Richard Branson hails salt & pepper pots as Virgin Atlantic's secret advertising weapon

"I remember that one day my chief accountant was saying: 'Everyone's stealing our salt and pepper pots [off the planes]' - they're little windmills, people found them very attractive - 'and it's costing us, I don't know, $3m a year', Branson regaled. So he suggested we take the salt and pepper pots off the airline. But instead of doing that we just wrote under the salt and pepper pots, 'Pinched from Virgin Atlantic'. We got some of the best advertising we could at everyone's dinner table."

"While no doubt a slap in the face to the airline's agencies, the anecdote illustrates how Branson still prizes the opportunistic PR stunts that brought him notoriety in the 80s and 90s. Adobe's predominantly American audience lapped up further tales from the period, such as the time Virgin hijacked the British Airways London Eye as it failed to lift off the ground."

Sir Richard Branson prioritized reactive PR stunts and opportunistic publicity over conventional and digital marketing to position Virgin as an experience brand. A salt-and-pepper-pot anecdote led to the 'Pinched from Virgin Atlantic' label and a #pinchedfrom social campaign that turned theft into dinner-table advertising. Guerrilla actions such as hijacking the British Airways London Eye reinforced attention-grabbing competition tactics in the pre-internet era. Virgin Atlantic's identity also relied on meticulous attention to detail derived from its founder, including the practice of carrying a notebook to capture ideas and small operational refinements. Those stunts often provoked agency frustration while delivering disproportionate media coverage and brand notoriety at low cost.

Read at The Drum