Travel Feature

Everyone likes to get away from it all - especially at someone else's expense! We look at what's on offer home and abroad, assess the efficacy of the past year's holiday promotions and predict what's hot and what's not for 2005 ...

What's proving to be really effective in the promotional holiday armoury during 2005?

• City Breaks with music concerts / festivals
• Movie related prizes – movie location trips
• Sports prizes – Grand Prix / Football
• Extreme / Adventure trips – Volcanoes / Deserts / Everest

Huge array of travel prizes from romantic w/e break city breaks to extreme living on the edge adventure holidays to walking holidays in the Alps, so no one single effective idea. The effectiveness lies in the ability to marry a brand identity with an experience / activity or destination, this is how the brand comes to life and its identity is cemented in the consumers long-term memory mind and the return on investment is maximized.

How have world events shaped the market in recent years and how has your organisation responded?

The major events to have happened since the start of the new millennium have been 9/11, The war in Iraq, the SARS virus and the recent Tsunami in South East Asia, all of which to a greater or lesser degree have had an impact on travel prizes within the promotions and incentives market.

9/11 and Iraq both had a significant impact on the travel industry as a whole as both were man made events and both centred around the new wave of terrorism which unfortunately has become a real concern over recent years. As a result of these events people became far more cautious of traveling further afield, with European destinations becoming more and more popular. As a business we recognized that in the short-term, whilst travel would still be an option alternative experiences needed to be provided. Our strategy was to focus our travel products on locations closer to home, which could still provide that unique element such as quirky hotels or VIP activities / events. We also expanded our non travel portfolio and developed a significant number of UK experiences such as movie premieres, playing table football with an England international and recreating a game of Quidditch at Shepperton studios with the actual Harry Potter flying team. In addition to this we developed a core number of products within the consumer goods space such as ‘own your own pub’ and signed sporting, movie and music memorabilia. A few years down the line the necessity to expand outside of travel has actually helped us to grow our business, with travel now accounting for about 60% of our business with the interest in our non travel product continuing to rise.

The SARS virus had far less impact on the market as people had almost become immune to further disasters and were far more willing to travel, the fact that people knew where the SARS virus was located helped and was in stark contrast to the threat of terror which was such a huge unknown.

The effects of the Tsunami are not the same as those we’ve encountered in the past – partly because of the sheer level of devastation but also because it’s a natural, rather than man-made disaster.

To look around the travel industry at the moment you will see little talk of the impact to businesses, but purely action in the form of helping the existing channels of aid and initiatives. These consist of wider groups such as the Travel Aid "50" which donates 50p per booking to tsunami relief projects, to very specific projects set up by stand alone companies. British Airways have channelled their "Change for Good" to Unicef projects for the month, not to mention the work they and other airlines have done in repatriation flights and delivery of provisions and aid.

Any reputable travel promotion specialist will have solid procedures and fall backs in place for these ‘acts of god’ even when they are on such an unimaginable scale. Booked holidays and promotions will already have been quickly re-arranged to take place at a later date or at an alternative destination, so apart from sorting out the logistics the impact will be relatively manageable.

Do travel promotions continue to attract big interest from the public?

Travel, cash and cars have always been the key motivators in any promotion. The rise of the ‘experience economy’ - the concept of people placing more value on experiences than material goods – dictates that people are more interested in fulfilling dreams, travel has an ability like no other mechanic of ensuring people realize their dreams.

Despite a few turbulent years holidays and travel are still considered to be one of the most effective and desirable incentives with consumers. In today’s society travel is the ultimate escape from our hectic and stressed lifestyles and it is highly emotive, sparking positive images and life-long memories.

Experiential tourism is growing rapidly and subsequently our expectation of holidays has changed beyond recognition. ‘Once in a lifetime’ events such as swimming with dolphins or staying in an ice hotel, have quickly become passé.

Today’s consumers want ‘Experiences’ and nothing motivates more than the chance to fulfill their lifetime dream. As a result travel promotion companies have to be ever more creative in their solutions, which is good news for the industry as the best providers are becoming more specialist.

