Influx

Some brands are locked rigidly into tight conventions they find it extremely hard to break from them, they can’t be spontaneous, but what if your brand essence is about being unconventional, how do you keep surprising people?

Here’s a great example from Virgin Atlantic, we picked up from a post on the games blog. Wonderland.

“I’ve been on a plane for 13 hours, and it was the weirdest thing: this crazy scots bloke – rumpled and curly-haired – burst out of first class wearing a red Virgin pinnie and began waiting on the cabin. He was hilarious – loud, and gleeful, and sloppy, like an overgrown puppy. Then one of the stews came into the cabin and said, oo yes, isn’t he funny? He’s a rock star. We’re indulging him. He’s in Snow Patrol.”

Somehow, we just can’t see American or United allowing this to happen, but the action fits perfectly with Virgin.

It’s a story that will be told again and again, and every time, it reinforces the Virgin difference.