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Each year, the Society of Incentive Travel Executives, New York City, presents its Crystal Awards to the most innovative, the most enticing, and the most successful incentive travel programs around the globe.

Here’s a look at the top winners in 2000, which were presented last fall at the Motivation Show in Chicago.

Category: Creative Use of Incentives to Achieve a Marketing Objective
CAN DO 2000/GET DOWN
Company: PSS/World Medical, Jacksonville, FL
Agent: In-house

An 11-year-old incentive program at medical-product supplier PSS/World Medical produced even better results when the company dangled trips to Australia and Costa Rica in front of sales reps. Of the company’s $160 million in divisional sales revenues in 2000, 20 percent was driven by the campaign. Not a bad result, considering the primary goal was to increase sales of targeted goods with minimal marketing investment.

Funding for the effort came from manufacturers of medical products sold by PSS, all of whom agreed to a 12-month joint marketing campaign in exchange for “spotlight positioning” for selectproducts. Vendors assigned various point values to their products that sales reps could earn to gain travel rewards. PSS branch offices recorded sales on scoreboards to track progress. A series of tiered travel incentives culminated with a grand-prize trip to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

The campaign launched at the company’s national sales meeting with the airing of a “Get Down” video featuring a parrot host named Max Dundee to play off the Australia theme. Sales reps and leaders were divided into teams called Crocodiles, Kangaroos, and Koalas, and received regular mailings containing point standings at their homes to cheer them on. Each time reps reached specified goals, they were rewarded with Australian-themed premiums including boomerangs and backpacks. Support collateral included T-shirts, and the scoreboards featured the campaign’s logo, a kangaroo carrying the Olympic torch.

Category: Best Multiple-Motivation Award Program
ROCK ‘N RACE WITH USG
Company: United States Gypsum, Chicago
Agent: Motivation Excellence, Schaumburg, IL

U.S. Gypsum’s Sheetrock drywall brand is such a common product among loyal customers in the construction industry that the name is virtually synonymous with the product. So increasing sales seemed to be an insurmountable task.

Motivation Excellence designed a five-tiered program that rewarded USG customers with merchandise and travel certificates based on their total purchases during an assigned period. The top tier, for contractors who spent more than $500,000, was a trip to Las Vegas to see a NASCAR race (a sport popular among USG customers). The event also provided USG a chance to meet face-to-face with loyal customers, thereby strengthening important relationships.

For the program to be a success, USG needed the cooperation of dealers and distributors, who typically don’t like to provide information about their customers or participate in supplier-sponsored incentives. To encourage their support, USG offered merchandise and travel incentives for displaying P-O-P materials and equaling or exceeding the previous year’s sales. The campaign was first announced by direct mail to USG’s field sales staff, distributors, and select contractors. Program materials featured a comic strip called Hangin’ with USG featuring a character named Rock, a drywall contractor. The strip explained the incentive program and provided information about USG products.

Sheetrock sales rose more than 46 percent during the program; 485 contractors earned in excess of 1,400 merchandise awards.

Category: Best Promotion and Communication
CLUB 2000
Company: Broadvision, Redwood City, CA
Agent: The Meeting Architects, San Francisco

BroadVision, an Internet technology company, saw its best sales year ever with a 57-percent increase in revenue in 1999 because of this incentive program for its sales staff.

The company had run three previous travel incentives, but the Club effort marked the first time Broadvision had allocated money for a pre-promotional campaign. The Meeting Architects created a program offering trips to South Pacific destinations such as Bora Bora and Tahiti as a reward for sales associates who achieved 100 percent of quotas for the year. Participation in the program was almost double the target of 40 reps.

Collateral materials carried a Polynesian theme with a custom logo featuring the flora and fauna of the islands and were distributed to 300 BroadVision employees in 60 offices worldwide. Participants received daily reminders via e-mail, and a special participants-only Web site was established. Every 45 days, Club members received mailings at home that included such items as vanilla bean pods and handmade scented candles to give them a literal taste of the rewards awaiting them.

Category: Best Regional Program, Africa/Middle East
TOYOTA CHALLENGER TREASURE HUNT
Company: Toyota SA Marketing,
Capetown, South Africa
Agent: Travel Awards, Capetown, South Africa

Looking to curb the sale of “pirate parts” in South Africa, Toyota wanted to incent dealers to sell more of the real thing. Travel Awards created a program designed to give 267 Toyota dealerships in South Africa reason to sell more genuine parts.

Dealers who bought and sold the most genuine brakes, cooling, and service parts over a nine-month period earned a trip to Bali, which in South Africa is considered one of the top vacation destinations. Toyota regional managers held one-to-one meetings with dealers and sales managers, and sent out e-mail messages to explain the program. Each month, e-mails and mailings let dealers know the progress being made, and articles in a Toyota dealers newsletter highlighted results as well. Full-color brochures of the Melia Hotel in Bali were mailed to whet appetites.

Sales of genuine parts increased 10 percent across the four regions covered by the campaign, while sales of accessories rose eight percent.

Category: Best Regional Program, Latin America/Caribbean
SUPERSTARS ’99
Company: Nobleza Piccardo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Agent: AV-Business & Communication, Buenos Aires, Argentina

It’s not easy to get a sales force to completely change the way it operates. But cigarette maker Nobleza Piccardo, an Argentina-based subsidiary of British American Tobacco, found a way to motivate 500 employees to switch from a wholesale and distributor network to a direct-sales system focusing on drug stores and kiosks.

