“Too often the deaf community is an afterthought. We wanted to give everyone a taste of what that feels like, by flipping the convention on its head, and creating a film which talks directly to the deaf community.” Lifting the lid on Virgin Atlantic's new integrated campaign, Tom Prendergast and Joe Stamp, Creative Directors at Lucky Generals, share that a commitment to inclusive travel is at the forefront of the campaign.

The spot, which rolled out to coincide with International Week of Deaf People, sees the airline team up with award-winning creative communication agencies, Tin Man and Lucky Generals to better understand the needs of its deaf and hard-of-hearing customers.

The integrated campaign shows Virgin Atlantic to be the only UK airline to offer British Sign Language (BSL) trained crew and underlines an ongoing commitment to improving its inclusive travel offerings.

The campaign features an ad that ran during International Week of Deaf People, in partnership with Channel 4. The spot sees one of the channel's familiar BSL sign language interpreters joined on screen by one of Virgin Atlantic’s own BSL-trained crew, set in Channel 4’s masterbrand gradient space.

Initially, the ad appears as a standard Channel 4 spot, using its existing colour schemes and house style. Yet shortly into the VT, the Channel 4 interpreter is joined by a Virgin Atlantic interpreter in full uniform and they begin speaking in BSL without subtitles. The initial part of the ad speaks directly and only to the deaf community.

As the colour changes to the iconic Virgin Atlantic red, the rest of the audience is brought into the conversation with subtitles and a voiceover that shares that Virgin Atlantic customers can request BSL-trained crew on their next flight.

Flipping the narrative on its head by including deaf and hard-of-hearing customers only at first, the spot brings to life the importance and power of inclusion.

The spot was produced by Channel 4’s in-house creative team 4Creative and aired during TV shows including Gogglebox and the Great British Bake Off.

As part of the campaign creative communications agency, Tin Man has created a PR campaign that sees deaf Gladiators star, Jodie Ounsley, and deaf content creator twins, Being Her (Hermon and Heroda Berhane), share their feedback with the airline’s newly appointed Accessibility Advisory Board. The board is set to review processes and products and help shape the development of new offerings to ensure Virgin Atlantic continues to empower customers to travel the world. The board will take into account the experiences and feedback of its board members to craft more inclusive travel experiences. 

One of the crucial ways Virgin Atlantic is working to be more accessible is by introducing BSL on board. “Our cabin crew play a key role in making our customers feel included and empowered at every stage of the flight and being able to go that one step further and do this in British Sign Language for customers is hugely rewarding, from ensuring everyone feels welcome, to assisting with announcements, to helping them to experience the full warmth and joy of a Virgin Atlantic journey,” says Annabelle Cordelli, Senior Vice President, Brand & Marketing, Virgin Atlantic.

In addition to BSL training, Virgin Atlantic has also committed to increasing the subtitled options available on in-flight entertainment from the current 80% of movies and 40% of TV. The airline is also committed to improving the clarity of services and links to special assistance contact within Virgin Atlantic’s My Booking platform and the introduction of Sign Live; an on-demand BSL interpreter for customer service teams ensuring support at all points along the journey.

By committing to doing the groundwork in the form of training and learning from its deaf and hard-of-hearing customers, Virgin Atlantic showcases its deep commitment to inclusivity. Combining words and actions in an all-encompassing inclusive campaign, the airline brings to life the power of bringing people in. A commitment to inclusion is to the benefit of all.