The U.S. is the only industrialized country in the world with no minimum paid vacation leave, which at least explains the in-office purgatory many people suffer over the summer. The U.K., however, scores No. 7 for average number of paid vacation days (37!), making it a little less clear why one in three Brits would shirk that time to fill out more TSheets.
That's "progress" for you, I guess. But it's obviously also bad business for an airline like Virgin Atlantic. So, with a hand from adam&eveDDB, it's launched #GetOutOfOffice.
The deadpan video is narrated by Judith Chalmers, and created in the same iconic style as "Wish You Were Here...?", a destination-focused TV show for which she was a longtime host. "Now, I've never really thought about coming here," she begins as we pan over a bland, prisonlike office building, "but I can see now why this place is becoming such a popular holiday destination."
Directed by Blink directors The Bobbsey Twins From Homicide, we endure a slow tour of familiar corporate "perks"—microwaveable meals, sub-par vending machines, instant coffee—while Chalmers gushes with comically restrained British ardor.
"Take a siesta, like the locals! When in Rome," she says lustily as the camera eye closes in on some poor guy drowsing on modular office seating.
The ad does a nice job of inciting the kind of desperation that makes you want to tear off your necktie and run, reinforcing Virgin Atlantic's recently launched "One Day" campaign, a celebration of fantasy and spontaneity. However you feel about your job, we can probably all agree there's a benefit to clocking out in favor of different experiences, people and thoughts (especially in advertising).
Expect to see outdoor, press, digital and social campaigns related to #GetOutOfOffice, whose very title is a play on the out-of-office messages we post when we've thrown our cover sheets into the air and zipped out the door. Virgin Atlantic is concurrently also promoting a limited selection of discounted flights to a variety of destinations.
If you hurry, you might still catch the sun setting over a beach.
CREDITS
Client: Virgin Atlantic
VP of Marketing: Hamish Rickman
Creative Agency: adam&eveDDB
Account Manager: Georgie Carroll
Copywriter: Simon Pearse
Art Director: Emmanuel Saint M Leux
Media Planner: Jessica Treasure
Planner: Martin Beverley
Business Director: Sam Lecoeur
Account Director: Mike Beer
Media Strategy: PHD
Post Production House: The Mill
Directors: The Bobbsey Twins From Homicide
Production Company: Blink
