In November 2005, a relatively little-known Swedish start-up called Skype approached Spark with big plans: get North America to rethink, and change, how they make phone calls. The company was in the process of being acquired by eBay and needed to quickly introduce Skype for Video into the U.S. market.<\/p>\r\n
Spark conducted a bi-coastal media tour to introduce Skype, Skype for Video and Skype executives to the U.S. market. By heavily promoting the new video feature, Spark instantly captured media interest. Business development meetings were strategically timed with press briefings at the top-tier daily, business and consumer media outlets, as well as a myriad of reviewers and broadcast outlets.<\/p>\r\n
During the Spark strategy engagement, Skype became the world’s leading Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service and a cultural phenomenon. Users grew from 54M to more than 171M, and revenue grew from $5M to $66M. In addition, several business development deals resulted from our initial media tour.<\/p>\r\n
Widespread Skype for Video coverage resulted in more than 150 stories, including placements in Walt Mossberg’s column in the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Washington Post, and USA Today. Broadcast coverage outlets included NBC, NPR, and CBS radio.<\/p>\r\n
Today, every minute of every day, millions of people around the world use Skype to keep in touch – for free.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>"}}