| Virgin Product Launch Draws Sparks |  | | |
|  | Leave it to marketing maverick Sir Richard Branson to turn a product launch into a spectacle. The chairman of Virgin was on hand at Powder
to introduce Virgin Pulse, a new line of 15 different “lifestyle
electronics”—including MP3 players and cordless phones—that are being
sold at Virgin Megastores and Target.
| | | | | The products served as props throughout the evening, as Rand.m Productions incorporated them into Lucite display cases for décor, and Mood Food
placed the pieces beneath clear-topped serving boxes that made the hors
d’oeuvres look as though they were sitting right on top of CD players.
"We really worked with the products," says Rand.m’s Rand Burrus. "It was all about the pulse of life—and the color red."
Red gels on the lights gave Powder’s cavernous, curved white walls a sexy, warm crimson glow, while Eyemag Media's
video projections of an electronic pulse and the Pulse products flashed
on the walls. Blinking red ice cubes adorned the cocktail of choice,
the Virgin Pulse martini (otherwise known as a cherry cosmo), and
caterwaiters carried trays with blinking red lights.
But the real surprise came when models paraded down a white runway in
the middle of the venue for a fashion show of sorts: They were actually
wearing the Virgin Pulse products—and little else. More products were
incorporated into costumes worn by performers like break-dancers and
go-go dancers, booked through Party Productions NYC. Grindergirl
gave a flashy performance by grinding power tools against her trademark
metal corset, and stopped to pose with the star model of the show: Sir
Richard himself.
—Erika Rasmusson Janes
Read our coverage of another Virgin product launch... |
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| | |  | | | Virgin chairman Richard Branson posed with Grindergirl at the Virgin Pulse launch event at Powder. |  | | | Models wearing the Virgin Pulse products—and little else—paraded down a white runway in the middle of the venue. |  | | | Mood Food served hors d'oeuvres on trays with blinking red lights. |  | | | The entrance was flanked by men dressed in beefeater guard uniforms. | |
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