Virgin Atlantic Speaks Directly to the Deaf Community to Make Travel Inclusive

Virgin Atlantic, the only UK airline to offer British Sign Language (BSL) trained crew, and award-winning creative comms agencies, Tin Man and Lucky Generals, have launched an integrated campaign designed to help the airline better understand the needs of its deaf and hard of hearing customers and showcase its commitment to improving its inclusive travel offer.

The campaign, which runs during International Week of Deaf People was brokered by Omnicom Media Group’s PHD and kicked off with a first of its kind partnership. Forged with Channel 4, it sees one of the channel’s familiar BSL interpreters joined on screen by one of Virgin Atlantic’s own BSL trained crew, set in Channel 4’s masterbrand gradient space.

The 30” ad produced by Channel 4’s in-house creative team 4Creative has aired during TV shows including Gogglebox and the Great British Bake Off. The next spot will run on Friday 27th during First Dates. 

Initially, the ad appears as a standard Channel 4 [KF1] spot, using its existing colour schemes and house style. 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, making this part of the ad speak directly and only to the deaf community.[KF2] 

As the colour changes to the iconic Virgin Atlantic red, the rest of the audience is then brought into the conversation as subtitles & VO appear.

The supporting PR campaign was devised by creative communications agency, Tin Man, which sees Virgin Atlantic’s inclusive travel offer put to the test by deaf Gladiators star, Jodie Ounsley, and deaf content creator twins, Being Her (Hermon and Heroda Berhane), with their feedback shared with the airline’s newly appointed Accessibility Advisory Board. The board will review processes and products and help shape the development of new offerings to ensure Virgin Atlantic continues to empower customers to travel the world.

Captured in content released today, the trio experienced the airline's signature warm welcome in BSL, assist with onboard navigation, alert passengers to onboard announcements and provide assistance with accessible in-flight entertainment.

Jodie, who was born deaf and wears a cochlear implant, and Hermon and Heroda, who communicate in BSL, shared their feedback with Virgin Atlantic’s newly created Accessibility Advisory Board, which was developed to help enhance the airline’s accessibility offering. The board will include leaders from across the industry each with their own personal experiences of accessible travel, who will review processes and products and help shape the development of new offerings to ensure Virgin Atlantic continues to empower customers to travel the world.

In addition to ongoing BSL training, Virgin Atlantic has also committed to increase the subtitled options available on in-flight entertainment from the current 80% of movies and 40% of TV, increase 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.

Annabelle Cordelli, senior vice president, brand and marketing, Virgin Atlantic, said, “Virgin Atlantic is committed to making travel inclusive for everyone and we are incredibly proud to be the first UK airline to offer customers who are deaf or have hearing loss, trained British Sign Language crew onboard their flight. 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.” 

Tom Prendergast and Joe Stamp, creative directors at Lucky Generals, said, “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. Because Virgin Atlantic has BSL trained cabin crew  on their flights, so everyone can travel inclusively and “see the world differently.” 

Chris Braithwaite, the customer and commercial leader at Channel 4, said, “After the success of making our advertising more accessible than ever across the Paralympics, we are so proud to partner with Virgin Atlantic to help promote this unique service on flights and use the perfect timing across the International Week of Deaf People.”