nor breaks any laws. See Terms of Use for more information.

Previous post: No genius at O2

Next post: Tips to help you get started with Twitter