From Smart Startup To Successful Acquisition
Where do people who want to the best deals on airfares go? Bing Travel, of course. Prior to being acquired by the Microsoft, Bing Travel was Farecast, a startup looking to make its mark by predicting whether airfares will rise or fall. Farecast came to Sparkpr with a clear service offering: online tools that empower consumers to be better informed when purchasing airline tickets.
Laying The Foundation
Tasked with elevating consumer media coverage of Farecast, Sparkpr devised a plan that built product news around seasonal travel events. Our team created a messaging and positioning matrix that centered on exciting, “never-before” talking points that were provided as content to influential travel editors and national and regional publications.
Coverage, Interest—Bing.
In less than six months, Sparkpr secured game-changing placements for Farecast, including two separate New York Times Travel columns. And in just nine months, Sparkpr increased coverage by more than 90 percent from the previous year, with regional dailies coverage increasing 130 percent.
The rapid coverage helped pique the interest of acquisition suitors. After Farecast’s acquisition by Bing, Sparkpr built a successful relationship with Bing and Microsoft, working to raise awareness of the new Bing Travel brand and increase the company’s social network following. In 2009, Bing won ‘Best New Start-up’ by Techcrunch.
