Festival Buddy, smart viral idea for Virgin Express

Another smart viral campaign from Belgium, with offline marketing integrated with online and mobile. Virgin Express has launched Festival Buddy, allowing Belgian music fans to win free flights.
This is how the idea works: you sign up via SMS or online and you’re immediately sent an SMS with your “buddy word”. Then you go to one of the music festivals sponsored by Virgin Express and you look for someone with same buddy word. If you find him/her, go together to the Virgin Express stand and you’ll receive a free flight each. Smart, isn’t it?
The agency behind this campaign, Duval Guillaume, say nearly 20,000 people have already entered the competition. And the buzz is spreading: people are looking for Festival Buddies through blogs, forums and IM, and a guy has even set up a website to find him.