Virgin offers 30 auctions in 30 days using rival telco’s unused mobile data as currency

Unused data can be used to bid on real world auction items in new Virgin campaign

Virgin Mobile, no stranger to clever PR stunts, launched its first work with new agency Whybin/TBWA – an online auction that allows unused mobile plan data to be used as currency to bid on items.

The ambitious stunt kicked off over the weekend with the telco urging post-paid customers sick of seeing their data disappear at the end of the billing cycle to use what had been wasted to bid on Facebook for prizes such as tropical island holidays.

In an early shot across the bows of rival Telstra, Virgin offered a premium spot on a Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras float – a direct response to Telstra’s back-down on supporting gay marriage in the face of pressure from the Catholic church – as the prize for the winner of today’s auction.