Virgin Mobile sees pink as headline sponsor of Mardi Gras 2002

• Virgin Mobile is headline sponsor of Mardi Gras


• Virgin Mobile Red Light Cabaret Club in association with The Edge


• Virgin Mobile launches ‘Freedom to Sin’ campaign

Virgin Mobile, the UK’s fifth network, is proud to announce that it is a headline sponsor of Mardi Gras 2002 - Britain’s largest gay and lesbian festival, which takes place at London’s Hackney Marshes on Saturday 6th July.

Virgin Mobile’s Mardi Gras theme is ‘Freedom to Sin’, a theme which will be embraced by its Mardi Gras Partner, The Edge, London’s leading cabaret club. The two companies have come together to present the ‘Virgin Mobile Cabaret Club in association with The Edge’ – a bit of a mouthful, but then that’s not always a bad thing!

Together they will front the ‘Freedom to Sin’ float which will be the first float in the Mardi Gras parade which will begin at midday from London’s Hyde Park, down Piccadilly. Along Whitehall, and ending at Victoria. Then, building on the success of last year’s ‘The Edge Cabaret Tent’, over thirty top acts will perform a varied selection of entertainment, party mayhem and comedy in the biggest ‘big top’ tent yet at the main event at Hackney Marshes.

Special celebrity guests will appear throughout the afternoon and evening including the dizzy air hostess, comedian Pam Ann, kosher queen, Dave Lynn, ‘Young Hearts Run Free’ singer Kim Mazelle and R’n’B diva Angie Brown.

Virgin Mobile is also running its Freedom To Sin campaign on the Mardi Gras website – at www.londonmardigras.com. Visitors to the site will be invited to send in their ‘sin’ – with the most outrageous sins winning a Siemens SL45 phone with connection to Virgin Mobile and two tickets to Mardi Gras. Of course, the best sins will be posted on the website which should make for interesting reading!

The event, which attracts over 100,000 festival-goers, has already secured dozens of big name acts to perform, including H and Claire (formerly of Steps), A1, Atomic Kitten and Westlife on the G.A.Y. main stage.

Steven Day, head of corporate affairs at Virgin Mobile said: “The sponsorship of Mardi Gras is in keeping with Virgin Mobile’s live music and entertainment sponsorship strategy. Mardi Gras festival-goers are an important target market for us, and are a group of people who tend to feel warmly towards Virgin. We are delighted that we can be involved in this event, and take The Edge to them, in what will be a wicked day’s entertainment!”