When talking about how Virgin America is different from other airlines, we knew we needed more than an amenities campaign. We wanted to tell a simple story: that too many people in the world—interesting, creative people—are still flying on boring, generic airlines. So we sought out to capture the soullessness of a bad flight. To put a mirror in front of travelers so as to say “You’re not like this. So why are you still flying like this?”

Production of film & trailer - $78,000

- Original budget - $50,000

- Additional edit cost - $10,000

- Additional edit & late changes to trailer - $18,000

Production of BLAH at Dallas International Film Festival - $10,085

Total Production Budget: $88, 085

Media budget:

- $75,00 on YouTube pre-roll

We made a 5hour and 45minute recreation of a cross-country flight, from takeoff to landing, on a generic airline we call BLAH. It captured the reasons flying most airlines sucks, like bad food and cheesy inflight entertainment. Instead of real people, we cast dummies to capture the soullessness of BLAH.

Though the film captures a boring flight, we wanted to make it compelling enough for people to watch. So we made two comically bad inflight movies to play within our film. We also created an Inflight Audio Dictionary Channel, the BLAH version of “entertainment.” Coupled with mundane dialogue and weird dream sequences, BLAH took viewers deep into the bad flight rabbit hole.

BLAH lived on YouTube as the longest video pre-roll ever. We promoted the film by premiering it at the Dallas International and Vail Film Festivals. Viewers who survived the nearly 6hour screening got points towards Virgin America flights.

Together with its trailer, the film garnered over one million views—with no paid media. We were reviewed alongside 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 177 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.

We made a 5 hour and 45 minute film, and we decided to promote it not like an ad, but like any proper film: by premiering it on the film festival circuit. BLAH Airlines Flight 101 was screened at the Dallas International Film Festival and Vail Film Festival. We promoted the film by giving viewers who sat through the nearly 6hour screening points towards a free Virgin America flight.

Virgin came to Eleven and said they wanted to target business travelers with an entrepreneurial spirit. After looking further into the demographic, we noticed that they’re a lot like both of us: They’re creative thought leaders who are the first to try new things. But for some reason, they’re still flying on 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.”

Too many people are stuck traveling on boring airlines and their old, soul-sucking planes. Virgin America wanted to give a wakeup call, reminding everyone that flying can still be inspiring, modern, and fun. The campaign needed to shine a light on the real difference between those generic airlines and the unique experience offered by Virgin America.