Conchango globetrots with Virgin

Virgin is flying high with interactive consultancy Conchango this month, as it unveils the last in its trio of phased websites following American investment tycoon Steve Fossett’s bid to fly around the world non-stop.

The website, www.virginatlantic globalflyer.com, will ‘represent a significant change in the way the website [has thus far been] designed’, says Conchango head of media Paul Dawson.

Targeted at an American audience, including ’11- to 13-year-olds, plane anoraks and general interest, lifestyle’ users, it will have the capability to track Fossett’s flight and transmit live footage through cameras positioned both in his aircraft and in a chaser plane, he explains.

It will also build on features offered on the second website, including news reports, competitions and video interviews with the teams that are designing, assembling and testing the purpose-built Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. The latest website launches next week to coincide with the unveiling of the aircraft in California’s Mojave Desert.

Conchango was briefed to create a website ‘with a personality that matched the project. It had to be detailed without being too techie, and enthusiastic about aviation and record-breaking’, according to a Virgin Atlantic Airways spokesman.

He says the project reflects ‘a long tradition within the company of setting records’, adding, ‘the profile you can get in [doing so] is much greater than what you achieve from conventional marketing campaigns.’

Conchango was appointed last October on the strength of its previous work for Virgin Atlantic Airlines.

The consultancy also designed and manages www.virgin-atlantic. com – the company’s transactional website.

The single-engine Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer is billed by Virgin Atlantic Airways as ‘the world’s most efficient jet plane’. Its logo and livery were created by Start Design (DW 30 October).

Fossett is expected to set off on his mission in April or October, with Richard Branson as his reserve pilot.