A TWO-IN-ONE OFFERING
Advertiser: VIRGIN ATLANTIC
Ad Title: Flying in the face of ordinary
Category: RKCR/Y&R, London
4Ps B&M Take: Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic is on an expansion spree. The airline is looking to launch its domestic flying program between London Heathrow and Manchester, Aberdeen and Edinburgh and is planning to hire some 150 new staff for this grand initiative. No surprise then that the flamboyant tycoon has invested in a multi million pound TV advertising campaign celebrating the extraordinary talents of young people. Branson actually kills two birds with one stone with this communication. He tells potential employees about the skills and dedication required at Virgin Atlantic, and also informs audiences about the surreal experience they can expect aboard the airline. But more of that later. The TVC itself is a masterpiece in creative execution – complete with cinematic style and grandiose presentation. It showcases the lives of five super-humans who were born with special powers. The storyboard follows their lives as they develop their god given powers from childhood to eventually becoming exceptional Virgin Atlantic staff. The concept is simple enough and seemingly inspired from X-Men or Avengers style superhero genre movies. So there is an oriental girl who knows what’s gonna happen next seconds before it actually happens; another girl who has the gift of making everybody around her break into a smile; a boy who miraculously saves anything and everything from falling down; another who had an amazing love for flying even as a child and a boy with exceptionally evolved thinking. When they grow up, they all become a part of Virgin Atlantic –as pilots, design engineers and cabin crew. The big idea seems to be about how extraordinarily gifted children are drawn to Virgin Atlantic as adults and put their natural powers to good use by making the lives of the airline passengers easier. The powerful voiceover and punch line ‘Flying in the face of ordinary’ stitches these diverse stories together in the most compelling and grand manner. The ad in fact opens with a stunning shot of the Earth from space which was created using a combination of nuke and matte painting. The slick execution and use of advanced graphics and VFX have taken the cinematic treatment of this ad spot to a completely different league altogether. While ads for some other brands have also taken a similar superhero route to drive home their message – this one stands apart for its detailing of individual stories of the respective Virgin Atlantic employees – showcasing glimpses of their childhood and their work at Virgin. Not only does it serve as a powerful recruitment ad for the planned expansion of the airline but the message to prospective fliers – that this luxury long haul flight is staffed by superheroes – is delivered in a magnificently ostentatious style.
