After a year-plus of behind-the-scenes planning, we're incredibly proud to re-introduce ourselves as Going. Don't worry. Our Founder Scott Keyes is still here—and so are the rest of us—and we’re still committed to being on the traveler's side by helping you see more of the world for less.
But travel isn't just about snagging that cheap ticket. It's about so much more, and our new brand identity and new name reflect that.
As Going, we broaden people's perspectives of how to travel through enticing, unexpected opportunities. And we encourage our members to invite the unexpected to reveal a world of greater travel possibility. There’s a big world out there, and we want to help you explore it all.
Scott's Cheap Flights basically named itself. After finding one jaw-dropping flight deal after another, Scott quickly gained a reputation for sleuthing and snagging cheap tickets. Scott’s sought-after service was the brand. As a name, Scott's Cheap Flights was personal and authentic—we couldn't dream of a better one at the time.
Once Scott's Cheap Flights was official in 2015, it took off more than Scott ever imagined. The business evolved from an email newsletter sent by Scott to a few thousand inboxes to a membership reaching over 2 million members daily—with more than 60 employees.
Through all this growth and change, our brand's commitment to being personal and authentic became stronger. But at a 2021 company retreat in Cabo, we realized Scott’s Cheap Flights was no longer the most authentic representation of the company and the brand.
It was time to retire Scott's Cheap Flights, expand the brand, and help our members think about travel beyond cheap flights. We knew a world of greater travel possibility existed. Who better than our team of passionate travel experts to help people find it?
We had already created a brand our team was proud of, and our members loved. In this attempt to do it all over again (no pressure), we knew it was crucial to involve our employees and members immediately. So, we started the rebranding process just like we'd plan a trip: with extensive research.
We analyzed data, tested hunches, and allowed for the unexpected. Ultimately, a new brand strategy emerged.
Our manifesto is the long-form narrative that guides us.
Our brand purpose sums up why we exist as a company. It’s our reason for being.
Our proposition is what we offer to our members. It’s the promise we make every day.
Our brand idea is why people should choose us over any other travel company.
Our behaviors are what guide our actions in everything we do, every feature we create, and every message we send.
All this adds up to our new brand platform.
Once we knew how we wanted to express our new brand, we needed a new name.
No one was more excited about the name change than Scott, eager to redirect the credit to the hard-working team. Still, we had to be sensitive to the fact that we were moving away from an established name that spoke to our roots. Plus, it was human and approachable—members really like Scott (we do, too). How could we honor our past while moving forward?
The answer: thoughtfully and thoroughly. Really thoroughly. We reviewed over 3,000 names, then put the best through trademark reviews, linguistics tests, and rigorous company-wide debates. Everyone had a chance to weigh in on the new name, using the following criteria as a guide:
We're travel obsessed. Our members are travel obsessed. Our job is to obsess about travel with them. Our new name needed to speak to this, but not in a way that hits you over the head. For example, we purposefully didn't consider names that included the words "travel" or "flight."
Practically, our new name had to avoid short-term trends and industry niches. Creatively, it had to give us room to expand and experiment. Fundamentally, it had to engage a global audience, be understandable across languages, and not accidentally offend. (Someday we’ll tell the story of all the names we couldn’t use, like Abunda.)
”Scotch what?” “Sheep fights?” Those are just a few examples of the hilarious ways people have misheard our name, or how an admittedly long, clunky name like Scott's Cheap Flights has confused people who hear about us for the first time. We've noticed folks like to abbreviate our brand to "SCF," too, so we knew it was crucial to take this opportunity to streamline and shorten our brand name.
Going ticked every box.
Our branding agency partner, DesignStudio, created the Going logo with legibility, playfulness, approachability, and a sense of motion in mind—and nailed it.
Our logo is representative of three distinct aspects of the Going brand:
Working closely together, our team of designers and the team at DesignStudio developed a complete and unique visual language that's friendly and familiar, yet enticing.
After more than a year of hard work, we’re thrilled—and yes, a little anxious (dare we say, nerve-cited)—to finally have Going out in the world. We hope you love it as much as we do.
And while it’s a lot of change, it’s all for good. The things our members love about us—our great deals, deeply knowledgeable flight experts, travel tips, destination guides, and even Scott himself—will still be here. And they’ll be joined by some incredible new tools and features in the coming year.
We’re so excited to reveal a world of greater travel possibility to you. Now we hope you’ll invite the unexpected with us, together, as Going.