Q&A: Virgin Money takes to the road

Virgin Money’s recent “red roadshow” saw the firm promote its Virgin Red offering across the UK. Kelly Best, chief marketing officer at Virgin Red, and Rob Jefferson, head of marketing at Virgin Money, spoke to Financial Promoter about the rewards.

Financial Promoter: What is the strategic driver behind the red roadshow?

Kelly Best: The strategic drivers behind the Virgin Red Points Board Roadshow were two-fold: first to raise awareness and engagement with Virgin Points amongst current Virgin Money customers, by surprising and delighting them as they complete their everyday banking transactions.

The second was to educate Virgin Money store colleagues about Virgin Red as the way to earn and spend those points, so they could bring Virgin Points into their everyday conversations with customers.

Customers who entered the store were given the opportunity to join Virgin Red, and to pick a card that resonated with them, turning it over to win a reward in an “everyone’s a winner” style game.

Bringing to life the types of Virgin experience that customers can be rewarded with in a physical environment helped to build aspiration and excitement for what Virgin Points can bring to Virgin Money customers.

Some winner examples included:

• A couple won a hotel stay at Virgin Hotels Edinburgh + 40,000 Virgin Points
• Another lady popped into the Aberdeen store with her sister and gran who was paying in money. She’s getting married soon and was saying she’d love to go to NYC to get her dress. She walked up to the board, stood for ages choosing and picked a code for 40,000 Virgin Points – more than enough for flights to and from New York. She couldn’t believe it – she was absolutely delighted.

FP: How has it helped connect with customers and build brand awareness?

Rob Jefferson: The events have given Virgin Money store colleagues a fresh opportunity to engage with and connect to our customers in a truly fun and Virgin way, alongside the in-store support they provide customers to help their manage their money.

Store colleagues were able to promote Virgin Red and the benefits of Virgin Points to all our customers, alongside day-to-day customer requests, making customers’ visits even more unique, memorable and rewarding.

Thanks to some fantastic social media content from Virgin Red, we attracted a great mix of customers and non-customers into stores to take part in the roadshow events.

For existing Virgin Money customers, we were able to encourage them to sign up to the Virgin Red app and show how easy it is to earn Virgin Points and all the great things that members can spend their Virgin Points on.

For those who weren’t too familiar with Virgin Money but had seen the Virgin Red social posts, we were able to showcase our Virgin Money products and stores.

The events have helped build brand awareness for both Virgin Money and Virgin Red with existing customers and new potential customers in the locations visited.

FP: What has your messaging been throughout the trips?

Kelly Best: We wanted as many people as possible to know that Virgin Points unlock feel-good experiences across the Virgin Group. So, prior to each of the eight events, we teased the event on social channels to encourage Virgin customers local to the various stores to come down in person to win some Virgin Points.

We also engaged with local media to spread the word amongst the community. When customers entered the Virgin Money store, they saw our dedicated team with the Points Board and posters standing out near the front of the store, with messaging focused on joining Virgin Red, encouraging them to pick a card that resonated with them and to reveal the free reward they’d ‘won’.

Throughout, we made it clear that by joining Virgin Red, members can earn Virgin Points on their everyday spending to redeem on a range of rewards.

FP: How will you measure return on investment of the events?

Kelly Best: Success will be measured in three ways – new member acquisitions to Virgin Red, the number of Virgin Points rewards redeemed (both new and existing members) from those won on the day and understanding how confident employees feel about talking about Virgin Red with customers post event.

FP: How did the idea begin?

Kelly Best: We came up with the idea after we first launched the Points Board at Westfield Shopping Centre in November 2023 – we spent the day surprising and delighting members of the public with Virgin Points so they could treat themselves to rewards from across the Virgin family – it was a brilliant awareness and acquisition tool that we created this more portable version to use in Virgin Money stores.

FP: What’s next for Virgin Money and Virgin Red?

Rob Jefferson: Helping our customers make the most of their money through rewarding experiences is what drives us at Virgin Money and we’ll continue to offer great incentives through our partnership with Virgin Red.

We’ve recently delivered a wide range of benefits that only Virgin Money customers can tap into – from bonus Virgin Points when opening a Stocks and Shares ISA to double Virgin Points for new Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card customers.

We’re looking forward to offering new and innovative ways for customers to earn and/or win Virgin Points with Virgin Red, which can be spent on everyday treats, as well as extraordinary experiences from the Virgin family and beyond.