About the Client
Our client is a global leader in cloud infrastructure and digital workspace technology, aiming to accelerate digital transformation for IT environments, with a sales force of over 10,000.
The Challenge
The client hosts an annual incentive trip for its top 500 salespeople from around the world, plus guests, each year. These elite performers are deserving – and expecting – an exceptional travel experience.
But, as the pending impact of the coronavirus became apparent, we knew that changes would be needed, presenting an urgent requirement to shift the group travel incentive without losing any momentum and brand loyalty from the original program.
The Solution
We quickly switched gears to provide our client with alternatives to the upcoming incentive trip, ranging from changing the date to shifting its existing budget over to an individual reward program.
Given the unknowns related to COVID-19, our client elected to change the incentive to our individual reward solution, not only for the original client group but also for its two subsidiary companies, totaling over 600 winners. The reward options presented to the winners were customized to exactly fit the needs of the company and its winners within each group and country. These rewards included individual travel and experiences, donations, and more. Our client knew that travel was a must-have option due to its appeal to the audience. Our individual travel option provided everything from customized trips to the Australian Rainforest and Great Barrier Reef to a trip to the Sundance Film Festival. It even provided winners with the option to select from unique experiences, from the Ultimate Porsche Driving Experience to a seat at the next World Series. All the travel option certificates have 36 months to redeem, giving winners plenty of time to schedule beyond the timing of the coronavirus pandemic.
The solution provided included more than just rewards. It included a branded platform with an automated incentive portal, both mobile and web capable. Participants could easily learn about the new program and rewards available to them, then select their preferred reward with ease. Those selecting individual trips received access to a Concierge Experience, providing an agent who could work with them to book their trip from start to finish. And, the program worked for anyone, regardless of their location in the world, and on computers, tablets and smartphones.
Reports were also generated on-demand, allowing the client to monitor activation and preferred rewards for use in future programs.
The Outcome
We were able to transfer the client incentive program from a Group Travel Experience to a digital Individual Reward Solution, from presentation to launch in just three-and-a-half weeks! This quick change resulted in no loss of momentum of the existing program loyalty previously created, which was the primary goal in this situation.
Our client was amazed at our proactive and speed-to-market approach, saying, “Wow, you guys should be presenting this option to everyone right now! The other solution we were investigating would have taken 60-90 days to implement, at a minimum.”
We are most excited to have been able to position the client for immediate success with the program shift to a catalog of reward options, plus being able to introduce a solution that can be expanded with different reward tiers in order to lead behaviors, move the middle and be flexible.
Watch this video below recapping the SITE Crystal Award-winning solution.
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A Rapid Response to COVID-19
