Virgin Atlantic takes to the streets of Boston to surprise its Twitter followers

April fool stunts aside, this is a great one from Virgin Atlantic who have used social networking site Twitter to engage with people in real life, not just from behind a branded account!

Starting the year in style, Virgin Atlantic took off with their amazing new advert. For many years the airline has been putting the glamour back in the skies, now they’re flying in the face of ordinary.

“The people at Virgin Atlantic are what make it special. I’m proud of every single one of them. See how we are flying in the face of ordinary in our new ad,” explained Richard Branson.

Many airlines have used areas that their customers are guaranteed to pass through, such as luggage collection, to give them something special around occasions (valentines, christmas).

Virgin Atlantic however, thought “outside the airport”…

In March, the airline took to the streets of Boston to brighten up an otherwise grey and rainy day. Scouring social networking site Twitter, Virgin Atlantic hunted for @VAAintheUSA followers to provide them some one-on-one attention to  add a splash of colour to their lives. A team of Virgin Atlantic cabin crew in a bright red Mini Cooper visited Bostonians in need. Some people received cupcakes, one a bright red poncho to keep the rain away, and others had anything from a pair of hunter wellington boots to bright red scarves and mittens, and even brought a packed lunch to one worker in a furniture showroom.

The campaign started in Washington D.C. before heading to Boston, and Virgin Atlantic have also recently taken to the streets in New York. The direction Virgin Atlantic has taken, focussing on personal attention, whilst limited in its audience interaction, has a much higher impact than most other marketing campaigns.

For example, one blogger, who experienced the campaign first hand, receiving 100 cupcakes for himself and his work team said “If the goal of this program was to make an impression with the culture of Virgin Atlantic and make people want to fly with them, it has certainly worked. You will never find me paying a lot more to fly with a certain airline, but if it is a matter of a couple of dollars, I will definitely choose Virgin Atlantic for my future travels.”

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