the Apple of airlines

Virgin Atlantic are definitely flying the flag for airline advertising making there 'Your airline's either got it or it hasn't' more prominent than ever with there latest advert, and they certainly have it. If I was going to be a hostess I know who I would be working for hands down. To be fair I have had a soft spot for Virgin ever since I flew with them to New York, maybe because it was my first long haul flight, or maybe its because I just love the brand. All of the other airlines are so humdrum and boring whereas Virgin lets its hair down and is playful, none of this stiff upper lip old England we associate with British Airways.

Thanks to the bnet blog, the supposed brief to ad agency RKCR/Y&R -

Budget: Spare no expense.

Creative: Give us every airline ad cliche in the book. Make it look like a James Bond title sequence crossed with a Busby Berkeley number. Get plenty of references to Mad Men in.

And don’t be afraid to make it look too gay!

I think they are about spot on with the latest advert to hit our screens from Virgin, taking on a James Bond tone, creating a world of how we wish our flying experience could be. The women strut in red patent heels (good job virgin has good brand colours) , immaculately polished and happy to be at work. At about 30secs in it reminded me of a Guinness advert (tick vs tock vs tick), the colours, like they are flying through the cloudy stout and thankfully not turbulence. Maybe there is symbolism written all over it, phallic objects, the old olive and martini combo the ultimate cocktail and a tabloid story a while back about removing one olive from each passengers meal saving thousands, and here Virgin are merely playing with it as a toy. They have created an idealistic world, an image of what it feels like to fly with Virgin (maybe not so true in reality), but we can all dare to dream that the beds are so soft it is like you are in the clouds, maybe it is in first class.

Muses version of 'Feeling Good' is a fabulous choice, lyrically sound complimenting the visual perfectly, it oozes sex, power, and perfection, pretty much rubbing it in peoples or should I say airlines faces.

I have read many mixed reviews across the internet about the advert, some people enjoying it for what it merely is, an advert having fun with there brand and making a world we wished we had whereas some seem quite put out about the symbolism and even suggest that much of it is pointing to New World Order (NWO)... In my opinion their adverts are always a step above the rest, you can tell time and money has been spent on creating them, Virgin would be a dream company to work for. If only all companies took note and viewed advertising this way we probably wouldn't be so annoyed at having adverts breaks. Keep up the good work Virgin.