Virgin Atlantic Airways is backing a campaign to rechristen a section of Manhattan’s Greenwich Village as “Little Britain,” in the same way New York has neighborhoods known as Little Italy and Chinatown.
The campaign is the brainchild of the married, transplanted Brit/entrepreneurs Nicky Perry and Sean Kavangh-Dowsett, whose restaurant Tea & Sympathy and adjoining British gift shop and fish & chips eatery, are among nearly two dozen British-owned businesses in the vicinity.
At the center of the campaign is a Web site CampaignForLittleBritain.com, which features a petition that will close on May 1 when the results will be presented to a local community board, and then Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Chris Rossi, Virgin Atlantic vice president of sales and marketing, noted at a March 1 press conference that the airline was founded at a pub a few blocks from where the event was being held, so that there’s a real affinity between the two countries. British singer Joss Stone was on hand to lend support to the cause.
Rossi told PROMO Xtra he anticipates viral promotional activities to unfold around the drive, although he wasn’t able to provide any details.
A short film, made to promote the campaign and played for the press, will show up on YouTube, and possibly might run on Virgin Atlantic flights, he said.
Tongue-in-cheek posters, using typical British humor “What’s one more Queen in the Village,” have been displayed promoting the campaign.
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