Whether you run nearly two dozen different incentive travel programs annually like Mutual of Omaha does, or you sponsor one annual program that culminates with a trip for the best of the best, the challenge is to make each year’s program distinctly different from past efforts and enticing enough to motivate the troops.
“Our clients are always looking at the latest and greatest in what’s new and they want to keep it fresh,” says Brian Kelly, an account executive at Creative Group, Inc., an Illinois-based event planning and incentive management company. “If we’re lucky enough to be their partners, it’s incumbent upon us to educate ourselves and to bring them into the mix as much as we can.”
To that end, Kelly and thousands of other incentive travel planners and users convene each fall in Las Vegas for IMEX America, a worldwide expo for corporate meetings, events and incentive travel. This year’s IMEX event is scheduled for Oct. 14–16 at the Sands Expo.
“We’ve brought clients with us to IMEX and walked through the floor, not only looking at the places we’re considering but also ideas for the next year. We need to keep expanding their minds,” Kelly says.
Most companies continue to favor group incentive travel over individual incentive travel programs, primarily because of the opportunities it affords to build camaraderie and the team effort it generates throughout the year as participants strive to earn their way on to the trip. Michele Samoulides, senior manager of worldwide reward and recognition programs at Microsoft, says group travel allows top performers to mingle, not only with each other, but also C-level executives they don’t normally interact with. (Read a full Q&A with Samoulides on page 58 in this issue.)
Samoulides heads Microsoft’s Gold Club program, which rewards sales and service personnel around the world with annual incentive excursions to exotic locations. Gold Club participants have celebrated from Barcelona and Bangkok
to Cape Town and Cabo San Lucas and several points in between.
While she loves the destinations that Gold Club’s groups of 700 or more have been able to enjoy over the years, Samoulides admits a tinge of regret that the large size of the groups prevents them from using some other exotic locales. “People would love to go to Costa Rica or Tahiti, but we simply can’t fit 1,100 people into the infrastructure that is available in those places,” she says.
As with all non-cash incentives, whether merchandise or travel, the most effective motivators are those that program participants are unlikely to spend their own money on. Research conducted by Ran Kivetz, professor at Columbia Business School, reinforces that people have a problem with indulgence. However, if they can justify the award based on hard work, then it’s acceptable and appreciated.
What’s more, says Mary MacGregor, vice president of event solutions for BI Worldwide, travel research shows that experiences are thought about more frequently than cash and the amount employees think about an incentive is positively correlated with their performance. “The memories you make stretch further than the cash reward that went in the general bank account to pay everyday bills. The images conjured before the travel experience and the stories shared after make a travel incentive the ultimate reward for strong performance.” — Paul Nolan
Microsoft employees on a 2012 incentive travel program in South Africa provided school supplies to over 500 children. Corporate social responsibility efforts are increasingly incorporated into incentive travel programs.
IMEX America in Las Vegas provides one-stop shopping and education for incentive travel users.
