Virgin use the undead to convince you to take the train

Virgin Trains is portraying car and plane travellers as zombies in its latest £6.3m campaign.

The campaign is designed to demonstrate the superior service available on Virgin Trains and is a put down of other forms of transport. The cartoon imagery is meant to capture the potential hellishness of travelling by car and plane that turns regular people into frustrated zombies.

Airlines have been badly disrupted by the Icelandic volcano in past weeks while a planned strike by British Airways staff is now set to go ahead.

In one execution for the campaign, which focuses on encouraging consumers to change their travel habits, a Virgin Trains passenger relaxes onboard as she observes the carnage on the motorway outside her window. In another, the stress of weekend traffic jams causes a driver, in his zombie state, to bite down on his steering wheel in frustration.

The new campaign aims to further support Virgin Train’s overall brand idea of “Where do you want to be?”, which illustrates that traveling by Virgin Train offers customers an enriched journey with on-board facilities such as a shop, food, Wi-Fi and relaxed experience alongside time effectiveness.

Sarah Copley, sales and marketing director at Virgin Trains, says: “The time is right for us to be truly brave in championing Virgin Trains as the liberating way to travel. This campaign will make consumers think carefully about their travel choices particularly where long distance car and domestic air journeys are concerned, with the advantages of Virgin Trains being made clear in an eye catching and hard hitting way.”

The campaign breaks today across press, outdoor, radio and online advertising.