Shine On

To say that the business traveller market is merely a big business is a massive understatement. In fact, nearly every major airline carrier is strengthening its reins on the business traveller market and for good reason.Priority check-ins, redemption points, preferred and priority seating, making sure your passengers get their favourite magazine as well as free pick up and shuttle services are just some of the lengths companies will go to in order to keep these customers coming back.

Major air carriers, regional media brands, tourism operators and advertisers are doubling their efforts to tap into this lucrative market, locking in cross-promotions with hotel chains, major banking institutions and restaurant groups.

Whether it's high-powered business executives, leisure travellers, annual family vacationers or just travel bargain hunters, advertisers are directing a lot of effort and marketing spend into direct, online, email and business-to-business marketing channels.

To highlight just how much money the business travellers sector generates, the Aeroplan Programme, a loyalty club created by Air Canada, listed on the American Stock Exchange in 2005 with a market value of US$2 billion (S$2.9 billion). Today Aeroplan holds huge amounts of marketing might, with more than 60 commercial partners representing over 100 brands which members can spend with to accumulate Aeroplan Miles.

In line with these efforts, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has launched the "Starwood Preferred Guest" Moments, a programme designed to extend the geographical appeal of its online auction website where customers may exchange earned member points for exclusive events like red-carpet movie premieres, closed rehearsals of top music artists, private dinners with world-renowned chefs or a game of golf with PGA TOUR professionals.

But as the frequent traveller demographic grows and as airlines tickets get cheaper, marketers need to consider new strategies to retain customers and treat them as individuals, rather than a mass audience. Understanding the value which drives marketing associations and alliances are of growing importance at a time when the internet is emerging as serious competitor to loyalty clubs.

In today's environment of gigantic airline alliances and frequent flyer program partners, it is easy to be lost on the big-name and international carriers. But a growing fleet of second-tier carriers are competing heavily in the frequent traveller market, not through frequent flyer programs, but on offering cheaper services to both the leisure and, increasingly, business travellers.

Low-cost carrier Tiger Airways does not offer a rewards programs but instead aims to ensure all travellers are catered to through its low-cost offering. However, the group does offer a range of add-on products such as luggage upsize, sports equipment check-in and seat selector, and holds various partnerships with budget hotel and car rental groups.

Rosalynn Tay, Tiger Airways chief marketing officer, says the airline does not want to segregate its passengers by launching a frequent flyer program, and admits it is constantly looking at ways to improve and build its frequent traveller market.

"With Tiger Airway's consistently low fares, passengers are now able to afford to travel more frequently and to more destinations and travellers who previously were unable to afford to travel by air are now able to," Tay says.

A key target segment of consumers has been identified as The Internationalists by BBC World. This focus group of new age citizens are quickly taking their places alongside the bourgeois as decision-drivers, avid travellers, big spenders and conscientious consumers who are populating the modern market. BBC World launched a marketing campaign of the same name to promote its gathering of different ideas and opinions stemming from a wider audience who are beginning to influence the market globally.

"The campaign allows us to express the unique qualities of the BBC World audience to the media in a new way. The audience is so much richer and more diverse in behaviour and attitude than a purely C-suite target audience. It encompasses the worlds of academia, the public sector, opinion-drivers, global citizens, and professionals who operate outside, as well as inside, the boardroom," Jonathan Howlett, director, advertising sales, for BBC Global Channels, said.

When asked to comment how The Internationalists influence companies who wish to target business travellers, Sunita Rajan, VP of advertising sales (Asia, Australasia) of BBC World said, "[The Internationalists] are the exact audience our clients are looking at. For many business travellers themselves are big followers of BBC broadcasts. Whether it's technology, finance, lifestyle, business or travel it's all very relevant."

A survey conducted on The Internationalists between 24 to 54 by BBC found 63% are into travel, 75% into lifestyle, 75% into developments in technology, 50% into finance and 89% into business news.

Frequent media options

Like air carriers, media companies are focusing a lot of attention on how frequent travellers make media decisions.

For many media companies, the frequent traveller market represents a huge advertising and reader category. For some like National Geographic, CNN, BBC and Dow Jones, the frequent business traveller market represents a significant source of advertising revenue.

