Media > Product & Service
BLAH AIRLINES
ELEVEN, San Francisco / VIRGIN / 2015
Awards:
Overview
Credits
Overview
ClientBriefOrObjective
Virgin came to us and said they wanted to target business travelers with an entrepreneurial spirit. When we looked into the demographic, we noticed that they’re a lot like us: They’re creative thought leaders who are the first to try new things. But for some reason, they’re flying generic airlines that aren’t reflective of who they are.
So this was very much a switcher campaign: How do we entice those people that look like us and put a mirror in front of their face to say, “Wake up. You’re on the wrong airline. You need to get on Virgin America.”
Effectiveness
Together with its trailer, our web film garnered over one million views—with no paid media. We were reviewed along studio films and compared to Warhol, Buñuel, Lynch, and Dalí. The campaign was spotlighted across news outlets such as CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX, generating 138 million earned media impressions. The campaign resulted in a 621% increase in Virgin America conversations. And despite people’s short attention spans, the average viewing time for our film was over five minutes.
Execution
The heart of the creative was a 5-hour and 45-minute film onboard the fictional BLAH Airlines. We wanted to capture the feeling of being stuck on a bad cross-country flight, but also give the opportunity to escape to a better experience.
The media team decided to put the film on YouTube as the longest video pre-roll ever. We knew that putting long form content in such an unexpected place would help draw attention to the humor of a seemingly endless, bad flight. Throughout the film, we let viewers exit BLAH to go to directly to the Virgin America website.
Strategy
Virgin America attracts the creative class. New entrepreneurs are choosing us because we give them a fresh, stylish, and curated experience similar to the lives they lead on the ground. But a lot of business travelers who haven’t tried Virgin America feel tied to their frequent flier programs. They’re essentially being held hostage to old, generic airlines. We wanted to remind them that they have a choice.
Our audience is nontraditional and spends a lot of time online, so we wanted the media channels to speak to where they are. And to wake them up.
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