Uncubed Analysis: Virgin Atlantic's See the World Differently Campaign

Consumer brand and employer brand have an inextricable relationship, and there must be some level of recognition between the two of them. Consumers are workers and workers are consumers, occupying both roles at a time, but the employer brand and the consumer brand must speak to different needs.

Just like consumers are increasingly watchful of the way employers treat their workers, workers are now more closely scrutinizing the way a company represents itself to the public. The line between consumer brand and employer brand is growing thinner.

For example, AT&T celebrates Women’s Equality Day while at the same time donating heaps of money to anti-abortion politicians. Google and Amazon drummed up positive press by announcing they would cover the travel costs for abortion care for its employees. What the companies didn’t say publicly is that only permanent, full-time staff can draw on this benefit. Freelancers, contractors, and temporary employees are SOL.

Consumers and workers have dwindling tolerance for corporate two-facedness, and employers must reconcile both consumer brand and employer brand into a consumer-grade employee experience.

Adroit branding can pull double duty by speaking to consumer and employee simultaneously. Virgin Atlantic’s new ad campaign, See the World Differently, skillfully does this with a single message:

Everyone’s welcome onboard with Virgin Atlantic, and you can be wonderfully, unapologetically yourself.

The foundation of the campaign is a 60-second TV commercial, titled “I Am What I Am,” in which passengers and crew members weave their way through the airport toward a shared destination: a Virgin Atlantic flight.

The airline cast a diverse party of faces for the story—old, young, Black, white, Asian, big, small, tattooed, pierced, people in wheelchairs, queer, straight, flamboyant, and staid. The visual effect of the spot is effective—it’s red, sparkly, hip, active, and golden. It alternates between quick shots and slow. It’s a pleasing 60 seconds.

The TV spot features real Virgin Atlantic employees, some playing themselves, others playing passengers. I know this because Virgin Atlantic released a 4.5-minute behind-the-scenes video to highlight this. 

In it we hear directly from employees who starred in the ad, the marketing executives that developed it, and the CEO. Backing up the campaign message, they say things like:

I feel really included.

We don’t have to follow a script with our passengers.

We just go out there and be ourselves. 

There is no judgment. Everyone can just be who they are.

We’re just about our people, and it doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like.

It’s sort of reflected with the people who want to work here and the passengers that we carry.

I just know I’m going to be an upper class customer, which is quite nice, because normally I’m serving the upper class customers.

We’re a fun, vibrant company, and that’s what I love.

The making-of video closes with this comment from Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss, placing customers and employees on the same plane (I couldn’t help myself!):

We’ve been championing inclusion for a very long time, and we’re going to take it to the next level. The campaign is all about ‘I am what I am.’ Isn’t that a great message for our people and our customers?

Virgin Atlantic’s employer brand has been on a years-long transformation. In 2019, the company scratched its requirement that female crew members wear skirts and makeup. This year, along with the See the World Differently campaign, it removed the ban on crew members displaying their tattoos at work.

All of these decisions move Virgin Atlantic’s consumer-facing brand and employee-facing brand ever closer together, sending a single, inclusive message to consumers and candidates. 

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza writes about workplace culture, DEI, and hiring. Her work has appeared in Fast Company, From Day One, and InHerSight, among others.

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