What to Know Before You Go: Shutterfly Launches Guide for Capturing Summer Travel Memories

Jul 01, 2008

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jul 01, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Today Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFLY), the leading Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service, launches its Hit the Road with Shutterfly summer travel campaign. The centerpiece of the campaign is a minisite that serves as a destination for travelers to find inspiration on where to go this summer and how best to record and tell the story of their summer journeys through photos. The site launches in time for peak travel season – July and August – when Americans go on about 320 million leisure journeys according to the Travel Industry Association. Shutterfly also shares tips and best practices from travel-happy customers on what to pack, snap and more. To learn more, visit www.shutterfly.com/hittheroad.

“The summer travel season is a time of the year when many memories are made,” said Kathryn Olson, chief marketing officer of Shutterfly. “Through our Hit the Road campaign, we want to make it easy and fun for customers to document and share their travel stories and be inspired by others.”

Whether it’s a “staycation” involving a short drive to the nearby beach, a cross-country road trip, or an international get-away, trip-planning is important, but it doesn’t always happen well in advance. According to Shutterfly’s recent informal survey of traveling customers, 41 percent of respondents are spontaneous travelers, planning their trips less than six months in advance.

Hit the Road Photo Map

Shutterfly’s new Hit the Road summer travel minisite offers something for planners and procrastinators alike. Visitors, looking for the perfect place to go, can consult the photo map to see pictures and read comments posted from other travelers depicting exciting adventures around the world. Users are rewarded for adding their own pictures by being entered into weekly site promotions.

Visitors can search the photo map by location, popular posts, tags, and places of interest to get inspired for their own summer vacation. Or, they can browse customer’s travel photo books featured in Shutterfly Gallery for even more ideas. Finally, the Hit the Road minisite offers articles ranging from must-have gear and how to get the perfect shot to ways to make your day-trip last forever through photo memories and ideas on not-to-be-missed destinations.

Top 10 U.S. Travel Destinations

A recent customer survey revealed following Top 10 most popular – and possibly unexpected – U.S. road trip destinations:

— Acadia National Park, Maine

— Biltmore Estate, North Carolina

— Cape Cod, Massachusetts

— Black Hills, South Dakota

— Door County, Wisconsin

— Hocking Hills, Ohio

— Starved Rock State Park, Illinois

— Wisconsin Dells Waterpark, Wisconsin

— Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

— Yosemite, California

Regardless of the “where,” Shutterfly encourages travelers to pack liberally when it comes to cameras and supplies. Survey respondents agree, citing the following as the critical must-haves: a digital camera, extra batteries and several camera memory cards.

Once back from the trip, travelers can get ideas on how to preserve their vacation memories by visiting Shutterfly Gallery, a new community platform for sharing photo books and connecting with others. Shutterfly Gallery enables members to share their thoughts and perspectives on storytelling by sharing their photo books with the community at large. If a Gallery visitor sees a photo book they like, Shutterfly allows them to “Make One Like This,” a unique new feature that allows customers to “copy” posted photo books and use the designs as templates for their own personal creations. To expand sharing beyond Shutterfly.com, photo books posted to the Shutterfly Gallery can also be embedded into a personal webpage or a travel blog. To learn more about the Shutterfly Gallery, visit http://community.shutterfly.com.

For more ideas on how to turn your travel memories into treasured keepsakes, please visit http://www.shutterfly.com/shop/product_c20050/Travel.

About Shutterfly

Founded in 1999, Shutterfly, Inc. is the leading Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service. Shutterfly provides high quality products and world class services that make it easy, convenient and fun for consumers to preserve their digital photos in a creative and thoughtful manner. Shutterfly’s flagship product is its award-winning Photo Book line, which helps consumers celebrate memories and tell their stories in professionally bound coffee table books. More information about Shutterfly (NASDAQ:SFLY) is available at www.shutterfly.com. Shutterfly and Shutterfly.com are trademarks of Shutterfly, Inc.

SOURCE: Shutterfly, Inc.

Shutterfly, Inc.
Media Relations:
Gretchen Sloan, 650-610-5276
gsloan@Shutterfly.com

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