Virgin Retail is moving on to TV for the first time in ten years in a
test campaign through the specialist youth agency, the Leisure Process.
The pounds 200,000 test will run before Christmas in Channel 4’s
Northern Irish and Scottish macro regions. If successful, the ads will
be rolled out across the UK next year.
TLP, which has a long track record in music ads, was appointed to handle
the business without a pitch. Print and poster work will continue to be
handled by the Design Clinic. Media planning and buying are through
WCRS.
Virgin has previously resisted TV advertising, but Our Price, which it
acquired in March last year, spends pounds 1.6 million of its pounds 4
million budget on TV. Virgin spent pounds 2 million in non-broadcast
media in the 12 months to September (Register-MEAL).
Virgin’s marketing director, David Alder, said: ‘We have a credible edge
on the competition.Our creative strategy is anything but predictable.’
The ads, developed by TLP’s creative director, John Carver, follow
Virgin’s ‘truly gifted’ theme and feature a comic Christmas fairy. They
are directed by Andy Brewer through the production house, Brewers.
Carver said: ‘We’ve made some great commercials that present Virgin with
a sense of humour and a cutting edge - not the usual, predictable crap
some retailers seem happy to churn out.’
The ads break next week.
