Land Rover signs up as first Virgin Galactic sponsor
Land Rover has signed a long-term global partnership with Richard Branson’s commercial space line Virgin Galactic, as it hopes to push its adventure brand positioning.
The partnership will see Land Rover vehicles used by the Virgin Galactic team with a base fleet of vehicles at the Virgin Galactic test centre in the Mojave Desert, California and its operational New Mexico base, Spaceport America.
The pair kicked off the deal with Land Rover bringing a full-size replica of SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise to New York on Tuesday, with more campaign activity anticipated through a variety of channels.
Phil Popham, group marketing director of Jaguar Land Rover said “This is a marriage of two of Britain’s most iconic brands which celebrate shared values, a pioneering spirit and a true sense of adventure. Not only do we both share the same long-term vision to enable mankind to explore, but we also want to develop this partnership to inspire others.
“From our tens of thousands of employees and customers to schools and colleges, motivating more young people to pursue careers in engineering, science, technology and math - and explore new ways of travelling for future generations. Land Rover’s heart beats ‘above and beyond’ – we are pioneers on land and Virgin Galactic is the pioneer of space. It’s a very special match of brands with a shared vision.”
Revealed alongside the partnership was Land Rovers’ new Discovery Vision Concept car, which uses augmented reality technology to display a ‘see-through’ view of the road ahead and features gesture control.