In a throwback to the golden age of travel, creatives at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami, have branded individual flights for Virgin Atlantic Airways. On the airline’s site (www.virginatlanticflights.com), flights originating in the U.S. and arriving in London are given names like “The High Flier,” “The Trance Atlantic” and the “The Suite Dream.” Ten Music’s new extended branding division, Santa Monica, Calif., found licensed music by collective redCola to accompany the online microsites that describe each flight with narration, photography and music.
This initiative harkens back to a time “when traveling was new and exciting [and it] was kind of the tradition with airlines to give the flights individual names,” CP+B creative director Bill Wright explained. “The airlines took that from the railroads from the early part of the last century — we thought we’d bring that back to let people know Virgin is putting the glamour back into air travel.”
The glamour is for “upper class” passengers alone. The designation is essentially business class with perks like in-flight massages, a bar, and turn-down service where a flight attendant will convert a passenger’s seat into a bed while he changes into a complimentary sleep suit in the lavatory.
Another component of this campaign is the term jetrosexual, which is used to describe the passengers in this class. “A jetrosexual, of course, is a pun on the word metrosexual, but a jetrosexual is like a business person who doesn’t hesitate to get on a plane and go make business happen and move business and culture and entertainment forward,” Wright said.
Each redCola track works to create different vibes for the airline’s 17 flights that depart in the States and arrive in London. Only the eight “marquis” flights are up on the site now, but the rest are expected to appear soon.
Musical Accompaniment
This project with Virgin Atlantic Airways is not the first for Ten’s new division. The music house has also worked on projects like Mercury Radio Online for Ford Motor Company. For that project, Ten programmed an online radio station for the company’s Web site (www.mercuryvehicles.com/extras/music/mercuryradio/).
“We started Ten Music with the goal of connecting independent record labels and artists to advertisers. At the time the main medium that was available for that was the 30, 60 second spot. Now that medium is changing, so to us extended branding is everything outside traditional media, everything outside of the 30, 60 second commercial,” said Sarah Gavigan, president of Ten Music. “[The new extended branding division] really lets people now that our services go beyond scoring and licensing for a broadcast commercial.”
On why the music shop was the right choice for this project, CP+B executive integrated music producer Bill Meadows said, “I went to Ten because it was a pretty big undertaking; I knew they could streamline the process for me.”
The music has been so well received that it will soon be available for download on the Web site. “You’re going to be able to take your vibe on the plane with you if you want, on your iPod,” Meadows noted.
Rachel Dunn was executive producer at Ten, with Dan Wilcox serving as the music supervisor. For CP+B, Alex Bogusky was executive creative director; Jeff Benjamin was interactive creative director; Michael Ferrare, art director; Ronny Northrop, copywriter; and Darren Himebrook, producer. Carl Posey and Sebastian Gray were the photographers.