The Carlson Consumer Group has begun a $100,000 direct mail campaign aimed at travel agents.
The effort, which runs through Aug. 31, began May 25 with a customized 100,000-piece mailing urging agents to meet or exceed their previous hotel room booking levels. That piece cost $25,000.
The campaign is part of the travel firm’s Look to Book program, an incentive structure that rewards travel agents making reservations with points that can be redeemed for rewards such as color televisions and travel and lodging perks.
Look to Book gives agents 10 points for each dollar’s worth of bookings they make through the company’s Global Distribution System, and five points for each Thrifty Car Rental booking.
The current mailing features a number of projected bookings specific to each targeted agent. The level is chosen based on a variety of factors, including past performance.
The target figure is usually slightly lower than the agents’ recent activity levels. But agents are awarded double points when they pass this hurdle.
The mailings are part of an ongoing channel test for Minneapolis-based Carlson.
Initially, all 100,000 agents in the company’s database who have made a booking at a Carlson property within the last 24 months will receive the letters. But follow-up efforts during the quarter will help the firm determine which combinations of paper and electronic mail are most effective, as well as the optimum number of communications.
The company has 28,000 e-mail addresses that it will use, but has no immediate plans to test telemarketing.
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