Airline Latest To Jump On Podcast Craze
Virgin Atlantic has become the first non-radio firm in Britain to jump aboard the podcasting bandwagon, offering customers themed programmes covering travel and sightseeing which can be downloaded before a trip and enjoyed either en-route, or while customers explore their holiday destination.
The move, described by Virgin as the latest in its history of “firsts,” continues its tradition of high-tech solutions, such as offering seat-back TV to all customers. The new podcasts, launched to coincide with the 21st anniversary of its first flight to New York, form a series of four audio guides to the city, covering the ten coolest restaurants, an insiders guide to shopping, a guide to ‘off-the-beaten-track’ New York and a run down of the city’s cool and quirky hotspots.
The fourth instalment gives visitors a run down of the ten things “you just have to do if you’re on your first trip to the Big Apple”.
Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/ Y&R and Manning Gottlieb OMD are jointly sourcing, developing and editing the content of Virgin Atlantic’s podcasts, with Jean-Paul Edwards, head of media futures at Manning Gottlieb OMD, explaining: “This is an innovative idea which, we hope, will introduce a whole new audience to the world of Podcasting. We are really pleased to help bring it to life.”
To back its podcast content, Virgin has created a specific programme, dubbed a podcatcher, to periodically check for new content and download it to users’ home computers automatically.
The Virgin Atlantic Podcatcher and host site were created by Loudish, a UK based company that specialises in software and infrastructure for the mass delivery of Podcasts.
Commenting on the deal with Virgin, Phillip Whelan of Loudish said: “We are very excited to be helping Virgin Atlantic deliver this innovative Podcast. It is a great way to reach lots of their travellers with their excellent and informative content.”
The airline promises to produce guides to other destinations in the very near future, as well as providing more in-depth broadcasts on anything and everything to do with its destinations – from live radio shows and walking tours to what’s on guides and personal experiences.
The Virgin Atlantic Podcatcher, is available free of charge from virginatlantic.com/podcast.
Breda Bubear, head of advertising and communication at Virgin said: “Podcasting gives us a fantastic opportunity to communicate with our customers in a new and innovative way. We believe that providing travellers with relevant destination content will help them plan their trip, and giving it to them in a portable format will enable them to make the most of their time away. We’re very excited to be championing this new technology.”
March saw Virgin Radio launch its first podcast output, making the Pete and Geoff Breakfast Show available to download, funding the exercise through the UK’s first example of ‘podvertising,’ with sponsorship by the COI and Expedia helping to cover the station’s expenses (see Virgin Makes Podvertising First With Pete And Geoff).
Elsewhere the BBC has embraced the podcasting phenomenon, making a total of 22 radio shows available for download (see BBC Expands Podcasting Trial To Determine Listener Tastes), while BBC director general, Mark Thompson, has pledged to drive the Corporation forward with the adoption of the very latest broadcasting technologies, including podcasting and on-demand internet radio (see Thompson Pledges Drive For Digital Revolution).
Virgin Atlantic: 01293 562345 www.virginatlantic.com