Safety Becomes Sexy

Virgin Atlantic's new #VXsafetydance video is tearing up the internet, with over 6,5 million views just a few days after its release. "It is interesting. Addictive. Highschool-Musical-ish" describes Aden Hepburn, one of the guest writers of Digital Buzz. Taking the form of a musical, the safety video celebrates the experience of flying, with a focus on the fundamentals of safety that only a company like Virgin can pull off. 

Few companies have the musical roots that Virgin has. It's that background which gave the company its hook for the video. But it's also the company's focus on the customer that gives Virgin an edge. They want the experience to be different for Virgin customers than it is on other airlines. Virgin is a company with a culture that invents new ways of connecting with people; they are first and foremost appealing to customers more than anything else. 

And whilst Virgin (by law) has to show its passengers safe practices for flying, there is no Federal Aviation (FAA) rule that says the damn things have to be something that reminds us of some soulless bureaucracy. As explained by Alex Williams of TechCrunch:

"Consider the world we live in and it's sometimes astounding how little fun there is in the way the enterprise treats its customers. 'Big data' helps feed 'human capital management solutions'. 'Social media' is a cure all and 'private clouds' help technology companies sell hardware for what amounts to glorified data centers. The terms are just meaningless. Maybe it's time to ditch the mumbo jumbo double speak and just get up and dance."

I think it is a big, big win! 

Have a look at the behind the scenes. It gives some incredibly interesting insight into the motivation behind the video and the complexities of how it was produced.