Virgin Media UK Signs Mo Farah to Help its Superfast Broadband “Keep Up”

Cable operator Virgin Media has signed 2012 London Olympic Games champion Mo Farah, whom famously won a gold medal in both the 5,000m and 10,000m runs for Great Britain, to help promote its superfast broadband services alongside sporting icon Usain Bolt.

The deal, which is said to be worth in the region of £500k, has already seen Mo feature in a print ad campaign that launched across a number of national newspapers during the weekend. Suffice to say that we can probably expect even more mocking of Virgin boss Richard Branson in future promotions.

Jeff Dodds, Virgin Medias Executive Director of Marketing, said:

“We’re absolutely delighted to be working with him. Virgin Media is all about delivering brilliant entertainment, and nobody has got the nation cheering at their TVs more than Mo over the last couple of weeks. Like Mo, we are also obsessed with speed, particularly broadband speed. Mo will join our other sponsored athlete Usain Bolt in ensuring that we inspire the nation to ‘Keep Up’.”

None of this should come as much of a surprise, with Virgin frequently making use of celebrity ambassadors (e.g. Stephen Fry, David Tennant, Samuel L Jackson, Uma Thurman and even Speedy Gonzales) to help push its various communication services. Mind you they haven’t always got the mix right but that’s more a matter of personal taste.