Virgin's Great Marketing Idea Pays Off

March 16, 2009 (InfoPowa News) — The always-innovative marketers at online gambling firm Virgin Games.com achieved wide mainstream media — including television — coverage as well as online gambling publicity for an ingenious tongue-in-cheek interpretation of the luckiest and unluckiest places in the United Kingdom last week.
 
Triggering the exercise just before the notoriously unlucky date, a statement from the company commented: "With Friday 13th upon us for the second time already in 2009, those of a slightly superstitious disposition would be advised to take a trip to St.Albans — according to data from Virgin Games, it's the luckiest place in the whole of the U.K. Residents of Sutton, Brighton and Luton also needn't get worried about Friday 13th as they follow second and third place respectively in the luck stakes!"
 
The statement went on to reveal that Virgin had analyzed more than 100,000,000 separate wagers, based purely on chance, placed over the past three years in order to create a map of the U.K.’s ‘luckspots’ — handy advance information for those trying to protect themselves from bad luck on Friday the 13th. It identifed the unluckiest spots in the U.K., too — pointing to Belfast, Perth and Newbury with the advice that residents of those parts should hold on to a horseshoe or rabbit's foot for the duration of the year's unluckiest day.
 
Simon Burridge, CEO of Virgin Games, added momentum to the drive with an explanation: "Friday 13th falls three times in 2009, so we thought it would be interesting to see whether some regions in the U.K. are luckier than others." We matched the success of our huge database of players against the U.K.’s postcodes, and were surprised at just how much variation there was between regions.
 
"It’s just a bit of fun, of course — but if I was at all superstitious I’d be heading to St. Albans this Friday 13th!”
 
The unusual and date-relevant nature of the story caught the attention of the Britsh media, ensuring wide coverage.
 
For those who worry when they walk under ladders, smash mirrors or spill salt perhaps a move to St. Albans would deliver more peace of mind, Virgin concluded. "Not only has the suburban district been crowned one of the best places to live in the U.K. — it was recently selected as the 'Mayfair' spot on the British Cities version of Monopoly — its residents can also consider themselves the luckiest, over four times more likely to win than residents living in Belfast.
 
"In St. Albans, a bet of £1 can expect to see an average profit of 83p — compared to a loss of 60p if the same wager was made over the Irish Sea in Belfast," claimed the online gambling website.
 
For the superstitious, then, here's Virgin Games' take on the Luckiest and Unluckliest gambling spots in Britain:
 
Top 10 luckiest towns in the U.K.:
 
St. Albans
Sutton
Brighton
Luton
City of Manchester
South West London (SW postcodes)
Torquay
Bolton
Harrow
Stevenage
 
Top 10 unluckiest towns in the U.K.:
 
Belfast
Perth
Newport
Salisbury
Motherwell
Darlington
Dudley
Aberdeen
Doncaster
Colchester