Virgin Atlantic out-sizzle even themselves with their new ad

Virgin Atlantic and their agency RKCR Y&R have done it again. Their latest TV commercial is my favourite ad of the year. 90 seconds of pure magic. Watch it by clicking below on the blog, or here on YouTube. Interesting to note that its the first time they've ever done a global TV advert.

Here's what I love about it.

1. Out-sizzling themselves

I thought the last Virgin Atlantic ad, "Still Red Hot", was bloody brilliant. I posted on it here. But this new one has even more emotional sizzle. Its a cinematic masterpiece, with its tongue-in-cheek take on the James Bond visual style of movie opening credits. The casting and direction is mind-blowingly good. The music, a re-vamp of "Feeling Good" by Muse, works fantastically well.

2. Selling the service

What's really clever about this ad is the way the whole thing is about the Virgin service experience. But this is presented in an extremely entertaining way. We have the good old on-board ice cream service…the Virgin hostesses… appetising on-board food. It's all there, but oozing with sex appeal.

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3. Reinforcing brand properties

The ad smartly builds on the red-uniformed Virgin air hostesses from the last commercial. And those rather cool and dapper looking pilots.

4. Only Virgin could do it

The brand logo itself appears only twice, and for about 3 seconds out of 90. Yet this is one of the most highly branded commercials you see. How come? Because every single frame of the ad has the Virgin brand running through it. The combination of visual extravagance, music, brand properties and service features makes it impossible to imagine its for any other brand. Just try swapping Virgin in this ad for any other brand, such as BA or Air France. Its just impossible.

In conclusion, be really, really clear about who your are. And invest in the art and craft of content creation to produce something that amplifies and celebrates this in a unique way. Swap your brand for another and see if it works. If not, then you're on the way to doing a Virgin on your brand.