Business in Vancouver

Executive Airlines is faced with quite a marketing challenge.

Its product is aimed at a narrow market niche in only four markets.

This means that any media programs will have to be both national and local in scope.

In addition to resolving the targetting issues, Executive Airlines is planning to launch a product which offers service as its unique benefit.

Service is a product which usually sells itself. If people want a particular level of service, and if they are satisfied, they will keep coming back.

The marketing strategy for Executive Airlines has to be in getting people to try the service.

It is assumed the main launch strategy will be to offer discounted service in order to achieve a high ‘sampling’ rate.

To effectively reach its target market in Vancouver and to achieve a high sampling rate, Business in Vancouver proposes that Executive Airlines participates in a comprehensive, integrated marketing program which would include advertising, direct mail, database marketing, telemarketing and event sponsorship.

All of these programs would centre on Business in Vancouver’s readership and promotional efforts towards potential new readers.

As a weekly newspaper, Business in Vancouver is ideally positioned to reach most of Executive Airlines’ potential customers.

It also serves as a finely targetted, heavy-up medium for any national media campaigns.

In Greater Vancouver, there are 60,000 businesses. Of these, 90% are small companies with fewer than 20 employees.

The newspaper’s readership market includes all of the businesses in the Greater Vancouver area.

Business in Vancouver’s marketing strategy depends mainly on sampling, followed up with telemarketing.

We propose that Executive Airlines take advantage of our various programs for a full year to reach more than 60% of all the businesses in Greater Vancouver.

We can also reach a high percentage of business travellers coming to Vancouver. We suggest a 52-week campaign as follows:

1. biv will print 160,000 reply cards or coupons containing a discount offer to business travellers. These cards will be distributed as an insert in the newspaper over 52 weeks in the following manner:

- to the full press run of 17,000 every quarter

- inside 1,000 copies distributed to business travellers every week at Vancouver’s better hotels

- inside copies distributed every day by limousine services picking up business travellers at the airport

- inside copies of biv’s targeted sampling program at the rate of 500 a week, reaching 26,000 different businesses in one year.

2. biv and Executive Airlines will work together to hand-pick the 26,000 businesses for sampling from biv’s database.

Each sample will be a trial 13-week subscription on which the mailing label will carry the words ‘Compliments of Executive Airlines.’

The first issue of each sample subscription will be mailed in an envelope containing the paper, a covering letter, a promotional product description and the special-offer reply card or coupon.

This will be done at the rate of 500 per week.

3. Each sample subscription will be followed up with a phone call from biv’s telemarketing department after the eighth week.

In the process of selling full-term subscriptions, the telemarketer will ask the potential customer a survey-type question to be determined by Executive Airlines.

4. Information about sampled readers will be collected on a database and provided to Executive Airlines for any desired follow-up direct mail or telemarketing programs.

5. We suggest Executive Airlines run a full-page ad in every issue for 52 weeks.

This will continuously reach our paid subscriber base of 12,000 every week, as well as the chosen 26,000 sampled readers for 13 weeks, and the more than 1,000 business travellers every week who receive copies in the Vancouver hotels and through the limousine services.

We suggest that a portion of the weekly ad space be used to run a free trip contest. The returned coupons can be folded into the database for any follow-up programs.

6. Finally, we propose Executive Airlines becomes a sponsor of biv’s annual Top of the Lists event attended by the executives of all the top businesses in Greater Vancouver.

This event is a gathering of the leaders of the businesses listed in biv’s weekly list feature which ranks the top businesses by industry or business category.

We do 52 of these lists a year, an exclusive collection of more than 850 of Vancouver’s business elite.

The sponsorship includes hosting of the event with its expected direct, personal contact, a full-page ad in the annual Book of Lists (a compilation of the 52 lists in a directory-type publication) and also includes an ear lug position of the Executive Airlines logo at the top of every weekly list.

This integrated marketing program will reach most of Executive Airlines’ Vancouver target, continuously reinforce any national media campaigns, and, most important, will allow the opportunity to more efficiently communicate with Vancouver’s business community.

The above program will cost $250,000 to implement.

For about 6% of the total budget, Executive Airlines can reach nearly all of its potential customers in the Vancouver market, as well as a substantial percentage of inbound business travellers.

Business in Vancouver is a weekly newspaper that reports on the local business community.