In homage to athlete ambassador and athletics megastar Usain Bolt’s big goodbye to the world of track and field, Virgin Media has leveraged the his final appearance at the IAAF World Athletics Championships with a public projection-led video of the great man running the streets of London.
To further tie the campaign to the London 2017 championships and to the sprint star’s preparation for his final 100m race, the Bolt film was projected onto one of the UK capital’s most famous landmarks.
The video, which takes the form of an innovative ‘virtual victory lap’ of London, features some of the Jamaican star’s favourite parts of the city.
It starts in Brixton – home to Britain’s Jamaican community – and sees Bolt (poised to start his cityscape run) projected onto the Electric Brixton.
His lightning-fast journey sees him race under Brixton Rail Bridge, through to Cold Harbour Lane, along the Southbank with Tower Bridge as a backdrop, then across the facade of the Tate Modern, before crossing the river past Embankment Underground Station and heading to East London’s Brick Lane (where he DJ’d after his gold medal winning success at London 2012), then looping back to the West End (where he is projected dancing above clubs in Soho where he celebrated his 30th birthday last August), before this projection victory lap finishes at City Hall with an epic shot of the London skyline.
The video is paired with the hashtag #ARunningLegend.
As well as the street projection, the videowas amplified across the brand’s digital and social channels incluidng YouTube, Twitter,
The man who won races and people’s hearts. Get set to witness @usainbolt’s final sprints in London. #ARunningLegend pic.twitter.com/yhKrPTkGM9
— Virgin Media (@virginmedia) August 5, 2017
He’s the people’s champion. He’s #ARunningLegend. @usainbolt is back in London for his final races. On your marks… pic.twitter.com/XHNabGDBXh
— Virgin Media (@virginmedia) August 5, 2017
The starting gun will soon signal his final solo race. Come on @usainbolt! #ARunningLegend pic.twitter.com/P5dCOA4V6r
— Virgin Media (@virginmedia) August 5, 2017
You came, you ran, you entertained. You’re #ARunningLegend, @usainbolt! pic.twitter.com/FNZ8dZH3Z1
— Virgin Media (@virginmedia) August 5, 2017
and Facebook.
The video itself was shot over two nights using two state-of- the-art HD projectors and included existing footage Virgin Media has already captured of Usain Bolt.
The campaign rolled out to leverage interest in the record-breaking sprinter as he took to the track for the last time on 5 August.
“The fastest man on the planet goes hand in hand with the fastest broadband and Usain is super-fast and super entertaining; the perfect embodiment of Virgin Media,” says Virgin Media chief marketing officer Kerris Bright.
“Beaming Bolt’s epic ultrafast victory lap is a unique and fitting way to mark his last ever 100m final and celebrates our long and continued association. Usain Bolt is a true running legend.”
Comment:
The Liberty Global owned Virgin Media business, which offers four services across the UK and Ireland – broadband, TV, mobile phone and landline – has typically used endorser Bolt on broadband campaigns carrying speed-led messages to promote its dedicated, ultrafast network (and its £3bn Lightening programme) to bring maximise broadband speeds for homes and businesses.
Thus the 100m and 200m world record holder has been a Virgin Media ambassador since 2012 and much of the work he has appeared in for the brand has focused on messages about speed (specifically broadband speed).
Other campaigns from the Virgin Media/Bolt ‘speed’ back catalogue include ‘#BeTheFastest – 9.58) for Rio2016 (see case study)
and its London 2012 work with Bolt alongside Mo Farah (see case study),
to its music led ‘Be The Fastest’ initiative starring Bolt and Vanessa Haynes.
The Bolt work is running simultaneously with Virgin Media’s #AllThe Football campaign leveraging the start of the new football season.
Football came back and landed with a bang – just like Courtois' penalty #AllTheFootball pic.twitter.com/aX9Ee6ksQs
— Virgin Media (@virginmedia) August 7, 2017
Links:
Virgin Media:
https://www.youtube.com/user/virginmedia
https://www.facebook.com/virginmedia
https://twitter.com/virginmedia
