As you may have read in PR Week and The Holmes Report, Busbud, international bus travel booking and comparison website and app, has appointed Sherlock Communications as its retained content marketing and PR consultancy for Brazil, following a competitive process.
Sherlock has been briefed with developing creative campaigns that will establish the brand as a significant player in Brazil, building awareness and driving downloads among local and international travellers. The campaigns will span traditional, broadcast, online and social media.
Originally inspired from a South American backpacking trip when cofounder LP Maurice experienced difficulties in finding and buying tickets for international bus travel, Busbud was founded in 2011 and has now the largest sellable bus tickets inventory in the world, serving over two million departures to travellers around the world every week. Users can search, compare and buy tickets from hundreds of bus companies in 10,000 cities across 63 countries and 500,000 different bus routes. Privately funded by angel investors and venture funds, the company is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.
The online bus ticket market in Brazil is still very young and represents a nascent opportunity for innovative brands. However, to realise its potential, there is a real need to identify and then educate target consumers of the value of booking tickets online – not just in Brazil but abroad. This is not as straight-forward as conducting a simple media relations campaign; to capture genuine users or those with the potential to repeat purchase, it is critical to engage them online, at the time they are looking for solutions. Speaking personally, as someone previously frustrated by the limitations of Brazil’s online ticket offerings, a slick service like Busbud’s could not come fast enough.
“Sherlock Communications’ proven experience of brand and news generation campaigns, as well as their obvious knowledge and appreciation of the Brazilian media and cultural landscape, made them the obvious partner for our Brazilian expansion” said, Alain Wong, Director of Marketing and Communications, Busbud.
“The team’s international experience shone through in their proactive approach to assessing and adapting international campaigns and stories, knowing intuitively what we would need to do to make each appropriate to the Brazilian market. Having already had some amazing coverage in our first month, we are already well on the way to realising our strategy in Brazil.”
If you would like to learn more about our PR Agency in Brazil for PR consultancy, find out how Sherlock Communications can help you meet your objectives, do drop us a line at [email protected].
