It’s not just sand and sea

Although many people commonly associate Club Med with beach resort holidays, many more aren't aware of the fact that Club Med is also the largest private ski operator in Singapore. We wanted to highlight this through a recent direct mail drive that we rolled out. Apart from that, however, there were other, multiple objectives that we wanted to achieve through this medium. We had conducted a market research study and found that a ski programme would be a viable one for Club Med as Singaporeans are seasoned travellers, with many of them able to afford such holidays as they become more affluent. We also felt it was a good time to open up new destinations to Singaporeans, such as a ski package. With Singapore's ‘matured' market, it was simply a case of being the right time and we felt it would be great for us to introduce such a package ‘now'.

As part of the total campaign, we sent out 7000 mailers to members of our database. We also set up a mini website and sent out ski brochures to travel agents to create awareness of the ski package. In addition, we managed to work out special deals with partners such as ANA airlines and the ski resort in Japan, thus being able to offer an ‘early bird' bonus to members who signed up early -- privileges included the complimentary use of ski equipment, ski passes and lessons, and specially priced tickets to Sahoro, Hokkaido in Japan. We mainly targeted families for this package, the main reason being that children in Singapore want to experience snow.

We chose to launch our programme through the use of a DM simply because other media such as television or radio would have been very expensive. Furthermore, we felt those media would not have been able to sell as much as they would be mainly confined to being an audio and/or visual experience. A DM however, allowed us to promote our all-inclusive package whilst still being creative and different, and it could explain much more to the recipients at their leisure. The size of the DM was also eye catching, and together with the tagline "You've done the beaches... now take to the slopes" definitely caught the attention of consumers. The tantalising deals offered in the ‘early bird' bonus further worked to provide a call to action to consumers to explain the all-inclusive concept. Finally, sending DMs to loyal clients was also a personalised touch that we thought they would appreciate.

We worked together with Litt Lindden Design Associates to come up with the mailer --Creative Director Suvajit Das conceptualised the design, bearing in mind that it had to be a piece that would appeal to the target audience. It was a powerful creative and the visuals of the skier on the snowboard coupled with silver Christmas icons gave the DM that Christmas holiday feeling.

The campaign was not without its challenges though. As this was a regional initiative, we had to find an offer and concept that would appeal to our other offices in Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong as well. We were therefore concerned about getting it right as all the different markets had a different clientele, and we were involved in a lot of discussions with input and views from our other offices in other markets. After that, it was basically a matter of sitting down with our creative agency to work out a suitable concept.

The results, in the end, were staggering. We expected an initial response of 300 sign-ups, but the final response at the end of the campaign was double that -- around 600 people signed up, and we doubled our sales to achieve revenues of $1 million. Many of our customers and partners called about the DM, saying that the offer was too good to be missed -- proof that the DM was very well-received. Further affirmation also came from several Singaporeans whom I met at Sahoro over the holiday season -- they described the mailer as "fantastic".

Mumtaz Moiz is General Manager at Club Med Services Singapore.

The Mail

Objective

To raise awareness of Club Med's ski package and also that the company is the largest private ski operator in Singapore.

Approach

We mailed out a uniquely creative DM to 7000 members of our database, with the DM explaining the product and providing a call to action that this was an offer "not to be missed".

Result

Rooms at the resort were fully booked for the December period, and we doubled sales to generate revenues of $1 million. There are still bookings coming in till March 2006.