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TravelShark™ Wins a Prestigious Gold Adrian Award for its Viral Video
Repositioning Campaign

 
Dynamic online travel startup nabs a Gold Advertising Adrian Award
from leading industry marketing association for grassroots campaign



SINGAPORE (January 11, 2012) – The prestigious Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) annual Adrian Awards honored TravelShark with a Gold Award for their social-media-fueled viral video advertising campaign, which announced the company’s rebranding from “Swiftrank” to “TravelShark.”
 
TravelShark’s advertising campaign was built on a razor-thin budget and relied on grassroots social media dissemination for success. The online travel startup was honored alongside more traditional campaigns run by some of largest companies in travel, including Hilton Worldwide, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Norwegian Cruise Line, Pegasus Solutions, and Rosen Hotels & Resorts.

TravelShark’s repositioning announcement aired in June 2011, when the company jettisoned the typical corporate name-change announcements. Instead of providing lofty strategic rationale for the switch, the company developed a self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek video announcement admitting that the company’s old name was rubbish and the new name was much better. This video, alongside five other campaign videos, spread virally across social media channels, garnering thousands of views and impressive, cost-effective attention for the young company and the new brand.
 
“We were thrilled to receive this recognition from HSMAI’s Adrian Awards for such an unconventional, new media campaign,” said Marketing Manager Samantha Lee, who headed the project with agency Plan A PR.  “Our company is growing quickly, but culturally we approach every new opportunity as a scrappy startup, and we believe social channels and this prestigious industry nod confirmed our view that candor, humility, and humor break through the noise of mainstream advertising and traditional positioning styles.”
 
Following up on the video campaign, the company continued the upstart theme at HITEC, the largest hospitality technology conference in June of last year. Mako Mark, the life-size TravelShark, was never far from the company’s booth, and TravelShark shook up the conference by hosting a “Bloody” Mary morning on the show floor.
 
TravelShark will be honored for this Gold Award and the two Silver Awards at the annual Adrian Awards Gala in February in New York City.
 
About TravelShark | TravelShark is the world’s largest online travel network, with thousands of location-based travel websites for destinations around the globe. TravelShark connects global travelers with hyper-local travel solutions and memorable trips. The company’s sites generate profitable revenue for travel companies by driving direct bookings for hotels, resorts, restaurants, spas and more through its Featured Hotel Program. TravelShark recently launched the Sharky Awards, recognizing unique and unexpected “finds” in travel. The TravelShark network includes major-market, content-rich sites like LasVegasHotels.com, SingaporeHotels.com, BeijingHotels.com and HotelLondon.com. TravelShark is headquartered in Singapore, with a U.S. office in Boulder, Colorado. To learn more about how TravelShark can work for your property or travel company, please visit www.travelshark.com, or call +1-720-239-1280 in the U.S. and +65-6734-8515 in Asia Pacific.
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Contact:

Samantha Lee
TravelShark
+1 (720) 239-1286
sam(at)TravelShark(dot)com

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Also See: TravelShark Launches RatherLocal Hyper-Local Dining and Shopping Guides, Reviews on Major Market Sites; Digitizing the rather city guides for the first time, TravelShark offers free insider content and inspiration for locals and travelers / December 2011

TravelShark Introduces the Sharky Awards, Names First Winners; Global travel network highlights and honors unexpected, unique discoveries for global travelers / November 2011

InterContinental Hotels Group Partners With TravelShark to Drive Direct Bookings Worldwide; World's largest hotel group signs agreement listing more than 100 major-market properties on destination-specific global travel sites / September 2011

TravelShark Secures $5 Million in Funding; World’s largest online travel network to continue expansion of content-rich global travel sites and product offerings to hospitality companies and traveling consumers / June 2011

TravelShark Unleashed at HITEC 2011; World’s largest online travel network sinks its teeth into the industry’s premier annual hospitality technology trade show with debut of new corporate identity / June 2011

Swiftrank Changes Name to TravelShark Because It’s a Better Name; In a corporate "aha" moment, online travel startup sheds old name for much cooler name and gets a mascot, t-shirts, and really pumped employees / June 2011

Global Travel Network Swiftrank Ranks On List Of Hottest Online Travel Companies; MomentumIndex declares travel-planning company a ‘Start-Up We Like.’ / May 2011

Swiftrank Expands Presence in Middle Eastern Markets With New ‘Featured Hotel’ Clients in Israel; Dan Hotels Israel, Rimonim Hotels & Resorts, and Inbal Jerusalem Hotel join network of 12,000 location-based travel sites / May 2011

Swiftrank Expands Asia Pacific Footprint with New Hotel Clients in China, India; Online travel network drives 25% of its global business in the rapidly expanding Asia market / April 2011

Swiftrank Bolsters Executive Team With Seasoned Travel Technology Executives; New CEO and SVP boost world’s largest network of international travel websites, help prepare for further growth / March 2011

Swiftrank Migrates to Amazon Web Services Cloud, Maximizing Speed and Reliability for 12,000-Site Global Hotel Network; World’s largest network of leading international travel websites scales dynamically with AWS infrastructure web services platform to support exponential growth / March 2011

Swiftrank Launches 13 Major-Market Travel Sites With Enhanced User Functionality and Performance-Based Marketing For Hoteliers / January 2011


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