Winner: Vollmer Public Relations
Campaign: Travelocity.com Inc. Investor Relations Program
Budget: Budget for this ongoing program was a retainer of $12,500 per month plus expenses.
Travelocity's situation when it launched a major investor relations campaign in 2001 was unique: It was a profitable dotcom with a sound business model. Seems like a story that
would sell itself, right? Wrong. Too many professionals covering the e-commerce world had been burned when the bottom fell out of the dot-conomy.
Vollmer had been handling the e-tailer's PR since its inception in 1996. But the company realized it didn't have the infrastructure to handle the financial communications for a
public company, says Al Comeaux, VP of PR for the travel firm. So execs turned to Vollmer for investor relations support as well, which made for effective integrated
communications. "One of the keys to success of the program is that PR and IR were working well together," says Jennifer Tweeton, VP of IR at Vollmer.
The PR firm conducted interviews with the Travelocity executive team to determine goals and objectives. It also interviewed analysts, portfolio managers and investors to
determine what needed to change. They discovered the conference call was too long and thus discouraged analysts from participating, and that dependence on airlines and new
competition were among concerns about the company that kept its stock undervalued.
Vollmer's PR and IR staff began working closely to develop consistent messages. They emphasized that Travelocity had achieved and was maintaining profitability, had strong
leadership and bottom line growth and predictability. The messages were incorporated into earnings releases and call scripts, and Vollmer drove them home in media training.
The payoff: The integrated approach worked, with sell-side coverage increasing from seven to 12 analysts, beating the goal 10 analysts. Travelocity presented at nine investment
conferences in 2001, and had successful road shows around the globe. News and business media coverage increased 32 percent, with quality of coverage increasing substantially in
pubs like The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, The New York Times and in broadcast outlets. Most importantly, the company's stock appreciated 128 percent, and market
capitalization grew a whopping 300 percent to $1.2 billion. Comeaux credits the tremendous success to the integrated approach. "It worked very well that we could dovetail IR and
PR." (Contacts: Comeaux, 817/785-8003; Tweeton, [email protected])