Virgin Australia "Milestone Announcement" June 1, 2023

[justinbrett]

Aka "guaranteed award seat allocations for Gold, platinum and beyond increase in cost by 27%"

Doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

It’s pretty simple though. And fair.

 

[MooTime]

Yes… but there’s a difference between something being a ‘stretch’ and something being ‘wrong’

‘spirit of australia’ captures the imagination. Saying velocity means ‘fast’ questions the facts!

ok, but this is marketing, and marketing everywhere you look is incorrect, false statements, incorrect spelling, misleading meanings /images.
classic is burger ads, yeah you receive a burger that looks like the ad, just squashed & leaning over etc.

Anybody involved in marketing knows it's ALL about capturing the audience, through, colors, words, symbols anyway possible.

So if you think using Velocity means Fast is going to turn ppl away from using Velocity points & Virgin OR grab attention & create interest & get ppl involved / interested in using Velocity. time will obviously tell.

 

[dajop]

Well Virgin is hardly the only Australian organisation to associate Velocity with speed. Train buffs would be familiar with Vlocity (same pronunciation different spelling) trains.

V/Line VLocity - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ADFlyMore]

I don't really know what I was expecting but to be honest was a little bit let down by this announcement.

The 1 point velocity point offer seems very much like the click frenzy hot deals. All sound great but the likelihood of getting them would be 0.01%

 

[Saab34]

The 1 point velocity point offer seems very much like the click frenzy hot deals. All sound great but the likelihood of getting them would be 0.01%

It is a cheap way to drum up some PR. The whole Middle Seat Lottery has been a marketing success.

I still wish they would overhaul the website, so so bad.

 

[Bagpuss]

I still wish they would overhaul the website, so so bad.

I think there's a focus on the Virgin Australia website. You can tell they are preparing to show fares when selecting dates rather than waiting for the flights to display etc.
Whilst they are two different company's it probably doesn't make sense to make too many changes to both at once as they are integrated.

 

[Danger]

The generic email that was sent to frequent flyers this morning is a terrible indictment on Virgin's comms team.

It's styled almost like an ASX announcement, beginning "Please be advised ..." What? There's no imagery, absolutely no excitement of any kind. It's bizarre.

 

[QF WP]

Well those AFF’ers in Melbourne might be interested:

 

[Must...Fly!]

Very cool idea...will be in Melbourne but working until 6am so I don't think I fancy hanging around for 3 hours like a zombie to save a few points. On the flip side I guess I could be one of the first in line

 

[RooFlyer]

It blew up on social media as well,

Oh no! Blew up on social media! There will be heads rolling at Virgin tonight! Although, weren't others above saying that it was a PR flop?

Much of social media are sewers which I'm happy to stay away from - especially when they blow up!

It's all marketing hoopla.

That's the point I was trying to make before. But some, well, seem to think every slogan etc is literal . Ya gotta wonder ...

Anybody involved in marketing knows it's ALL about capturing the audience, through, colors, words, symbols anyway possible.

And getting your critics especially endlessly twittering about you .

 

[RooFlyer]

At least Virgin isn't taking themselves too seriously or the slogan literally.

 

[mattr00]

Got to the Melbourne pop up store at around 7:20 and the line was already ~150 people+.

Turned around and went home

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Got to the Melbourne pop up store at around 7:20 and the line was already ~150 people+.

Turned around and went home

but there are ‘hundreds’ … or was it ‘thousands’ of 1pt awards!! Only 150 in the queue you’d have swagged a year’s worth of travel!

 

[mattr00]

They did publish what was available in the T&Cs and there were 560 domestic one ways available (but I think the destination is randomised?). Already booked my leaves for the year so

Unfortunately what the other half deployed me for only had 40ish items, so it was pretty much game over.

Limited 1 per account

 

[MEL_Traveller]

They did publish what was available in the T&Cs and there were 560 domestic one ways available (but I think the destination is randomised?). Already booked my leaves for the year so

Unfortunately what the other half deployed me for only had 40ish items, so it was pretty much game over.

Limited 1 per account

lol. one way?? I clearly didn’t see the T and Cs! That’s no more than jetstar’s fly one way get the return free

 

[LadyC]

Walked past the queue on Chapel St at about 9.45am this morning. The queue went for several blocks, plenty of people trying to get a deal. One VFF member had redeemed a small Weber electric BBQ for 1 point.

 

[aikman]

They should have just done an auction. No one will take home a bargain but more people will get to participate.

 

[Saab34]

They also use these promotions as media responses when called out over price gouging. ‘We are offering 1 point rewards’

Jetstar also pulls the same line. ‘Thousands of seats below $50’…yeah for travel Melbourne to Launceston on Tuesdays in Feb 2024.

 

[antycbr]

Jetstar also pulls the same line. ‘Thousands of seats below $50’…yeah for travel Melbourne to Launceston on Tuesdays in Feb 2024.

What’s wrong with Launceston?

 

[flyingfan]

1-point rewards - my family member went this morning after getting a transfer from me because they didn't have any points. After queuing for 6 hours, they walked away with a MEL-OOL flight. Pretty sure I wouldn't have had that sort of patience!