Virgin Media to air live ads for V Festival

Virgin Media is to launch a live ad campaign for V Festival presented by Celebrity Juice star Keith Lemon, while a dedicated app for the event has been unveiled on the firm's TiVo service.

The cable operator, which is the headline sponsor for this year's sold-out V Festival, will launch the Last Chance Live campaign with TV ads due to air on Channel 4 from 9pm on August 19.

Presented by ITV2's Lemon, Last Chance Live will involve three ads being filmed live at the festival's Chelmsford site featuring revellers dancing in a giant silent disco.

Lemon will then challenge viewers to guess which track the people are listening to on their headphones, and submit their answer either via text or on Virgin Media's Facebook page.

They will get the chance to win one of 12 pairs of tickets to V Festival in Hylands Park, Chelmsford, or Weston Park, Staffordshire on August 20 and 21, featuring headliners Eminem and the Arctic Monkeys.

Virgin Media executive director of brand and marketing communications Jeff Dodds said: "This ambitious campaign makes the most of Virgin Media's strong association with live music and our presence online, on mobiles and on TV.

"We're bringing all the excitement and anticipation of the night before, right into viewers' living rooms, and giving them the chance to be in the middle of the action the very next day."

Ten-second teaser ads will appear from August 17 on Channel 4 and E4, backed by a digital campaign running across Facebook, Spotify and other websites from today.

Last Chance Live was developed with Virgin Media's agency partners DDB London, Fifty6 and ITCH, with on-site filming and production to be handled by BlinkTV.

Meanwhile, Virgin Media has also launched a V Festival app for users of its digital TV platform powered by TiVo, enabling music fans to enjoy the festival from their living room.

The new interactive app gives customers "exclusive access" to content from the 2011 festival, as well as the opportunity to enjoy past V Festival moments, such as performances by Amy Winehouse in 2004 and Snow Patrol in 2007. It can be found from today in the Virgin Media TiVo 'Apps and Games' section.

Virgin Media director of digital entertainment products Aleks Habdank said: "V Festival is one of the leading music events in the UK and TiVo gives us a fantastic way to bring this great festival to customers' front rooms, demonstrating the power of our great new interactive digital entertainment service.

"The app will allow TiVo customers to enjoy some of the best bits from past years as well as the latest news and behind the scenes from this year's event, and is perfect for armchair revellers wanting to get into the spirit of the weekend from the comfort of their homes."