Virgin Atlantic — The Secret Travel Agent
To mark the launch of Virgin Atlantic’s new route from London to Tel Aviv, we built a travel agent in the heart of the city’s Jaffa Market and gave locals the chance to haggle for flights to London.
Virgin Atlantic was looking for a creative activation to celebrate its new flight route between London and Tel Aviv, that would bring to life the city’s vibrant entrepreneurial spirit and sense of fun and raise awareness of Virgin Atlantic in Israel. Famed for having the fiercest haggling skills in the world, we gave the city’s residents the chance to haggle for flights in the Jaffa Market with the man himself, Richard Branson. Driving coverage around the world, Richard became an instant hit following his trip to Israel.
Tel Aviv is a global business hub, and Israeli’s are famed for their business prowess and negotiation skills. We wanted to celebrate this in a way that reflected this Israeli practice also gave a nod to Richard Branson’s own business which started on a market stall.
We sourced an antique shop in the heart of Jaffa Market, the city’s most iconic flea market, transforming it into the ‘Come Flea with Me’ travel agent. We created branded banners, sourced crew uniforms and bags and dressed the entire space alongside antiques and trinkets from the shop to give it an authentic look. As the stall took shape, excitement grew in the market, with rumours that Richard Branson was coming. At 3pm he arrived with Shai Weiss, the Virgin CEO who is also an Israeli, and the pair took tea in the store front whilst Shai gave Richard tips on haggling in Israel. And then Richard burst into action, asking the crowds to ‘roll.up’ and come and haggle with him for flights.
Lucky passersby secured flights and extras for huge discounts. One man was left in the dog house with his wife though, as he failed to believe he could really secure great discount flights and instead left with a toy plane. The resulting content was pitched in the UK and Israel, as well as being shared on Virgin social channels.
The activation drove coverage in both Israel and the UK, with the footage being broadcast on the two largest Israeli news channels. With a reach of over 235million for its media coverage, as well as driving social engagement worldwide.
- 235m OTS
- 21Articles
- 38% Of Israli households watch Channel 12 news which featured video
- 3k Likes on Richard Branson’s LinkedIn post
Project Tags
Companies
Virgin Atlantic
- Non Creative Industries