Usain Bolt suits up as a superhero for Virgin Media’s new “Switch to Super” campaign

Virgin Media is today launching a major new campaign that brings to life the benefits of its super broadband speeds and super entertainment offering.

The multi-million pound campaign, “Switch to Super”, sees Usain Bolt ‘suit up’ and transform into an animated superhero. It will run for eight weeks across TV, VOD, press, radio, online and social and is spearheaded by a TV ad which launches on Friday 1st June at 7:55pm before Britain’s Got Talent on ITV.

Created by BBH London, the campaign dramatises the benefits of switching to Virgin Media and getting super broadband speeds and super entertainment. It is underpinned by Virgin Media doubling the broadband speed of selected best-selling bundles for new customers for free.

The TV ad features actor, screenwriter and director, Richard E. Grant, as an expert English tailor, and centres around Usain Bolt’s sartorial journey to find the perfect superhero suit. The “suit up” story, created to reflect similar suit up scenes from classic superhero movies, sees the on screen chemistry between the two bring a light-hearted and humorous feel to the film.

The film was shot by the hugely talented director, Tom Tagholm, in an East London studio, designed to mirror a quintessential British tailors. Shot long and edited in quick cuts to reflect the fast-paced style of many superhero films, the energetic TV ad will be accompanied by VOD, press, online and social activity planned and bought by Manning Gottlieb OMD, as well as supporting material on Virgin Media’s social channels and PR activity.

Jeff Dodds, Managing Director of Consumer and Mobile at Virgin Media, said: “Speed is the super power at the core of Virgin Media. It’s the kryptonite to our competitors and what makes our services stand out. Our new campaign, with Usain Bolt front and centre, brings to life our super speeds, super entertainment and super value for our customers.”

Ben Fennell, CEO of BBH, said: “The “Switch to Super” campaign sees Usain Bolt transform into a superhero, we think it will make for a hugely entertaining and hardworking campaign. It is big, bold and larger than life – just like Usain.”

The campaign idea is rooted in the rich and varied genre of superheroes and highlights Virgin Media’s unrivalled fibre broadband and entertainment offering. The film demonstrates that switching to Virgin Media will deliver super broadband speeds, super entertainment and super value and is set to a specially composed track. It ends with the line: ‘Switch to super today and we’ll double the speed of our best-selling bundles for free’.

The full TV advert can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/VgL3EXg8EqE

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Notes to editors


Credits


Client names and titles:

MD of Consumer: Jeff Dodds

Director of Brand: Lloyd Page

Head of Advertising: Amy Gilbert

Senior Marketing Manager: Lawrence Hamilton


BBH Creative Team: Ray Chan & Simon Cenamor

BBH Creative Director: Hamish Pinnell

BBH Strategy Director: Richard Madden

BBH Strategist: Ed Kurland

BBH Business Lead: Holly Ripper

BBH Account Manager: Matt Sims

BBH Senior Account Director: Laura Brady


Film Credits

BBH Producer: Jemima Bowers

BBH Animation Producer: Matt Towell

BBH Assistant Producer: Fatima Kried

Production Company: Park Pictures

Director: Tom Tagholm

Executive Producer: Stephen Brierley

Producer: Fran Thompson

DoP: Nicolaj Bruel

Post Production: MPC

Editor/Editing House: Stitch

Sound: String & Tins

Costume Designer: Mr Gammon

Costume Assistant: Gabrielle Edmunds

Production Designer: Ricky Eyres

Print Credits

BBH Producer: Sarah Knight

Photographer: n/a

Typographer: n/a

Illustrator: Smith & Foulkes


Social credits:

BBH Social Strategist: Jack Colchester

BBH Account Manager: Liam Shanahan

BBH Senior Account Director: Brooke Hannan


About Virgin Media

Virgin Media offers four multi award-winning services across the UK and Ireland: broadband, TV, mobile phone and landline.

Our dedicated, ultrafast network delivers the fastest widely-available broadband speeds to homes and businesses and we’re expanding this through our Project Lightning programme, which could extend our network to up to 17 million premises.

Our interactive Virgin TV service brings live TV, thousands of hours of on-demand programming and the best apps and games to customers through a set-top box, as well as on-the-go through tablets and smartphones.

Virgin Mobile launched the world’s first virtual mobile network and offers fantastic value and innovative services with 4G connectivity. We are also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the UK and Ireland.

Through Virgin Media Business we support entrepreneurs, businesses and the public sector, delivering the fastest widely available broadband speeds and tailor-made services.

Virgin Media is part of Liberty Global, the world’s largest international TV and broadband company. Liberty Global connects 22 million customers through operations in 11 countries across Europe subscribing to 46 million TV, broadband internet and telephony services. It also serves 7 million mobile subscribers and offers WiFi service through 12 million access points across its footprint.

For all Virgin Media press enquiries please contact;

Simon Feldman or Olivia McKee

press@virginmedia.co.uk / 0333 000 2591 @VirginMediaCorp