Turning an airport lounge opening into a national conversation about travel wellness

opportunity

When Virgin Atlantic prepared to open its newest Clubhouse at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), 360PR+ saw an opportunity to raise awareness of the new premium lounge and tell a larger story of Virgin’s focus on travelers’ wellness, with the Clubhouse’s special wellness touches including circadian lighting and a Zen Den. 

Research showed that travelers increasingly experience stress around sleep, recovery and mental wellbeing on long-haul flights. That insight inspired “ReLAX and Unwind,” a campaign designed to transform pre-flight time to wellness time and help travelers arrive at their destinations feeling fresher.

approach

We created an original bedtime story, voiced by actor Alan Cumming, whose distinctive tone and connection to U.S. audiences and British culture made him a natural fit for Virgin’s campaign. “ReLAX and Unwind” guided listeners through the new Clubhouse experience and told the story of Virgin Atlantic’s unique approach to making overnight travel better in a way that immediately captured journalists’ attention. 

360PR+ orchestrated a tiered launch, giving top travel and lifestyle media advance access to Cumming and the new Clubhouse, fueling a powerful wave of launch-day coverage. ‘Save the Date’ media mailers featuring some of the same luxury wellness amenities offered in Virgin Atlantic’s new Clubhouse helped engage a wider pool of out of market journalists unable to experience the space in-person. The campaign culminated with an immersive opening event at LAX, giving media a firsthand look at the Clubhouse and one-on-one access to Virgin Atlantic executives. 

results

The campaign generated 112 earned media stories and more than 3.7 billion impressions, with coverage spanning Travel + Leisure, Forbes, Business Insider, NerdWallet, the Los Angeles Times, Time Out LA and KTLA. 86% of coverage was national, 60% featured Virgin Atlantic in the headline and 76% explicitly referenced pre-flight wellness. 

Virgin Atlantic’s “ReLAX” bedtime story video generated another 413K+ views across the airline’s digital channels. Following the opening, the LAX Clubhouse also achieved a record 70.8 Net Promoter Score for the brand during the all-important summer travel season.