Virgin Mobile says Screw You Recession

Ok there's a big recession on, Virgin Mobile Canada offer cheap calls and low line rentals, people are looking for tips on how to save money. So Virgin provide some in this blog, and give it a big provocative title

Screw You Recession

that plays well on urban billboards. Sounds simple, but what makes it work* is in the quality of the writing; it's basically what a few of your mates would write if they were really good writers (which obviously these guys are, as they are professional copywriters.....) doing it for a laugh.


There's also some geniune research to give the papers an angle

   Current Mood: Yellow "Sorta' Freaking Out Right Now"

-   Biting nails - 72% are anxious about their future
-   Brand disloyalty - 41% have given up a brand they love
-   Show me the value! - 52% are open to trying value brands
-   Chic-onomics - 88% have changed their shopping habits
-   Recessionistas - 42% are making "noticeable sacrifices"
-   Unemployment - 42% fear being unemployed
-   Politics - 57% say they don't believe a change in government
    would change anything
-   The Simple Life - 75% want a simpler life

(Here's some serious stuff: Virgin Mobile asked 1,500 Canadians
 during Q1 of 2009, aged 17-35, to rate their confidence, fears,
openness to change and habits during the current recession.)

*I don't know if it is working in the sense of actually selling phones, or even if it is picking up much traffic (there's 114 comments on a 'Tips to screw the recession' post though, which suggests there are people reading): my Canadian web trends access isn't up to much, and I kind of think that Alexa isn't really a valid measure for this....
(hat tip to Marta Kagan for the link)