The brief

FlightsFinder is a flight comparison platform — a brand competing in one of the most expensive and crowded online markets in the UK. Skyscanner, KAYAK, Google Flights, Kayak — the big players spend enormous amounts on advertising to dominate the January peak, when ABTA data shows searches for holidays spike dramatically as Brits shake off the winter blues and start planning their summer.

FlightsFinder couldn’t compete with those budgets. But they could be smarter. They came to Motive for a three-month PR campaign running from November through January — designed to build brand visibility and earn editorial presence in travel and consumer media at exactly the moment when their target audience was most engaged.

The approach

The campaign was built around a simple strategic insight: in a market dominated by big advertising budgets, agility and relevance win. Rather than trying to out-shout the major players, we focused on being consistently useful to travel journalists and their readers — providing the angles, data and expert commentary that made FlightsFinder the brand journalists called when they needed a travel perspective.

We developed a series of consumer-focused content angles that spoke directly to the concerns of winter travellers. Hand luggage liquid rules — a perennial source of confusion and reader interest. Black Friday flight deal hacks — timed perfectly for peak search. Consumer rights around Christmas and New Year flight delays — a topic that generated significant reader interest as disruption stories dominated the news.

For the January peak, when Brits were actively planning summer holidays, we developed a data-led index of airport parking costs — analysing major UK airports and highlighting the average costs holidaymakers could expect to pay. Original data gives journalists an exclusive story. Exclusive stories get placed. The parking index earned coverage across travel and consumer titles precisely when FlightsFinder’s target audience was making booking decisions.

The result

63 items of coverage in three months — a strong return for a short campaign in one of the most competitive sectors in consumer PR. The coverage was timed deliberately to peak ahead of and during January, when holiday searches surge and FlightsFinder’s brand visibility had the most commercial value.

This campaign is a good example of what PR can do for a brand that can’t compete on advertising spend. You don’t need the biggest budget. You need the right stories, placed in the right publications, at exactly the right moment. That’s what Motive delivered.