Motorbike-riding Highland Cow for Virgin Media

    I was first interested in this article because I think Highland cows (also known as fluffy cows) are so cute and the cover photo of this article was a Highland cow on a motorbike. I also had never heard of Virgin Media so I was curious about what it was. I found out that Virgin Media is a company that provides internet services in the United Kingdom.  

    Virgin Media is using a new mascot, the Highland cow, to promote its product. The marketers put the cow on a motorbike to show consumers its proposition of  'why walk when you can ride.' Virgin Media promises with their WiFi, users will receive a minimum of 20 Mbps in every room of their home. The commercial includes the Scottish Highlands as the landscape that the cow is traveling through to show the cow on an adventure just as consumers can embark on their own adventure with the fastest WiFi.

    The value proposition of the company is to provide the fastest WiFi to its users.

    The article explains how Virgin Media uses this new strategic and creative technique to show users that their new WiFi guarantee truly is the fastest of any major provider. The campaign encourages users to pursue better and to go 'better and beyond' by showing the Highland cow traveling fast and far into the country. The article explains how Virgin Media wanted to use this marketing technique to launch its new WiFi guarantee. The challenge they are facing is to sell this new product to current and new customers. They are using this commercial to show their customers that they will continuously push boundaries to offer their customers more. 

    I feel like this marketing approach is unique because the commercial reaches a large buyer persona. Anyone who watches it wants to know what the cow is doing. People want to know why the cow is on a motorbike and where it is going. After further watching, the buyer persona is people who use WiFi. More specifically, the buyer persona is adults who need or want fast WiFi in their homes. It is for adults that can afford WiFi and are in the market for the fastest WiFi that they can get. 

    I thought the approach was good because it definitely caught my attention but I felt like it was underwhelming. I feel like the idea of a cow on a motorbike should be exciting, just like having the fastest WiFi is exciting. I think there should have been more action in the commercial or an idea as to where the cow was going.

    I would include more action in the commercial. In the commercial, the cow is riding the motorbike but I would have portrayed the cow as driving instead of riding the bike. In this sense, the cow is deciding where he is going and how fast he is going. I would have included more turns and a determination to be somewhere just like when you are roaming the internet on WiFi, you are looking to be on a specific site. 

    I learned that there is so much thought that is put into creating a commercial and what marketers want to portray in their commercials. For example, if Virgin Media just wanted to show that they had the fastest WiFi, the commercial could have been completely different. The marketers for Virgin Media wanted to encourage their consumers to embark on a new adventure that is better and beyond what they have now. They used the Highland Cow to ask them why they are walking when they can be riding with their fastest WiFi.