Virgin the usa Lets possibilities “test power” Their plane Seat via Google boulevard View And campaign

We’ve all viewed criticisms of quick food marketing campaigns that characteristic photographs of tremendous-styled scrumptious-having a look menu items — photos that undergo completely no resemblance to the unappetizing-having a look food that in reality turns up in customers’ luggage when they’re served.

Now Virgin america, the trendy relative newcomer to america passenger air industry, is launching an outdoor and digital marketing campaign that claims its opponents are doing the very same factor. The airline’s agency for the work is Eleven Inc.

“Most airlines promote new products and services that may if truth be told handiest be available on a small element of their fleet — so vacationers may even see a flashy having a look product in an commercial, simplest to board their flight from Newark to California to find they’re now caught eating peanuts and gazing a 1980’s technology cloth seatback for the next 5 half hours,” stated Virgin the usa vice president of brand name and Communications Abby Lunardini. “Partnering with Google Maps allowed us to exhibit the consistency of our award-successful product and repair to customers firsthand in an genuine method sooner than they fly with us.”

to point out these prospective customers that Virgin the us is completely different, the airline is embracing transparency (a development within the trade additionally adopted via Southwest airlines) with a brand new interactive characteristic that lets travelers preview the plane and seat they’ll end up on sooner than they pull the trigger on a purchase order.

The 360-degree interactive “seat view” expertise is powered by Google street View and is available by the use of the Google Maps interface, as well as by way of the airline’s website online at the URL virginamerica.com/seatview.

Virgin the united states is promoting boulevard View on its residence page, but the expertise isn’t built-in into the web page in the place it would make most experience — throughout the take a look at-out course of, when users are in fact selecting a seat.

to look the street View via Google Maps, one should seek for “Virgin the usa” and the departure area. the result will supply users the chance to “seem to be inside” and “street view.” the effort appears to be an extension of the Google street View initiative to include pictures inside of of companies, which enables corporations to rent a “relied on” photographer to capture pictures on the way to be then included in side road View at no charge. however, street View has heretofore been restricted to businesses that stay in a single place.

It helps that Virgin america, having launched its industry most effective in 2007, operates only one kind of airplane — the Airbus A320 — so the airline desires to offer only one boulevard view to represent all of its flights in any respect of its departure factors.

besides the utility messaging, the effort additionally serves as a branding observation for Virgin america, which has taken an approach that’s very different from the carriers that have cut back on frills for financial reasons. The airline has decked out its cabins with leather-based seats, colorful temper lighting and electronic features — including energy outlets at every seat, WiFi and touch screens for entertainment and ordering beverages and snacks — and this “boulevard View” marketing campaign gives the airline a possibility to blow their own horns its distinctive value proposition.

To get the phrase out to new potential passengers, the corporate is launching a digital display campaign on the Google show network aimed toward using trial and bookings. the usage of placements on The Washington post, the new York instances, The Wall street Journal, Forbes, Mashable and Wired, the corporate hopes to pressure visitors to its website online and lift consciousness of Virgin the us among trade vacationers.

here are probably the most ingenious executions to be able to seem on these sites:

The marketing campaign will also include an outside effort in the cities Virgin the usa serves — San Francisco, new york, la, Dallas, Washington, DC and Chicago. The Out Of residence marketing campaign will contain billboards and interactive bus shelters the place folks can interact with the street View on a large panel touchscreen. 

A bus safe haven in San Francisco that includes the brand new Virgin the usa Google “Seat View” advertising campaign (PRNewsFoto/Virgin the usa)

meanwhile, the airline has begun promoting the new boulevard View by the use of its own social media presences using the #SeatView hashtag, beginning with Twitter:

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concerning the writer

Pamela Parker

Pamela Parker is government features Editor at Search Engine Land and advertising and marketing Land. She’s a neatly-respected authority on digital marketing, having said and written on the topic since 1998. She’s a former managing editor of ClickZ, and labored on the trade aspect serving to unbiased publishers monetize their sites at Federated Media Publishing.

(Some pictures used below license from Shutterstock.com.)