Branson hits Oz for six in Ashes promotions

Looks like Richard Branson‘s up to his old tricks again.

This week saw the Virgin Media boss (already renowned for his proactive PR stunts) project an enormous image of himself onto Sydney Harbour Bridge in an effort to rile the Aussies and generate some Ashes-focused press coverage. Successfully it seems with all our national newspapers running with it and national outrage down-under.

A little more credible was the substance behind the ‘fifty50′ that subtley adorned the bottom left corner of the image. This refers to Virgin’s pledge to donate £1,000 to charity for every half-century that our England batsmen rack up throughout the 2009 Ashes campaign. Synics may point to the fact that it is all a promotional tool for Virgin’s 50Mb Broadband national roll-out, but with £3,000 already in the pot (KP, Colly and Prior), it certainly has more kudos than most PR stunts.

Ralph Lauren & the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour: the perfect match

© Getty Images Entertainment: (L-R) Vera Zvonareva, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Anne Keothavong and Elena Dementieva

At the delectable Kensington Roof Gardens last night, tennis beauties mixed with the tailored glamour and chiselled jaws of Ralph Lauren’s most handsome ambassadors. To kick-off the pinnacle of the British tennis season at SW19 next week, Ralph Lauren came together with the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in a perfectly conceived partnership to host the annual WTA’s pre-Wimbledon party in London.

Earlier that day, WTA girls got an ultimate Ralph makeover thanks to the racks of the designer’s luxe collections. Venus Williams wore a pre-Fall Black Label platinum satin tuxedo silk dress, while Serena Williams donned a Spring 09 Ralph Lauren Collection gold sequin pants with white top. Vera Zvonareva chose a platinum satin silk dress from pre-Fall, while Elena Dementieva showcased an owl neck dress from the Black Label. Brit star Anne Keothavong meanwhile took a liking to gold lace embroidered number from the Spring 09 collection.

All attended the party at Kensington Roof Gardens along with venue host and owner Sir Richard Branson (with Holly and Sam in tow), a selection of the London Social Set, a sprinkling of TV and music faces and of course players, coaches and their associated entourages. 

Guests were treated to an impressive array of summer barbeque goodies accompanied by seared tuna, poached salmon and bean salad, followed by strawberries & cream and mini chocolate tarts. All washed down with a specially Wimbledon-themed cocktail menu (cute). Then we danced it all off on the dancefloor ’til the wee small hours.

Safe to say, from the fabulous blazers and striking pinstripes modelled by all the staff and Tour hosts across the evening, I think I know what’s now top of the birthday list next month.

Great job Ralph – when’s the next one?

Brawn GP signs up Branson’s Virgin brand

Richard Branson / Ross Brawn

The news of the above union only reached me this afternoon when having coffee with a friend (rather embarrassingly given that he had just flown in from New York and already had more of a finger on the pulse of the UK news agenda than me…).

But what excited me more than the fact that the naked Brawn GP car will finally be clothed in logos and livery this season after all, was the fact that the story was broken exclusively on TimesOnline before anywhere else.

Another triumph for UK online media topping the global news agenda. Awesome.

When Virgin met WCRS

 

This afternoon, everyone in the Engine building, the London marketing industry and beyond was passing back and forth a letter of complaint to Richard Branson, complaining about the shocking state of the food served on a transatlantic Virgin flight.

It is possibly the most hilarious piece of epistolary writing I have ever read.

It was sent to me by a friend from a market research agency, who had been sent it by her boss, who’s friend had sent it to her because he knew the author… and the author turned out to sit two floors directly above me in WCRS.

Small world huh? Even better, we found out that Richard Bransontook the time to call up Mr. Beale himself to firstly apologise and secondly thank him for keeping him and his family in stitches all weekend with the hilarity of his letter. Safe to say it was the most bizarre 10 minutes of Mr. Beale’s life, but good work Mr Branson I say.

In any case, please do read it – it is a prime example of how much damage can be done to a brand when a man is bereft of sleep, stimulation and left very, very hungry.

But then also how quickly it can be at least partly rectified by a 10 minute intervention from on high.

Enjoy.