We commissioned a report to investigate a phenomenon dubbed the ‘Experience Economy’ and discovered that 60% of people had compiled a list of ‘must do’ experiences before they die. The ‘Experience Economy’ relates to the trends towards placing less personal value on material goods and to investing instead in memories and the experiences that create them. Plainly put consumers today want to spend their time pursuing their passions and fulfilling their dreams. The vast majority of these ‘dreams’ were travel related and demonstrates the shift in attitude of consumers towards what they deem a ‘once in a lifetime’ trip and highlights why brands need to offer innovative travel prizes for their promotions and incentives. The unique element of a travel promotion might only be half an hour but the duration is irrelevant versus the need to provide an experience which the consumer wouldn’t have ordinarily thought of doing or know where to go to book it themselves. If this is achieved then ‘travel’ as a promotional tool is unparalled as it’s such an emotive experience.

All you have to do is look at the MCCA & ISP industry awards to see how many successful campaigns have utilised some form of travel promotion to recognise the significance travel plays in the promotions and incentives market and how motivating it is as a promotional mechanic. The bottom line is people love to travel and we provide them with the experiences that they wouldn’t ordinarily be able to organise for themselves – this aspirational value is what continues to stimulate the general public and ensure travel will always play an integral role in consumer promotional campaigns.

What type of travel promo best suits a particular audience: oldies, execs, families, youngsters etc?

Whatever the age / demographics of your target market the prize has to be something that is inherently going to be of interest to them, otherwise the motivational pull towards the brand will not exist, they won’t engage with the product and ultimately the promotion won’t be a success.

Oldies - Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because you are targeting the ‘oldies’ that all they want to do is walk around manicured gardens in stately homes in Italy – whilst they might well be interested in this, they are also the original thrill seekers the kids of the Sixties who are every bit as adventurous and open to new experiences.

Execs - Typically this audience will live a hectic lifestyle be stressed and expect the finer things in life whether it is cars, restaurants, hotels, clothes etc…Therefore the type of experience that is more likely to attract this target market will focus on luxurious destinations, unique experiences to tell there friends about at dinner parties etc…

Families - With govt. and schools clamping down on parents taking their kids out of school during term time, it is imperative that restriction dates don’t cover the school holiday period. Holidays which enable the parents to enjoy the break is also quite important – a trip with plenty of activities and a destination that allows parents to spend time with their kids as well as time alone with themselves.

Youngsters - The majority of successful campaigns aimed at kids are based around their heroes and can be tied into sports personalities, pop idols or movies – for example live like a pop star or learn to be a magician like Harry Potter / learn to cook like Jamie Oliver / play table football with David Beckham etc.

What tips can you offer the marketing exec that’s charged with sourcing a holiday promotion or else incentivising staff?

First and foremost use a travel promotions specialist they:

• Know the promotions and incentives industry
• Have access to the most innovative and unique experiences in the market
• Know the potential pitfalls of travel promotions
• Can advise on tried and tested solutions
• Understand there is a marketing objective behind the activity
• Will look after your prize-winners from start to finish and more importantly treat them like VIP’s to ensure there aren’t any problems
• Can work with you to provide imagery, consult on sponsorship issues etc…
• Can be flexible to last minute changes

It will undoubtedly make the process far easier and will ensure a professional approach with experts who know what they are doing.

If they decide to go it alone then at the very least make sure:

• You use a registered ABTA / ATOL licensed operator
• Check with Foreign Office for off limits destinations.
• Check for restrictions of travel dates - If there are a number of restrictive dates of travel because the provider is trying to keep costs down then the consumer won’t view the prize as that appealing because the likelihood is that they won’t be able to travel when they want.
• Ensure the travel experience reflects your brand personality and underlines core brand credentials. Experiences offer brands huge scope in which to bring to life an image. For example, portraying a luxurious brand with a trip to a 5 star resort in the Maldives or an active/sporty brand with an adrenaline junkie trip white water rafting down the Zambezi goes a long way to communicating key marketing messages.
• Know what competitors have done recently – you don’t want to do the same.
• Don’t forget the small details they really do count, like convenient travel dates and setting up the logistics to ensure the smooth running.