Richard Branson, Founder and CEO of Virgin Mobile, never ceases to amaze me in his ability to fuse business with pleasure in a way that advances his brand and positively affects the world. His latest endeavor, the Virgin Mobile Freefest is yet another example of his dedication to making a difference. Not only did Branson’s company throw a free concert, they selected and funded youth to film a “rockumentary” on the inspiration and success behind the event itself. The rockumentary debuts – segment by segment – this month on Kyocera’s and Virgin’s websites.
After a series of intense application rounds, fourteen high school and college students from around the United States were selected to film the Virgin Mobile Freefest, interview bands, and act as the media. The idea, as Ron Faris, Brand Marketer for Virgin mobile explained, was for these students to learn more about journalism, film production, and the music industry. Virgin Mobile and Kyocera paired up to give 14 kids an all-access pass to documentary-making that enhanced their future and built their professional portfolio in five days. It is a level of access and opportunity that would take a normal film student years to achieve.
You don’t have to look very hard to find more of the goodwill that went on behind the scenes. The premise of the concert itself was that it is a free event, but concert-goers were expected to donate their time and money to youth homeless causes in lieu of purchases the ticket price. In this way, Virgin Mobile expressed its sympathy for hard times and provided a simple way for people to come together.
Over two million youth, ages 12-24, will experience at least one episode of homeless each year and over 100,000 youth sleep on the street for 6 months or more in America. Their vulnerability and their needs are something we all need to be aware of. RE*Generation is Virgin Mobile’s effort to pass on the good karma and to empower a generation to help its own by connecting homeless youth with people who want to help.
At the end of the event, $80,000 and 30,000 volunteer hours were donated to youth homeless organizations. One example of the many creative ways these numbers were achieved was through the Freefest “Free I.P. tickets.” Instead of scalpers hawking tickets on the day of the event, concert-goers were encouraged to donate 13 hours of their time in exchange for a scalped ticket. TicketMaster also waived all convenience charges to help the cause.
Held this past August at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbus, MD, people were initially skeptical about the success of the event. Traditionally, the Virgin Mobile Festival costs $100 a ticket. The concert was scaled back from a weekend to a one-day event, but overall concert reviews were positive. More than anything, people appreciated the fact that the concert was free and the message behind the music was meaningful. Hopefully, this is a style that Virgin Mobile will continue to pursue for its musical festivals in the future. But while you wait for next year, you can check out concert highlights, debuted throughout this month, from the Kyocera teenage film crew here.
Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile’s Regeneration is dedicated to helping one generation help its own through the elimination of homelessness.
- Organization Type: For-Profit
- Website: http://www.virginmobileusa.com/virgin-mobile-life/regeneration-help-homeless
- Founder(s): Richard Branson
- Founded: 1999
- Location: Worldwide
- See complete company list here
Contributor Profile: Ashley
Ashley is a friend of anyone who is fighting the good fight for social change. She currently resides in Bilbao, Spain where she is teaching English and researching the history of the Basque conflict. Personal blog
Twitter: @socialearth
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