The agent devised a program to award sales staffers not only for increasing volume, but for improving sales-call effectiveness and reducing debt levels for retail clients. This challenged the salespeople to build better relationships with customers.

The campaign ran April through December 1999, and began with a day at an amusement park for all participants. A video featuring two local TV stars unveiled the travel incentive: an April 2000 trip to Club Med Itaparica in Brazil for the highest performers. Throughout the program, mailings of encouragement were sent out, including a beach towel with a note reading, “Don’t throw in the towel.” Near the end, cassette tapes containing popular music and fake “interviews” with Club Med vacationers who had already won were distributed via mail.

Overall sales volume increased three percent and retail effectiveness increased about two percent. Turnover in the sales force dropped from 20 percent to four percent.

Category: Best Trip Delivery (Four Nights or Fewer)
1999 CONFERENCE
Company: MLC, North Sydney, Australia
Agent: Delaney Marketing, Dublin, Ireland

Australia’s MLC/Lend Lease wanted to reward its top achievers with a quick trip. They turned to Delaney, which designed a voyage to the Emerald Isle.

Putting together the trip was no easy task, since it required that 230 people be given five-star accommodations. So the travelers had to be split between two hotel properties, the Dromoland Castle in County Clare, and the Adare Manor in County Limerick, which were 40 minutes away from each other. Eight motor coaches were used to bring the groups together as often as possible.

Participants “took over” the small town of Enniystymon, participating in activities such as a football match with a local team and a trip to shops and pubs with specially created “passport” vouchers that let them make purchases without cash. More than 100 entertainers were enlisted to make the trips lively.

MLC reported increased productivity and motivation during the trip’s 18-month qualifying period and two-year promotional campaign. Inter-employee relationships were strengthened on the trip, too.

Category: Best Trip Delivery (Five Nights or More); Outstanding Single Event
2000 B.C. TO A.D.: CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION
Company: Elar Partners, Los Angeles, CA
Agent: Eshet Incentives and Conferences, Tel Aviv, Israel

Eshet won two Crystals for this incentive travel program, which was designed to motivate Elar’s 160 employees to generate more business. The goal was to produce enough sales-volume growth to pay for the trip.

Eshet had a tough audience: Most of Elar’s agents were well-seasoned travelers who had earned previous travel rewards. So it crafted a trip to the Holy Land in Israel and Jordan as an “historical and cultural journey connecting the past to the present and shaping the future.”

Elar reported that more agents qualified than for any previous travel incentive. On the vacation, winners were treated to a “Taste of Israel” welcome dinner facing the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. They later toured the religious sites for two days, and were personally welcomed by the mayor of Jerusalem. Other activities included the planting of 160 trees in an official ceremony as part of Israel’s reforestation efforts and a Shabbat dinner in a Jewish home complete with music from a 16-child choir. The group also took a Jeep and camel trip across the Judean desert.

Category: Innovative Product/Service Promotion
EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME
Company: Singapore Tourism Board, Singapore
Agent: In-house

The Singapore Tourism Board wanted to beat its competition at a May 2000 trade show, and so it targeted sales leads with a direct-mail campaign before prospects even got to the convention hall.

Setting out to make pre-show meeting appointments with prospects, the Tourism Board’s exhibition division mailed out a publication called Singapore LIVE with information about what the country has to offer — arts and culture, restaurants, nightclubs and spas, and other attractions. Pages featured eye-catching pull-outs, pop-ups, and multi-colored dimensional displays.

Staffers followed up the mailing with phone calls and direct mail asking contacts to fill out an information profile that could be used to establish long-term connections. The first 100 prospects to book meetings were given 24-carat gold dragons or Swatch watches as an incentive to keep the appointment. Confirmation letters were sent to those who requested appointments at the Singapore pavilion.

The campaign produced a 14-percent response rate, scoring 128 appointments and 66 additional requests for more information.

Second-place Winners

Category: Creative Use of Incentives to Achieve a Marketing Objective
THE FINAL CHALLENGE
Company: Marriott and Renaissance Hotel Lounges and Sports Bars, Bethesda, MD
Agent: Incentive Marketing, Inc., Woodstock, GA

Category: Best Multiple-Motivation Award Program
GRAYBAR E-POINT: WORKING TOGETHER TO HELP YOU DO BUSINESS
Company: Graybar, Clayton, MO
Agent: USMotivation, Atlanta

Category: Best Promotion and Communication
ASPA’S ADVENTURE CHALLENGER
Company: Aspa Kantoorinrichting, The Netherlands
Agent: Granaada & Partner, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Category: Best Trip Delivery (4 Nights or Fewer)
MASTER’S CIRCLE: WINDOWS TO THE WORLD
Company: Diebold, Inc., North Canton, OH
Agent: USMotivation, Atlanta

Category: Best Trip Delivery (5 Nights or More)
A MATTER OF PRIDE
Company: Equant, Atlanta
Agent: USMotivation, Atlanta,

Category: Outstanding Single Event
BIARRITZ, FRANCE
Company: CBS Television Stations, New York City
Agent: Incentive Travel, Inc., San Diego