As part of its ongoingresearch initiative, the SITE International Foundation recently released its Focus on Destination Selection study. The report reviewed the key factors that determine which locations are selected as rewards for performance in motivational marketing programs, identifying the top three up-and-coming destinations as Africa, Hawaii and China. Another key finding: While budgets are on the rise, many respondents are choosing to stay closer to home, limiting travel time to between three and nine hours. The Site Index maintains ongoing research that serves as an analysis and forecast for the motivational events industry. The research is available to Site members as well as motivational events industry professionals. Complete annual survey and interim report results are available at SITE's website, www.siteglobal.com
Looking for an innovative, low-cost option to use as an incentive for a subscription, membership, customer retention, employee engagement, or other types of premium and incentives offerings? Then look closely at Thomas Cook's Lifestyle and Vacation Incentives (LVI) from Atrium Enterprises. Thomas Cook is one of the world's largest travel companies. In the U.S., it's a wholesale travel provider to online travel services like Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, and American Express. Thomas Cook's LVI unit operates a membership-based "Concierge Travel Club" and has created customized travel experiences and travel certificates in a variety of forms for a roster of Fortune 500 companies. In fact, Engagement Strategies Magazine (ESM) will soon be offering a travel club membership, plus a $100 certificate towards the member's first booking, as part of its own upcoming renewal promotion. According to Ken Sternfeld, President and CEO of Atrium, "It's an effective solution that can be marketed by any company in the incentive industry, to extend their brand through a partnership with the world's largest travel provider. It's very low cost because we're not providing a manufactured product, and the recipient will save hundreds and hundreds of dollars by having access to the world's only wholesale travel provider that is priced lower than the Expedias and Travelocitys of the world." For more information, go to www.atriumenterprises.com/
The Executive Committee of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has announced that Christine Duffy, President and CEO of Maritz Travel and one of the most dynamic leaders in the travel industry, will become the association's new President on February 1st. Duffy replaces Terry Dale, who was CLIA President for seven years, bringing with her an impressive record of success with Maritz and extensive experience in all aspects of the travel industry that impact cruising, including the travel agency distribution system, sales and marketing, legislative affairs and issues management. A travel agent prior to becoming a leading chief executive in business, Duffy enjoys industry-wide respect and recognition for her vision, dedication, energy and management skills. She will be based in CLIA's Washington, DC office and also work from the association's offices in Fort Lauderdale. Duffy has served on the Meeting Professionals International (MPI) Board of Directors for six years, serving as Chairwoman in 2005-2006. She also founded MPI's Women's Leadership Initiative, served as its inaugural Chairwoman, and has been a regular speaker for the industry on women's leadership. In addition, the St. Louis Business Journal recognized her as one of the 25 Most Influential Business Women, Corporate Meetings and Incentives magazine chose her as one of the Top 10 Women Leaders in the Meeting Industry, and Meetings News magazine named her one of the 25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry four times. For more info, go to www2.cruising.org/cruisenews/news.cfm?NID=196516
The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) and the International Association of Congress Centres (AIPC) have collaborated to produce a new publication dealing with the issue of convention center contracts. The project was driven by Alec Gilbert, Chief Executive of the Adelaide Convention Centre and Chair of the ICCA Venues Category, and AIPC Board Member Clare Amsel, Director of Conferences of the Megaron Athens International Conference Centre. The final document draws from the experience and views of senior center representatives from around the world, providing a starting point to understanding the main topics that should be addressed in any contract negotiation. "We owe a real debt of gratitude to our task force members, who supplied all the expertise to this extensive review," says Amsel. "This is a highly complex topic and would have been impossible to address properly without a wide range of perspectives on the variables related to each part of a centre contract." More info at www.iccaworld.com/cnt/files/ICCA-Intelligence/Intelli-centres.pdf
Advantage Travel & Incentives, which was acquired by ALTOUR last summer, has begun a rebranding process and is changing its name. Effective immediately, the corporate travel component of the company will be known as ALTOUR. The area of the agency that designs and delivers conferences, meetings, events, group incentive travel, and performance marketing is now called ALTOUR Performance. Located in Savage, MN, the company was established in 1995 by Mary Sue Leathers, who continues to oversee agency operations as President. ALTOUR and ALTOUR Performance together provide a range of travel and marketing services to corporate clients. On the group travel side, the company plans and operates conferences, meetings and events for a variety of organizations. The agency's corporate travel business assists clients in managing their day-to-day travel activity, placing special emphasis on achieving policy compliance and cost reduction. The agency's marketing business is highlighted by a proprietary web-based performance improvement platform called to your advantage. Clients apply the technology to foster efficiency within employee, channel, and consumer populations. For more information, please visit www.ALTOUR.com
