Virgin Radio shakes up its marketing

Virgin Radio, the SMG Group-owned station, is revamping its marketing strategy and introducing a new strapline in a move aimed at positioning Virgin as a lifestyle brand.

Through the repositioning and new strapline – “The Music We All Love” – Virgin hopes to tap into the emotional attachment that listeners have to music, and to move away from its previous campaigns, which have focused on the type of music that the station plays.

Its previous strapline was “Today’s Best Music and Classic Tracks”.Virgin marketing director David Andrews, who has devised the strategy with agency Think Farm, says that in the past, radio stations have used practical statements in their advertising such as “More Music Variety”, but he wants to move away from this as it means nothing to listeners.

He says: “We want to talk to our listeners with the same passion and energy that they have about the music they listen to.”

The new strapline will be used across the station’s marketing, including above-the-line advertising, on-air and trade marketing. An advertising campaign will be launched later in the year.