Hackathon

the-brief

The Brief

FusePump’s eager teams were given a simple aim: to use Secret Escapes’ travel product data to solve a marketing challenge. Their solution could apply to any one of the following areas…

Content

Using existing data along with third party APIs as a source for creative and engaging content, whether on-site or off-site.

Research

Understanding trends in customer data sets, and turning browsers into subscribers with engaging digital marketing assets.

Personalisation

Combining data sets to offer up an exceptional user experience, encouraging sign-ups and holiday bookings.

Discovery

Helping customers discover Secret Escapes and the products they offer, improving the process of finding the perfect holiday.

Merchandising

Improving the user experience with engaging tools for gathering information about users, and helping them find the ideal offer.

Social Media

Getting product information in front of fans and followers in a clever way, and aiming for a winning solution that can be used across social platforms.

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Teams

Location

Hours

People

the-winning-idea

The Idea

Teams of developers, business people and designers from both FusePump and Secret Escapes came together on July 23rd and 24th for the second #FPHackathon. Armed with product data from Secret Escapes - the luxury travel brand’s full inventory of holiday deals - four teams came up with a new and innovative way to solve a marketing challenge, in just 24 hours.

Pizza and beers were in plentiful supply, to keep everyone fed and watered as they worked into the night on Thursday, with ideas and demos shown to the judging panel on Friday.

The teams were judged on creativity, technical prowess, presentation skills and commercial savvy, in response to the specific brief set by Secret Escapes.

#FPHackathon Tweets

the-winning-team

The Winning Team

The winners of the Hackathon came up with a clever way for Secret Escapes to build brand trust and show the real value of their offers.

Using existing FusePump technology, the team would gather information availability and price details for offers on competitor sites similar to those on Secret Escapes (i.e. same room and check-in and check-out dates). Based on the insight that Secret Escapes may sometimes offer the same price as a competitor, but for a better room, the technology would also collect those ‘added extras’, such as meals, vouchers and room upgrades. Reviews and ratings from third party sites could be added to the database, which would be normalised and optimised for use in any channel.

The resulting data could then be distributed to the Secret Escapes website and other marketing channels via an API, as additional advertising content. Automated alerts could also be sent to Secret Escapes when competitor prices dropped, and the insights could be used to ensure every listing on their site had the relevant perks to make it a compelling offer.

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Trends in Travel and Digital

FusePump’s travel report examines the importance of product data for digital marketing in travel. We’ve consulted our travel clients and technology partners – looked at key trends and how marketers are using digital channels in order to win new business, engage consumers and sell more travel products online. The report covers:

The effective use of product data for multi-channel marketing
Personalisation and the best uses of content
Digital marketing trends in travel

With comments and insight from Criteo, Secret Escapes, TNS and W Digital this report highlights how using data wisely in digital campaigns can engage and convert the travel consumer...

Download the report now

watch-the-day-unfold

Video

Find out what the hackathon means to those involved, and see how the event unfolded…

Hackathon 2015

An overview of the day

The Hackathon Begins

FusePump & Secret Escapes

Secret Escapes

Introduction

meet-the-winning-team

The Teams

Every team had both technical and commercial minds, working together to create the optimal solution.

FusePump Marketing Director Barney Larkin commented:

“The last hackathon was a great success, and proved how well we can work together on problems - particularly when you bring together a range of skills and knowledge sets. This time, with the involvement of Secret Escapes team members, we were able to apply even greater commercial understanding to the brief, and create some valuable tools for our client.”

TEAM 1
Bhav, Daniela, David, Doby, Joanna, Kieran, Nicky & Ryan
The Teams July 27th, 2015amosfrancis

TEAM 2
Adrian, Bas, Emma, George, Julian, Renato & Ross
The Teams July 27th, 2015amosfrancis

TEAM 3
Alexander, Jaabir, Jack, Ndifreke, Oleg, Olly & Piotr
The Teams July 27th, 2015amosfrancis

TEAM 4
Ana, Dani, Fernando, Jonas, Kirby, Lizette & Sam
The Teams July 27th, 2015amosfrancis

the-judges

The Judges

Rob Durkin

CEO and Co-founder, FusePump

Rob established FusePump in 2009 at the age of 23, offering web-scraping technology that helped marketers manage their product information across multiple online marketing channels. Having sold the company to WPP last year, Rob now also invests in and advises several other ecommerce start-ups, and supports young technology entrepreneurs.

Tom Valentine

COO and Co-founder, Secret Escapes

Tom established Secret Escapes, a free-to-join members-only website and app, specialising in best-in-market flash sales for luxury travel, in 2010. He was formerly product & marketing director at E-Trader Group, product lead at Quiet Riots Ltd, programme director at Seatwave, and strategy and business development manager at eBay.

Patrick Whyte

Deputy News Editor, TTG

Patrick joined TTG (formerly Travel Trade Gazette) in January 2012 after spending a number of years freelancing for the likes of The Guardian, The Evening Standard and ITV. Having previously reported on tour operators, he now spends his time covering airlines and financial news.

Donovan Frew

CTO, Secret Escapes

Having previously worked at i2 and Booking.com, Donovan joined Secret Escapes as CTO in 2012. He will be looking out for technical execution and an understanding of Secret Escapes’ current data.

client-quote

“We love working with FusePump; they always have new ideas and solve our problems quickly and effectively. We are delighted to be involved in the Hackathon, and to see what the teams come up with in response to the brief. It’s great to have a supplier who holds events like this.”

– Secret Escapes –

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Hackathon 2014

The FusePump Hackathon concluded with the six teams presenting their ideas to the three judges – but there could only be one winner. Team 3 a.k.a . Hack Attack took home the prize and the glory, after delivering a hugely impressive pitch and working demo of their Pricing Intelligence Platform.

Find out more

get-in-touch

Get in Touch

Want us to hack your data? We'd love to hear from you to discuss how we can help you succeed in digital commerce.