News 2004
Join the great rent escape and win a house for a year
27/10/2004
- Virgin Mobile’s student competition returns for the 4th year
- Ten students will win a rent-free house for a year with three of their mates
27.10.04: It’s a well documented fact that student life can be expensive, and unless you win the lottery, the only way to boost your income is to curb your spending, beg your parents or take yet another part-time job. Or so you thought….
Virgin Mobile is proud to announce the return of its award-winning ‘Great Rent Escape’ competition, which gives ten students the opportunity to live rent-free, with three mates for a year !
Now in its fourth year, the Virgin Mobile Great Rent Escape competition gives Britain’s students the chance to live it up with three mates without having to pay for accommodation for a year. All you have to do to win, is to convince the rest of the population to vote for you using your initiative, powers of persuasion and ability to blag. Last year, 24,000 students entered the promotion, with one winner collecting more than 6,000 unique votes!
Joining the Great Rent Escape is easy, you simply have to register by logging onto www.greatrentescape.com, text your name, e-mail address and university to 82600, or sign up with a Virgin Mobile rep (text entry is charged at 3p from a Virgin Mobile phone, and standard text rate from all other networks).
And the sooner you register the more prizes you could win, as Virgin Mobile will be giving away free bar tabs, Samsung phones, weekly shops and even weekends away from STA Travel!
In January 2005, Virgin Mobile will send everyone a personality test to help sort the committed from the part-timers, and there will also be a task set to determine their dedication to winning. 25 finalists will be chosen, and their task is to get as many people to vote for them as possible. Virgin Mobile will supply the 25 finalists with handy hints and tips on how to best maximise their chances of winning, with PR and marketing advice, and a campaign pack full of personalised materials to dish out. The ten with the most votes win a rent-free life for a year for them and three of their mates!
Since the launch of Big Red House three years ago, Virgin Mobile has helped thirty students escape rent. With approximately £300,000 worth of free rent already won, it’s little wonder that students across the country have resorted to stunts, stripping and sabotage to win those all important votes. So if you’ve ever wondered how far would you go to avoid paying rent, the Great Rent Escape will give you the opportunity to find out!
STUDENT OFFER: Virgin Mobile are now offering all students £25 free airtime and a 10% discount on all the latest phones. For details see: www.greatrentescape.com or call 0845 6000 070.
For more information please contact:
Virgin Mobile
Press office on 0845 600 6272 or pressoffice@virginmobile.com
Joanne Baker - 07941 233300
Alison Bonny – 07802 430276
Henry’s House
Rachel Moule: 020 7291 3033 or Rachel@henryshouse.com
Krissy Knights: 020 7291 2035 or krissy@henryshouse.com
Virgin D3 (formerly Virgin Student)
Antonia Voss – 020 7484 4427, antonia.voss@virgind3.com
Notes to editors
*Big Red House/Great Rent Escape has won the following awards:
Best Local Advertising, Marketing & PR campaign - Mobile News Awards 2003
Gold Award for integration, innovation & creative excellence - ISP Awards 2003
IT and Telecoms (GOLD) - European Promotional Marketing Awards
Best Creative Execution (BRONZE) - European Promotional Marketing Awards
About Virgin Mobile:
Virgin Mobile Holdings (UK) plc, the UK's largest mobile virtual network operator, is majority owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and uses T-Mobile's network. Since its launch in November 1999, Virgin Mobile has attracted more than 4.2 million customers.
In the UK, Virgin Mobile phones are available direct on 0845 6000 600; on the web at www.virginmobile.com/mobile or on the High Street at approximately 5,000 outlets including Virgin Mobile Specialist Stores, Virgin Megastores, Sainsbury, Tesco, Safeway, Asda, John Lewis, Littlewoods, Argos, The Link, Dixons, Carphone Warehouse, Curry's, Comet, Phones 4 U, TOMO, Woolworths, Toys R Us and Rymans.
Virgin Mobile employs approximately 1,400 staff at three sites, Trowbridge, London and Daventry, and has an outsourced customer service centre operated by approximately 200 staff in Middlesbrough. It has been voted one of the top 50 places to work in Britain for two years running in an annual Financial Times survey.
Virgin Mobile's customers are considered the most satisfied in the pre-pay sector according to a recent UK survey by market researchers JD Power and Associates.
