Simon Bradley, Virgin Atlantic Airways

Vice President of Marketing, Americas

Virgin Atlantic is one of the world’s most iconic travel brands, renowned for its innovative approach to customer service and marketing. Simon Bradley’s role is to lead the development and implementation of the marketing strategy to meet business objectives and revenue goals across 11 markets in North America, as well as to contribute to the global strategy for the airline.

After the UK where the airline ranks #2 following British Airways, few realize that the US is Virgin Atlantic’s next biggest market with flights to more than 50 destinations.  (And that’s not to be confused with Virgin America, which flies only within the US.)  The United States is also one of the airline industry’s most competitive markets, and despite the cachet Virgin Atlantic has created, its marketing budgets cannot compete with the likes of such giants as American or United.

So Simon Bradley relies on innovation, a counter-culture spirit, and developing an active relationship between flights, particularly when a significant number of North American customers only fly once or twice a year.  Positioning from “Flying in the face of ordinary” with hashtag #FITFOO that reminds Virgin fans how to “zig while others zag” to the new “Let it fly” ethos which proclaims, “Life doesn’t come to you.  So go to it,” Virgin Atlantic aims to go beyond the norm to deliver unforgettable experiences for its customers.

Simon’s ability to evolve with the fast-paced digital environment means he is well versed in driving true content solutions, while keeping an eye on sales with the help of targeted programmatic tactics.  Plus, a culture of innovation is always tied to the contemporary.  His work with the NFL helped to insure that Virgin Atlantic was front and center at the Wembley exhibition match, and served as a classic example of international thinking-- particularly in driving interest around the primary Virgin hubs of London and New York.  In fact, some sports enthusiasts are concluding that the NFL should move a team to London.  The recent Dolphins-Raiders games packed twice the crowd at Wembley than England’s football matches to Virgin’s delight.

A true internationalist, Simon Bradley has held global marketing positions in Scandinavia and Latin America, as well as the US, Canada and the UK.  Prior to his role at Virgin Atlantic, he worked for VisitBritain, the national tourism office responsible for marketing the United Kingdom in 35 markets globally. He led the team Americas region in the USA, Canada, Mexico and Brazil.  He also served the organization in the Nordic region while based in Stockholm.  He’s also an Adjunct Professor of Digital Marketing at New York University.