Virgin Australia launches second chapter of ‘Bring on Wonderful’ campaign via Special
Following the launch of Virgin Australia’s Bring on Wonderful campaign in 2022, the airline has delivered the second installation of its uplifting brand platform via Special, reflecting a continued commitment to delivering wonderful experiences for all guests, from booking to landing.
The campaign was inspired by Virgin Australia team members demonstrating the ways they go above and beyond to bring joy to the flying experience. Like a viral video of a Perth baggage handler who was filmed talking to a dog before it was loaded into the cargo hold for a flight or a Cabin Crew team member who comforted an infant while continuing in-flight service. This next chapter of Bring on Wonderful retains the focus on Virgin Australia’s people, but offers a new perspective from the eyes of a young traveller.
Launched this week, the campaign tells the story of a family heading on holiday with their typically reluctant teenage daughter, who is pleasantly surprised by Virgin Australia baggage handlers who unexpectedly break out into a dance, injecting some wonderful into the start of her family holiday.
Over the past 12 months, Virgin Australia has continued to invest in the customer innovation in line with the airline’s Bring on Wonderful brand platform, including the launch of an Australian-airline first baggage tracking technology, Apple Pay and Rapid Rebook – a fully integrated self-service disrupt management tool. Just last month, Virgin Australia also announced its intention to be the first airline in Australia to operate flights with pets onboard.
Virgin Australia’s ongoing focus on service and innovation has also seen it be awarded Airline Ratings’ Best Cabin Crew for a record sixth year running.
Says Libby Minogue, chief marketing officer, Virgin Australia: “We are thrilled to launch the second phase of the Bring on Wonderful platform, featuring our people, who are at the heart of Virgin Australia.
“It’s wonderful to hero our baggage handlers who have played a significant role in launching our Australian airline-first baggage tracking technology, one of the many customer innovations we have recently implemented.
“We look forward to continuing to deliver uplifting experiences for our guests as we roll out new innovations, underpinned by our award-winning service.”
Says Nils Eberhardt, GCD at Special: “Whenever you fly with Virgin Australia, you immediately notice that their whole crew are determined to add joy to your journey.
“The aim for this campaign was to take that wonderful personality from the tarmac into Australians’ homes.”
The campaign includes TV, outdoor and digital, and will be in-market for six weeks. Find out more about the mission and initiatives of Bring on Wonderful at virginaustralia.com/bringonwonderful
Virgin Australia Group
Libby Minogue: Chief Marketing Officer
Paul Jones: Chief Customer & Digital Officer
Ange Grant: Head of Group Paid Media
Erina Chapman: Brand Marketing Leader
Summer Skelton: Brand Marketing Specialist
Special Australia
Tom Martin & Julian Schreiber: Chief Creative Officers
Simon Gibson & Nils Eberhardt: Group Creative Directors
Dave Hartmann: Strategy Partner
Tori Lopez: Managing Director
Rachel McEwen: Team Lead
Greig Carlow: Business Director
Brynee Roche: Business Manager
Abbie Dubin-Rhodin: Senior Strategy Director
Sevda Cemo: Executive Producer
Alyce Guy: Senior Film Producer
Nick Lilley: Head of Stills Production
PHD
Erin Hudson: Group Business Director
Remi Baker: Head of Strategy – Sydney
Jeremy Hooper: Business Director
Riya Thakerar: Planning Director
Hugh Davidson: Investment Manager
Lauren Sawyer: Planning Manager
Lily Trainor: Senior Digital Manager
Production Company: Exit Films
Stefan Hunt: Director
Leah Churchill-Brown: Executive Producer
Alice Grant: Producer
Vanessa Marian: Choreographer
Edit House – ARC EDIT
Lucas Baynes: Offline Editor
Harrison Carr: Assistant Offline Editor
Kani Saib: Post Producer – Offline
Post Production – Alt VFX
Dave Edwards: Post Production and VFX Supervisor
Martina Joison: Post Producer VFX and Online
Music – Sonar
Jono Ma: Music Composition
Louis Moore: Music Producer
Sound – Rumble Studios
Daniel William: Sound Designer
Siena Mascheretti: Audio Post Producer
Photography – The Pool Collective
Ingvar Kenne: Photographer
Lauren Simpson: Producer
49 Comments
did you find it at the song store?
Watching this is like watching money being flushed down the toilet.
