Ad Inspiration 1: Virgin Atlantic

We absolutely love this branding campaign by Crispin Porter + Bogusky for the airline company, Virgin Atlantic. The best part of this campaign is that they took the plane ticket, this dull piece of hard paper that everyone takes for granted, and actually used it to enhance the sexy flight experience that Virgin Atlantic wanted to promote. They took it one step further by branding each flight based on the take-off time. For example, the last flight is for rock stars and one of the earlier flights is for the business executive on a secret mission to take over the world.

Bonus points for making effective use of copy (actual words that people want to read). Here's a sample taken from the 5:30 pm flight which they've dubbed "The Lo Pro":

Departure time on The Lo Pro is strategically set for mid-afternoon to attract the least attention. Everybody is somebody but nobody wants to know. Sweats, jeans and baseball caps are the norm and frankly, recommended. "Understated," the theme again tonight.

Wouldn't you want to hang on to a ticket like this?

This is the campaign that inspired us to make better use of our packaging, which like the plane ticket is a widely used and distributed potential branding space that's already there and that almost nobody uses.