Boosting ticket sales
Challenge
Virgin Atlantic was facing aggressive pricing from its two competitors, China Eastern and British Airways, on the Shanghai to London route. But Virgin maintained its key advantage of being the only airline to fly the route daily.
Idea
For Virgin's 8th birthday in China, Rapp developed a strategy to publicize the event and drive ticket sales on a small budget. Knowing that 75% of Virgin Atlantic sales of daily flights from Shanghai to London were generated by just 30 travel agents in China, Rapp hatched the idea of turning travel agents into Virgin Atlantic advocates. Using Virgin's 8th birthday as the rationale, agents were offered a guaranteed birthday present reward for EVERY ticket sold. Participation was simple; for every flight sold, the agent could play an online "8" scratch card game to win a guaranteed prize, such as luggage straps, baseball caps, t-shirts, and even return tickets to London, every time they played!
Results
The top advocate travel agents were also invited to meet Richard Branson at a glamorous party in Shanghai, organized by Rapp. Over 4 million RMB worth of tickets were sold in just eight days-- 32% more than the target set by the client. The incremental return on marketing investment was 11:1.