Jesus this is sooooooo lame
When will it end? I thought Special was better than this.
Fly Virgin
When will clients learn that no person likes their brand like they do. And no brand causes someone to break into dance. It’s wild that even has to be stated.
I held high hopes for special but seems the clients are ruining and running the concepts there as well.
I like dancing ads. A lot.
And this is toe-tapping good.
How does this get through? So lame.
This is great counter positioning against their key rival who is completely staid. The ad doesn’t talk to their product, performance or try to be about the country of origin. It’s building their brand through the feeling created in the execution, which is different to the feeling you have thinking about Qantas. And I think from that POV, the execution is done really well. I’m a total outsider and have nothing to do with Special, but IMHO some of the comments here totally miss the point here.
Yea this does look like the brief alright – make an ad for Virgin targeting families/holiday that cues an emotion of sorts (happy/amusing) so the brand gets some of that (currently lacking?) happy feels rubbing off on it when it’s time to book a flight. Not a horrible idea, and execution is OK overall.
I don’t get it, there’s a hundred bad dancing ads on tv. I thought our job was to get brands to stand out. This will be caught up in the sea of sameness
When dancing is the idea. Again.
It’s the equivalent of every children’s story ending with “…I woke up. And it was all a dream.”
Bring on something wonderfull-er.
It’s pretty good.
Nothing worth getting your hate on, settle down people.
And why should I fly the dancing airline?
You’re probably Chat GPT as that answer is meaningless.
let’s dance
Thanks for your contribution… maybe you can use ChatGPT to dumb it down to a level you can understand?
Where the wifi works and the lockers aren’t worn out
I liked it. Made me 🙂
So you’re flogging Virgin using ground staff who have no personal interaction with passengers and do not impact the flying experience in any way?
Agree. People generally don’t like baggage handlers and the psychology of associating a brand with them is not a positive thing, and I’m not overthinking it, people know fair well baggage peeps can make the travel experience worse. Loads of brain fades here.
… woeful.
I know it was a little while ago now, but I’m almost positive that when I was a teenager, every ad didn’t treat me as if I was a complete moron.
Stop asking ‘why would it make me fly this X over that X’ who cares!!!
It was fun, it entertained me, I knew wit was for Virgin
Thats it…you’re job is not to make me hate your ad
That explains why their planes are always late.
Don’t they sort of have the same issues with gate staff and cabin crew? Ads are often fantasy. Too much reality doesn’t leave room for much creativity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki2JtQUmcqw
Is it me or has the special work been lacklustre this past year
Awkward, unfunny, and boring. A giant leap down from their usual genius.
I mean if Spike Jonez directed it and Fatboy Slim did the soundtrack, maybe.
THIS IS A GOOD AD
with a teenage daughter who finds everything cringeworthy will relate.
Honestly, it made me smile. It was literally the only entertaining thing on free to air last night. Well done.
Feels like a UK ad. they love a dance idea.
This ad works. It’s provoking decrepit creatives.
Not quite what they were.
I know Iwill be howled down,but I’ve found a lot of Specials work laboured and hackneyed in the last year.
Not the least for Uber Eats and and ANZ.To be fair I do accept that they are big, difficult brands to work with.
Anyone who’s not into this because “It’s a dance piece” are the same people telling their clients “Social Media is just a fad”.
This had me smiling only comment is its a little too long for my liking. 15 seconds off it could have made it more punchy but still enjoying it!
Why is Virgin giving Qantas a free ride at the moment, they have such an opportunity to take the icon down and this ad is not going to do it.
United broke my guitar
You are correct. However, as an entertainment piece, this is a 5 out of 10 at best.
Agency and brand must’ve pounced on this director, his stuff’s usually spot-on. Odd choice though with the girl barely cracking a smile.
oh god!
Just very ordinary.
I see what you’re doing. Don’t blame the director.
Gosh you industry folk are a grumpy bunch, aren’t you? I like it. It’s different to what the other airlines are putting out. It doesn’t make claims about service. It doesn’t sell me anything. It just makes me smile. If that’s the objective, then mission accomplished. When every airline ever only focuses on their cabin crew, they all blend into a world of sameness. Using the bag handlers here is smart. Music track is a little weird though.
This spot would be fine except it doesn’t include some version of the phrase “you got this” which has been law in Australia for about 5 years now.
Must have written this?