Do you Virgin!?

"Heck yes I Virgin!" And where-ever possible when it comes to transport, and can say: I am a fan. Still I don't drink virgin coke & wasn't too impressed with TV & broadband customer service, but that beardy Branson (who has appeared in some of the ad's) and his Virgin transport marketing boffins have got it right. I hate to give in to advertising but glad I did when it comes to air travel. Rather than flying Kuwait Airways, the last two times I flew Virgin Atlantic, the 'inflight everythings' had an element of funky-see-through-blue-plastic-edgey-ness.

When I used to visit Birmingham every 2weeks with Virgin Trains, the carridges did smell, they were far too busy and I almost always had to give up my seat to someone else and stand for the entire journey and there was an absence of windows to stick your head out of BUT none of that matters - their advertising and marketing campaigns are just spot on! My trips up to Brum were similar to their 'Booty Train: Where do you want to be?' advert, where for about a year after graduating I made the trek up to see my long term loved one. Their Native American ad, directed at business types is quite amusing however their launch advert was seen on platforms, billboards, online and TV. The Return of the Train campaign re-launched train travel and set the standard for other rail providers.

With all this recent commotion with British Airways, Virgin have now proved to be the flag flyer for Britain. Their 25th celebration is a perfect piece of creative, followed up with faultless production and direction. 'Still Red Hot' was launched and was aimed at such a wide target audience. There were complaints about how the ad was insulting to women, which you are bound to get, but was dismissed by The Advertising Watchdog. It was created by London based creative ad agency RKCR, whose website is certainly worth visiting. There is now so much brand awareness and customer loyalty/retention through their quality of service and for what you get for your money as the CVP. (Customer Value Proposition).

I watch the Red Hot ad and BOOM! It is such a well executed ad: from the props, the costumes, the soundtrack, the lighting, the hidden messages and for the positive image it gives the brand - it really is advertising that works!