From Here On wins full service mandate of iXiGO

With ambitious growth plans in the offing, the Gurgaon-based mobile and web search engine will come out with communication to connect with new customers.

Global travel search engine iXiGO.com has appointed From Here On Communications (FHO) as its full service agency. About eight to 10 agencies were invited to pitch for the account by the Gurgaon-based company in September, 2012.

So far, iXiGO's communication was handled internally by its in-house creative and marketing team. Saurabh Srivastava, vice-present, marketing and product strategy, iXiGO.com, says, "We have more ambitious growth plans now. Hence, there is a need for greater speed of execution. So, we thought of co-handling it with the specialists in this domain."

He adds that the company was looking for an agency with senior creative and brand professionals with the agility of a young agency. "FHO has the right blend of youthful and contemporary approach to the creative and branding process with the backdrop of having worked and created some of the biggest brands in India," Srivastava explains.

Although Srivastava did not reveal details of the communication strategy to be adopted by the brand, he says it has ambitious plans to reach out to relevant and potential users with the aim of simplifying the lives of travellers by providing relevant, curated and accurate information on one page. "Some of them would soon be visible in the marketplace," he says.

Rajesh Aggarwal, managing partner, FHO, says that the travel portal plans aggressive mainstream communication and aims to reach out to more customers. "Currently, we are getting to know the brand's DNA and acclimatising with its look and feel before getting into a mass media campaign,"

he says.

iXiGO, with its punch line 'I explore I go', is a mobile and web travel search engine set up in 2007. In 2011, it raised $18.5 million from SAIF Partners, a private equity and venture capital fund, and travel portal MakeMyTrip. As a result, the two companies own 76.6 per cent of iXiGO.com.

The search engine compiles travel related information including information on destinations, price comparison on hotels, flights and road transport. According to the company's website, its mission is 'to aggregate travel information and make it searchable and useful'.