Brand Heritage and Marketing the Unmarketable

Over on Twitter, @paulejgraham shouted out an ad, presumably from the agency he works for:

Quick trumpet blow (soz)... Richard Branson just called this the best ad made by any Virgin company, ever: http://bit.ly/X1iz

It's cute - and whether or not you admit to being shallow, there has long been talk about which airlines has the hottest stewards.

It reminded me of the Virgin Atlantic flight I took back on my way back. Virgin Atlantic appropriated the military trope of painted ladies on the nose cone, and just like on bombers they have different names.

Because I am a brand geek, this one really tickled me. You probably know why already.

In 1973 Mike Oldfield had been knocked back by every major label because his music was considered 'unmarketable'.

Demos got to The Manor recording studio, which was being run by Richard Branson. He decided to take a punt on it and Tubular Bells became the first album on Virgin Records, essentially the foundation stone of the entire Virgin empire.

Thus Tubular Belle.

Virgin was built on the idea of marketing the unmarketable - a heritage worth celebrating.