Virgin Australia puts staff at centre stage as it takes brand battle to Qantas
Virgin Australia has taken the brand battle to Qantas in the next phase of a marketing drive that puts its staff at the centre of a strategy to build an emotional connection with travellers.
The campaign is Virgin Australia’s third high profile brand push since the airline rebranded from Virgin Blue in 2011, all of which have been the work of Clemenger BBDO. Qantas is tipped to follow suit with a brand crusade of its own later this year.
Virgin’s TV campaign is being supported by print, digital, outdoor, social channels as well as being driven to its Velocity frequent flyer database. It will run until the end of October with a second wave of the campaign to follow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q2FmeHLnAs
A Virgin Australia spokeswoman said the brand push, its first since 2012, is designed to showcase the “soul” of the airline – its staff.
“The strategy with the new campaign is to highlight what we believe to be our greatest asset and our key point of difference in delivering the service we are known for; our people,” she said.
The 30 and 60 second ads, which follow cabin crew on their way to work against the musical backdrop of Frank Sinatra’s Come Fly With Me, will run on Seven, Nine and Foxtel.
“Our media strategy has been to select channels that maximise reach and create impact, with a strong TV‐led schedule that aligns our brand with relevant sponsorship properties,” the spokeswoman said.
Virgin Australia chief customer officer Mark Hassell, quoted in the Australian Financial Review, said the airline has succeeded in creating “indifference” in the market since the 2011 rebrand in that passengers are prepared to fly Qantas or Virgin. The campaign aims to sway travellers and make Virgin their airline of choice.
“When we do a brand ad we want to ensure it amplifies the business as a quality brand, a premium airline and highlights the service we can offer,” he said. “The first campaign in 2011 showed a new corporate identity, what this new business was and what customers could expect.
“It was very much heralding that something exciting and different was happening; we were bringing choice back for business, corporate and government travel and were offering an alternative in the Australian domestic market. By the second ad in September 2012, we felt we had promised to do those things and we had achieved them; we created a ‘stage’ of services and now it was about showing the exceptional ‘performers’ on that stage — our staff. This new ad campaign is taking that a step further.”
Qantas is expected to hit back in the brand battle by launching a high profile, multi million campaign of its own. While the flag carrier has focused on retail marketing, Qantas Group executive manager for brand, marketing and corporate affairs Olivia Wirth told Mumbrella in July there remains a “time and place” for brand marketing.
“Our advertising focus has been predominantly on tactical and product, but we believe there is a time and place for brand advertising and we’ll continue to invest in that over the next 12 months,” she said.
Industry observers suggested any high profile brand messaging during the past 12 months would have been wasted as Qantas battled the unions over job losses before becoming embroiled in a debate over its ownership structure.
Both Qantas and Virgin Australia posted dismal financial results last month which has piled further pressure on the airlines and heightened the need to win the marketing battle. The carriers are also both ramping up their loyalty programs in a bid to woo customers.
Steve Jones
It feels like a bad knock off of the Etihad ad, which was actually pretty good.
I think it’s disingenuous to submit that this is the typical Virgin flight attendant.. 5 star hotels, designer outfits, all young and attractive.
Also having the staff just wondering aimlessly around an airport tarmac just feels way too fake / removed from reality.
I fly with Virgin a bit and will continue to, but I find this ad pretty ordinary.
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Not a bad ad I think it will connect well with people.
It does feel like a poor low-budget version of a scene from ‘Catch me if you can’
Both the picture and music edit leave a bit to be desired – it feels like it lacks a clear story telling narrative – more just feels like a montage of nice shots put together
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Oh dear
an ad with nothing to say…. says nothing. this does a good job of that.
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I guess they’re trying to rediscover the glamour of flying.
It may be polishing the FA experience, but getting up at 4am with bed-head in a Coolangatta motel, then taking the crew bus to the airport probably doesn’t come across as well.
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A bit of wallpaper that says nothing really.
As if we are to believe that all these “glamorous” cabin crew members, on their salaries, drive classic cars and live in sprawling country retreats.
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Makes me want to be a flight attendant!
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Nice to hear a classic artist/track and not a soundalike !
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Trying to work out what the insight is exactly. Hot trolley dolly montage with some Sinatra, right, and?
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Chewing gum for the eyes. At least most of the staff are young and attractive.
A similar ad from Qantas would be shot in a nursing home.
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I wonder if anyone has pointed out that Ansett used the same song in an ad campaign not long after the pilots dispute in 1989/90?
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It’s big, it’s sexy, that’s the big idea. Don’t over analyse it and move on. We like our clients to do that, but of course kick the crap out of it amongst our peers when the work isn’t ours. And BTW this was always Virgin’s territory from Virgin Blue days.
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Not sure that old blue eyes works. Seems to me it makes Virgin feel old, the exact opposite of all those young flight attendants. This might be their attempt to win over older flyers on Qantas which conflicts with the cutting edge image I’ve had of them up in the past
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Oh dear. I have huge respect for Clems, but I suspect that they know, in their hearts, that this is simply client-pleasing wallpaper. Was [Edited under Mumbrella’s content moderation policy]?
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Great music choice – timeless. But it sounds like a low res MP3 – not a high quality track.
Time for Virgin to ask some hard questions about post production.
And bastardising the track to fit 30 seconds – that’s crass. Not on. Poor form.
Someone has no class.
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What a wasted opportunity! Weren’t Virgin pushing young, attractive female FAs when they were a LCC? To be still doing this seems limiting and also feels a bit sexist. Surely they’ve got a lot of other attributes worth focusing on? Also, they need to drop their tagline
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Typical Clems Sydney…
All style, no substance.
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If staff are the ‘soul’ of Virgin’s business then why have they hired model Alexandra Agoston to pretend to be a flight attendant? It certainly looks like she’s living the glamorous lifestyle of a model and not a flight attendant in the TVC.
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I don’t know about all the “cabin crew” featured in this ad but the female lead in the ad (tall, long hair at the beginning of the TVC) is definitely not a flight attendant – it’s Alexandra Agoston, a model.
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Just read comment by “Model Life”… well spotted. I think if you’re trying to put your staff at the centre of your advertising then it’s probably not a great idea to use such a well known model.
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THEY SHOULD TAKE A LOOK AT THE ETIHAD SPOT.THAT,S WHAT AN AIRLINE TVC SHOULD LOOK LIKE.REALLY GORGEOUS AND SOPHISTICATED.
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only an occasional flyer and the newer Virgin planes are quiet good but the music caught my attention- think it is “big noise from Winnetka” swing music from the 30’s, have not heard this version, can anyone ID the band playing it as would like to hear the complete version?.
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