Let Me Tell You Something: Virgin Atlantic

In a sort of softened guerrilla campaign, Virgin Atlantic has smattered urban areas with giant, red airline sick bags. Often placing these bags over movie and music posters, the ads have a subversive, irreverent feel, being just small enough to reveal the edges of the content they are so obliviously covering up. They want to be as hip as those underlying posters, but also feel like a step above, content-wise. And they mostly succeed.

Apart from the bright red color and the three-dimensional quality of the bags, the design is limited to a wall of copy. Long-form copy has made a bit of a comeback lately, as seen in recent ESPN and Ketel One ads. This isn't easy, as the copy has to be extremely rewarding to the reader, in order to justify their time and attention.

While the sick-bags, in their giant form, really appear more like grocery bags at first, the headline "How did air travel become so bloody awful," converts the image for the reader. It also helps determine the particular company ("bloody awful" + red = Virgin). And the copy is indeed rewarding. The smart, sharp narrative replicates a conversation had among the wittiest of your friends about your hatred of air travel, and more precisely, airlines themselves.
Long-form copy can work. It requires a devotion to perfect typography, and quick writing that understands where the reader is physically standing, and what else will be in their visual landscape.


Like Southwest, Virgin gets its audience, and they integrate the brand essence into everything they produce. Virgin designed these ads for the exact space they appear in: in the midst of constantly changing visual clutter that relies on large-format photography. By going with a three-dimensional object and copy-only graphics, they violate the very medium that are competing with, and win. The headline copy is large enough to read from the bus, and the body is enjoyable upon closer inspection. More than just pushing their services, they partner with the reader through a conversation, and push back against boring ads and stripped-down airline service by providing an experience, even on the side of a wall in an alley.

What happened to Sports Illustrated?

Let me start by admitting that it's been awhile. I haven't picked up an issue of Sports Illustrated in years. But when my wife enthusiastically showed me the new issue, demanding that we find a De La Hoya vs. Mayweather party to go to, I didn't exactly feel a nostalgic twinge for the old mag. I felt sad.

I remember SI as the National Geographic of sports photography. Huge spreads of unbelievable action shots that made me dissect a
slide into third base right down to the dirt and laces in Rickey Henderson's cleats. But this was not the SI of old, or maybe it was. The same tired call-out bars and text formatting with even weaker images of ballplayers in mid-swing and sweater-wearing coaches yelling from the sidelines.

Let's face it, print has changed. Since USA Today started mimicking the web, almost every publication has tried to incorporate exciting graphics and innovative sidebar shapes into their spreads. And while many certainly miss the mark, or overshoot by a long shot, just as many have found a balance between serious, engaging content and visual excitement.

Take ESPN The Magazine, for example. Large format and slightly updated paper quality, along with gutter-breaking graphics and punchy writing have made this late-comer the standard. And it's not just about going after a younger audience here, it's about having an audience, period. You're parents may read The Times, but they're likely reading it online these days. We're used to the medium, and we expect better things. Speaking of The Times, even they find a way to make a fossil look current with information hierarchy and line rules.




I still remember the inaugural edition of ESPN The Magazine. I remember thinking it was too flashy and demanding. But it beat me down, and I'm thankful for it. It was an early predecessor to what is now becoming the fascinating re-interpretation of magazine design. It's not all copy and photos in a standard layout anymore. It's an experience of thoughtful, tactile, holistic design that rivals the web, rather than cowers in its limitations. Anyone whose picked up a recent copy of Esquire knows what I mean.

And sports itself has gotten bigger than the game in the last few decades. Now we know player's parents almost as much as we know their stats. We know about their record deals and charity work, and we follow them onto network news after retirement. And this isn't always just obsession, some of this stuff is damn interesting.

SI isn't just holding on to its principles. A visit to their overbearing circus of a site lets you know up front that this is a communication of the CNN network now, not exactly a pioneer in engaging content and design. Sigh.