Virgin Holidays: Wolf Whistle

Credits & Description:

Virgin Holidays outdid itself to win the Silver Caples. Most people book holidays in January to cure the post-holiday blues, so that’s when most of the company’s quarterly marketing budget is spent. This year Virgin wanted to keep up the sales velocity in February, but it only had funds enough for an email campaign. Though Virgin marketers were told it couldn’t be done, they managed to attach the sound of a wolf whistle to a Valentine’s Day-themed email. They got around the technical limitations by attaching a teeny (one pixel) film to the email, and piggy backed a sound file onto that. The Valentine’s Day crowd was aroused. Their open rate of 27.5% surpassed January’s 19%, and despite the fact that it went out to a limited list of 23,726 (not all browsers could play the wolf whistle), the email delivered a £460,750 revenue spike.
Agency: LIDA
Client: Virgin Holidays
Art & Creative Directors: Nicky Bullard, Alan Mackie, Mike Poole
Managing Director: Jonathan Goodman
Digital Production: Tim Ball, Chris Cannacott
Account Leadership: Matthew Richards, Seby Gurrieri, Sam Ellis
Designer: David Appiah