Thomas Cook My Holiday Countdown
20:20 created a dynamic programme of highly personalised and targeted marketing activity, which increased sales of the credit card by 9.5 times. The work was Highly Commended at the Data Strategy Awards 2009 for Best use of Data for a Financial Product.
Brief
Develop and grow Thomas Cook Financial Services and position it as the UK's favourite provider of travel-related financial products for consumers.
Thomas Cook Financial Services faced competition from a variety of other holiday specific financial service providers so required a marketing approach which would enable it to identify the needs of potential customers, and satisfy these needs through carefully selected offers and approaches.
Agencies involved
20:20 Dialogue - Insight
Concept, Data, Analytics and Decisioning, Project Management, Communications Strategies, Campaign Management
20:20 Agency
Microsite, Email Marketing
Deliverables
20:20 created a dynamic programme of highly personalised and targeted marketing activity to support Thomas Cook Financial Services in generating sales. The campaign brought together online and offline insight, in real-time, to create highly relevant and timely communications.
Target market and targeting
The My Holiday Countdown campaign was primarily targeted at consumers who had already booked a holiday with Thomas Cook, in order to capitalise on the sales potential that existed within this audience.
Objectives
The main objective of the campaign was to drive additional product sales at key points in the run up to a customer's holiday. Products included the Thomas Cook Credit Card, which could be used to pay for the holiday, Holiday Insurance, Foreign Exchange, Airport Parking and Airport Lounge access.
Strategy and execution
Customers were encouraged to use a dynamic microsite which provided access to information on their chosen holiday destination, including local prices and holiday money tips. They were also encouraged to register their details on the microsite to access and receive further information and offers specific to their destination. The site also featured daily and weekly competitions to win spending money as an incentive to register.
Once the customer had registered on the microsite they were able to count down to their much anticipated holiday as well as access further functions like a holiday checklist, and list of things to do before leaving. Digital Brain followed their usage activity and combined this information with data held offline about their holiday, as well as on Thomas Cook Financial Services products they already held. The result was the generation of specific offers selected from hundreds of options, delivered through the dynamic microsite online and via email, that were precise and relevant to the individual customer in both content and timing.
Digital Brain used pre-defined decision rules and analytics to determine the next action or offer and the most appropriate means of delivering it to the customer. This whole process occurred in real time.
Results
All of the target customer group were sent timed, targeted DM and/or email communications, whether or not they had registered on the microsite. Those who were registered on the micro-site (Group A) received an additional level of personalisation through these messages and on the site, driven by real-time integration of online and offline data using Digital Brain.
A control group (Group C) received no targeted communications during the same period.
As a result of the campaign, in the unregistered group (Group B), cross-sales of the Credit Card product were 4 times more than the control Group C. With the additional layer of real-time personalisation on the micro-site, the conversion rate for Credit Card more than doubled again (or 9.5 times the sales in the control Group C).
Sales of Airport Lounge facilities to the Group B doubled, and tripled among Group A.
Across ALL products, saturation of these additional services doubled within Group B, and nearly tripled within Group A.
The My Holiday Countdown activity and the deployment of Digital Brain demonstrates the success of the next level of personalisation and relevance, through real-time or 'synaptic marketing'. By successfully combining stored offline data with instantly generated online behaviour in real-time, content and offers were targeted with even greater relevance and timing than already evident in the marketing activity aimed at the target group. The uplift in sales conversions when compared with Group B and C clearly demonstrates the success of this approach.
Don't just take our word for it
"We were delighted to have 20:20 on board for this campaign. We were particularly impressed by their innovative approach to the brief, combining immediate results-driven action with long-term vision.
The team is both professional and determined in its desire to deliver results."
Angus Porter, Group Strategy Director, Thomas Cook Financial Services