National Geographic Channel Asia (NGC) says the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors are the largest advertiser category within the group.

Avinash Himatsinghani, VP of advertising sales and partnerships for National Geographic Channel and Fox International Channels Asia, says it is an important strategy to extend the NGC brand and attract new customers.

"The frequent business traveller market is very important to us. As a channel showcasing stories about the world to everyone around the globe, we enjoy long standing partnerships with leading airlines, tourism boards and hotel brands from across the region," Himatsinghani says.

NGC has also tailored a number of campaigns for the frequent flyer market for clients including Cathay Pacific and the Hong Kong tourism board. Its offerings also include NGC branded entertainment areas in airport lounges.

"So whether it is the special National Geographic Channel HD Showcase located at Changi Airport in Singapore that entertains them with high-definition quality documentary programs, breathtaking visuals and compelling storytelling or it's the nearly half a million hotel rooms that National Geographic Channel is available in Asia Pacific, including some of the leading hotel chains in region - we are always on the look out for opportunities to reach out and entertain business travellers."

Dow Jones places a lot of focus on the frequent traveller market and distributes around 80,000 copies of its business title The Wall Street Journal to airport terminals and is also exclusively distributed to VIP lounges at Changi International Airport and has a distribution deal with specially arranged cars and airport buses that provided for transfers and shuttle services between various venues and hotels.

Lesley Kelly, managing director of sales for Dow Jones Consumer Media Group, says the frequent traveller market is a very important segment for the company, both in terms of readers and advertisers.

"[It is] very important naturally, given the unique profile of our readers who are highly affluent, in senior executive positions and consequently frequent travellers for business and leisure."

"It's worth remembering that the long-haul inbound travel market is a valuable segment as well, and business travel advertisers are keen to reach Wall Street Journal readers based outside the Asia Pacific region in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and the Americas."

Kelly says a recent travel study from The Wall Street Journal Asia illustrated how important the frequent traveller market was to the company. Some 83% of Wall Street readers are members of frequent flyer programmes.

Relations matters

But there is no doubt when signing into the frequent travellers market, that relationships and brand association are powerful tools.

Take for example Asia Miles, which lends its considerable weight and its customer database to hundreds major brands from the telecommunication sector, hotel stores, retail brands, banking groups and travel and leisure companies.

Equal Strategy, an environmental branding concept creator, emphasises marketing to business travellers is one of the many applications of the science and art of ‘Sensory Branding', or reaching out to consumers on a variety of touch points.

Like how consumers will associate black curves for style, Naumi turns to the olfactory and auditory senses to sell. As Singapore's newest boutique business hotel, it has sought Equal Strategy expertise to touch its guests and field their sensory faculties by adding Asian scents and sounds to the décor, adding to the allure of the place.

Simon Faure-Field, CEO of Equal Strategy says, "Businesses are no longer just selling products but they are selling experiences. When you walk into a hotel like Naumi you don't just see the reception and dining areas and hotel staff in a very visual manner - you also hear and you smell things".

"Music sets in a specific tone and mood, and the sense of smell is directly connected to the brain's centres for memory. A hotel lobby or bar which has a memorably pleasant smell will be remembered and recalled far more than one that is just blank in this respect."

At the Raffles Dubai, auditory stimuli are utilised to synergise a consistent brand image at its four key guest environments - the hotel lobby, Fire and Ice American Grill, Azur All Day Dining Café and the Amrita Spa-using techniques of behavioural science as applied to music and auditory input.

Voted best hotel brand and leading choice hotel brand by Asia Pacific business travellers in a five year study, Hilton Hotels seems to be on the right track in relation matters. It ranked either first or second in Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia and China in performance.

Hilton's VP for sales and marketing Asia Pacific Flack said when it comes to customer satisfaction it is important to attend to customer needs quickly.

"When dissatisfaction is voiced, our approach is to respond swiftly and directly to the guest. We accept that we have not delivered up to expectation, and seek to rectify it as soon as we can. Our own research tells us that a problem swiftly and effectively dealt with will retain, or even enhance, customer loyalty."