Winner
milesmorefriends
Client
Virgin Atlantic Airways
Consultancy
Start Design

The brief
The 21st century has not been kind to the airline industry. The combination of a stalling global economy, the expensive security measures, shaken passenger confidence and general global insecurity that have followed the attacks on the World Trade Center and the burgeoning popularity of no-frills, low-cost carriers have proved calamitous.

To counter this malaise, Virgin Atlantic sought to increase the number of passengers of its Flying Club scheme, a members-only mailing list pitched at passengers who have flown via the airline’s more profitable Premium Economy or Upper Class flights. The self-selecting member-get-member system enabled passengers to enrol their friends into the scheme, greatly increasing the possibility that the new members would switch to Virgin’s premium services for a future journey. In June 2001, the milesmorefriends scheme was moved online to make savings – members are rewarded with bonus ‘miles’ for every new member they recruit. It was decided to drive up the scheme’s traffic in order to increase passenger numbers.

The design
In May 2002, Start Design conceived, wrote, designed and developed a new online campaign for milesmorefriends, encouraging existing Flying Club members to send e-cards to friends, which would in turn encourage them to enroll in the programme.

The microsite encourages interaction, asking members if they ‘know someone who’s going away’, and offering up to 15,000 free miles if the member they recruit flies Upper Class. The system is self-propogating – frequent fliers are more likely to socialise with other frequent fliers.

The results
• milesmorefriends online has generated a return on investment of 3481% since its launch. Start’s target was an investment return of 1300%.
• More than 21,000 people have joined Flying Club through the microsite, and 42% have gone on to fly on Virgin Atlantic. Start’s target was to increase the conversion rate to flying to more than 30%. Of these 42%, over 44% flew in the higher revenue earning cabins.
• milesmorefriends enrolments now account for 6.7% of the total number of recruits to Flying Club in the UK.