Pre and Post-launch communications at TUI UK & Ireland
The market leading international leisure travel group, which counts Thomson and First Choice amongst its interests, launched Asperity’s Reward Gateway product as part of its wider benefits brand, Be Rewarded, in May 2009. The scheme offers a wide range of discounts and Cashback to over 16,000 UK-based and 155 Eire-based employees.
TUI’s Reward Gateway site adopted the name “Be Rewarded More”. The “Be Rewarded” brand was already established amongst TUI’s employee base and had a well developed image. Extending the “Be Rewarded” brand to the Reward Gateway site was a key part of the marketing strategy.
Asperity and TUI worked together to produce a 12-month rolling communications plan that promoted Reward Gateway within the framework of “Be Rewarded More”. The plan started mid-April with a pre-launch teaser campaign. Creative included an online countdown animation and star-flashes that clicked through to an editorial article featured on TUI’s employee intranet, plus a teaser “bubble” in their bi-monthly internal magazine, “Be”.
The teaser campaign captured the imagination of back-office and front-line employees alike, prompting over 3000 registrations within the first two weeks of the site going live. The key aim following launch was to maintain the momentum generated at launch, increasing new registrations and repeat visits, which would in turn generate a buzz about the site.
Phase 2 of the employee engagement campaign continued with a competition that was launched immediately after the site went live. Details featured in emails, posters and on the employee intranet – each touchpoint utilised to ensure the message was spread as widely as possible. With this continued activity, the first month saw well over 4,500 employees register on Be Rewarded More and a consistently high level of new registrations and continued employee engagement since.
“We wanted our voluntary benefits to fit neatly into our wider benefits programme, so the ability to fully brand and tailor the scheme was a decisive factor for us. The option to extend the scheme to our staff in Ireland was also very attractive.”
Dione Mathias, Reward Manager for TUI UK & Ireland
