Submitted by Smoking Gun

Virgin Holidays: Tunnel to Barbados

Smoking Gun staged an illusory 4D tunnel to Barbados in Manchester's Spinningfields for Virgin Holidays, and the agency reports 442,386,461 opportunities to see.

teaser copy was included in the week's newsletter the day before the stunt - going out to 35,000 local workers and several tweets during the day drove further excitementnewsletter recipients
442,386,461 Opportunities to seeopportunities to see
100% positive sentiment of postspositive sentiment of posts
19 quality media hits including the mailonline , OK!, Hello!, The Mirror, Daily Star and two hits in the Manchester Evening Newsquality media hits
222 RT'sretweets

Case in 60 seconds

Virgin Holidays asked for a disruptive experiential stunt to raise awareness of its direct holidays from Manchester to Barbados, with exposure required across all media channels and sales leads captured on the ground by retail staff.

The campaign appears to turn on the gap between a Manchester city centre street and a Caribbean beach, because a direct route sells more readily when the destination arrives in sensory form rather than as a brochure image.

Bring the sights, sounds and smells of Barbados to Manchester and hook media with a claim of a world first, using an illusion that appeared overnight and a celebrity whose relevance was local.

A leading international 3D artist was commissioned to create an illusory tunnel that appeared overnight in Spinningfields, and Michelle Keegan appeared inside the illusion in what the page calls her first corporate appearance since leaving Coronation Street. The public interacted with the tunnel and shared pictures through on-site screens and a social media gallery, branded sunglasses and water bottles drove use of #MCRTunneltoBarbados, and retail staff captured sales leads.

Smoking Gun reports 19 quality media hits including the mailonline, OK!, Hello!, The Mirror, Daily Star and two hits in the Manchester Evening News, and 442,386,461 opportunities to see. The agency also reports over 6 million impressions, 222 RT's, 100% positive sentiment of posts and a lunchtime Twitter trend in Manchester.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Passers-by in Spinningfields, a location the agency selected for its footfall and on-target demographic, together with Manchester media and the local workers reached through the estate newsletter.
Michelle Keegan's departure from Coronation Street was live news, and the page presents the tunnel as her first corporate appearance since leaving the show, which gave entertainment desks a reason to cover a holiday promotion.
Flight routes and package holidays are announced constantly and carry little news value alone, so the agency built a physical world first that could be reported as an event rather than as a route announcement.
Virgin Holidays was cast as the operator that moves Barbados to Manchester, which the page ties to a brief for something brave with a touch of glamour; based on the available evidence the brand acted as host of the spectacle rather than as its subject.
The plan assumed that people who stop to photograph an illusion will trade contact details for a giveaway, which is why retail staff, branded sunglasses and water bottles sat alongside the sharing screens and the social gallery.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Twitter

Partners

  • Smoking Gun (lead_agency)

Participation mechanic

  • The public were invited to interact with the illusion and share pictures using on-site screens and a supporting social media gallery, with branded sunglasses and water bottles encouraging use of #MCRTunneltoBarbados and retail staff capturing details as sales leads.

Creator role

  • Michelle Keegan — creator

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult type
newsletter recipientsteaser copy was included in the week's newsletter the day before the stunt - going out to 35,000 local workers and several tweets during the day drove further excitementperformance
opportunities to see442,386,461 Opportunities to seeperformance
positive sentiment of posts100% positive sentiment of postsperformance
quality media hits19 quality media hits including the mailonline , OK!, Hello!, The Mirror, Daily Star and two hits in the Manchester Evening Newsperformance
retweets222 RT'sperformance
social media impressionsOver 6 million impressionsimpressions

Why Smoking Gun's strategy worked

  1. 1

    A world first supplies a factual news hook that a route announcement cannot carry on its own, which reads as the reason the 19 quality media hits reached national titles alongside the Manchester Evening News.

  2. 2

    Booking a celebrity at a moment when the booking itself is news, in this case a first corporate appearance after leaving a long-running soap, appears to buy showbusiness coverage a travel story would not otherwise reach.

  3. 3

    Building a destination as sound and smell rather than as an image gives passers-by something worth photographing, which turns footfall into shareable content and gives on-site data capture a reason to exist.

  4. 4

    Siting a stunt on a managed estate brings the landlord's own channels into the plan, and Spinningfields reaching 35,000 local workers the day before suggests a venue partner can pre-load attendance.

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