Virgin Mobile bites back with Start Creative

Virgin Mobile is launching a dedicated retail format and content platform this week as part of an overall drive to reassert its youth credentials, in collaboration with Start Creative.

Start has created a mobile content service called Bites, and has been working hand-in-hand with Virgin Mobile in-house designer Damian Schnabel on the interiors of an ‘underground’ store at the new Virgin Mega- store, which opened in London’s Piccadilly Circus last month.

Darren Whittingham, executive creative director at Start, says: ‘When Virgin Mobile first launched it challenged the market with its simplified, human approach to mobile technology. But a lot of its competitors have caught up, so the company wanted a refresh that differentiated its brand and tapped into its urban youth target market.’

Branding at the new store has an urban graffiti vibe, including four raw cement walls, one of which is covered in flyposter promotional material, a huge neon sign, and plasma screens.

The use of technology and communication in-store could potentially roll out across the entire network of Virgin Mobile concessions.