Industry veteran Paul Kiewiet is now offering personal life and business coaching services through BrandKiwi, LLC. Kiewiet, the former chairman of PPAI and founder of Promotion Concepts, Inc., has worked in the sales promotion, promotional products and marketing communications industries for 30 years. He received his Certified Professional Coach designation from the Fowler Wainright International Institute of Professional Coaching. Kiewiet is an international speaker and frequent contributor to industry publications. A member of the National Speakers Association, he has provided keynotes, workshops, sales meetings and facilitation services to associations, manufacturers, agencies and industry groups around the world. He was an early advocate in the field of engagement as a trustee of the Forum For People Performance Management and Measurement and member of the Advisory Board of the Enterprise Engagement Alliance. "As organizations adopt cultures of engagement, they will not only need coaches and consultants to assist with implementation, but will also discover the power of coaching to enhance employee engagement and enrichment," he says, adding "When we align ourselves with our passions, our purpose and our values, we create a life of meaning and prosperity." To learn more, visit his website at www.Create2bGreat.com
How is technology shaping the modern travel consumer? Well, 75% of leisure travelers look to the Internet for travel information – but do they find too much information or not enough to make an informed decision? A recent Travelport study, The Well Connected Traveller, reveals rapid changes in consumer behavior. Want to find out what 62% of travelers are doing now that they probably weren't doing at all five years ago? Travelport engaged The Futures Company to conduct global research into the end-to-end travel process consumers undertake, from inspiration to shopping to booking to post-trip evaluation. Some highlights:
For more information, go to www.travelport.com/customer_community.aspx
The November/December issue of Engagement Strategies Magazine is out! Here's a look at what you'll find inside:
In this revealing Q&A, White Castle owner Dave Rife talks about how his experience on the TV show Undercover Boss helped him discover how the old truths about engagement still apply. To make sure you get your copy of Engagement Strategies Magazine, go to www.enterpriseengagement.org/account/login/ and update your subscription today! Read more >
"It's a totally different environment from when I sold back in the 1990s," says Jamie Jones, Novo Nordisk Sales Director. "So we wanted to pay attention to those Generation X and Generation Y salespeople to make sure we had a program that encouraged behavior and offered rewards consistent with how those people think. Read more >
A new White Paper, How Social Media is Changing Corporate Performance, discusses how lessons learned from Social Media are helping corporate employee-engagement experts capitalize on the momentum in self-motivated, peer-driven participation. Corporate recognition, rewards and incentive programs for employees are actually the unsung pioneers of the kind of 'social points' activity like we see in Social Media games like Farmville and others. By leveraging the power of online systems, corporations can provide a familiar social environment similar to those in which people have already chosen to engage during their own time. You can bring the power of Social Behaviors to your employees by offering intrinsic/extrinsic motivation rewards and recognition programs. Peer-to-Peer awards let people recognize each other. Team-based activities allow for relationship-building and trust. Wellness programs show that you care about employees' health challenges and that you want to help through education and online tools. Open 'suggestion programs' accelerate innovation by creating a meritocracy. To view the full report, go to www.dittmanincentives.com
Does your organization have a transactional website to handle bulk sales of merchandise to qualified buyers or points programs for incentive companies? The incentive industry is one of the few areas of business that doesn't have a true transactional model to support its end-users and incentive companies. The Corporate Rewards Exchange is a cooperative effort of leading brands, incentive fulfillment firms and incentive companies to build a new distribution channel for sale of gifts to corporations, incentive companies and marketing services firms. The CRE enables brands to tap into a large ad hoc market for bulk gifts and rewards in a way they can carefully control, providing a powerful means for incentive companies to more effectively use their products in reward programs via a highly automated billing, redemption, tracking and customer service system. It's designed to support all of the current players in the incentive marketplace by providing a more efficient means of offering rewards to end-users and incentive companies, at a very low cost. For more information, please contact us for a demo.
Selling Communications, Inc. is a fully integrated, target marketing, media and technology agency that improves results for clients by focusing on the people who matter most. We can help your business grow and save you money by targeting key prospects, getting their permission and strategically integrating your marketing and sales communications with the specific audiences most likely to affect your business performance.
Take advantage of these SCI services to improve your business development:
For more information on Selling Communications, its products and services, contact Jim Kilmetis at 914-591-7600, ext. 229 or send an e-mail to jkilmetis@sellingcommunications.com.
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