Fear factor: Airline campaign plays on customers' fears of not flying

London – ‘There are only four things I’m afraid of,’ says a Virgin Atlantic customer in the new online Fear of Not Flying campaign for the airline’s upper-class service. ‘Bees, spiders, wolves and being on a flight that doesn’t have direct aisle access for all upper-class seats like Virgin Atlantic does.’

The video advert, by New York-based creative agency Young & Rubicam, illustrates the benefits of flying Virgin Atlantic Upper Class. In contrast to the company’s Flying Without Fear programme, which helps travellers overcome their fear of flying, the Fear of Not Flying campaign illustrates the opposite; people who fear not flying Virgin.

A series of different customers are interviewed in the adverts. ‘I just don’t like to touch people,’ says one. ‘Virgin Atlantic has direct aisle access, every seat is an aisle seat, I don’t have to wait for anybody to wake up.’

The Virgin campaign’s conversation with its customers is a great example of our Brandtocracies trend.