The global airline needed to shift its strategy to focus on efficiency while maintaining customers during an economic recession. It wanted a targeting solution for marketing that could be used globally and for individual markets to drive efficiency, effectiveness, and inform strategy. Our solution built a behavioral targeting framework using customer value, travel behaviors, air miles, partner engagement, and communications as filters. This agile framework provided insights to prioritize marketing and streamline communications strategies, reducing costs while increasing gains equivalent to the total loyalty marketing budget in the first year.

1. Global Data
& Analytics
Data Planning - Global Airline
Ogilvy & Mather

2. Global Airline
Business Challenge
A global airline leader had enjoyed steady growth until the recession. They needed to shift their
strategy to focus on efficiency while maintaining credibility and retain loyal customers. Specifically:
• Drive marketing efficiency (cost savings)
• Drive marketing effectiveness (incremental gains through data insights)
• Develop a targeting solution which is suitable for global roll-out in addition to accounting for
specific requirements of individual markets
• Can be used to help drive and inform strategy as well as be suitable for use in tactical
campaigns
The target audience was Loyalty Scheme members – higher frequency business travellers (both high &
low value) as well as Leisure Customers
Solution
Our client’s business and therefore customer data is undoubtedly complex. A simple one-dimensional
targeting framework of dividing the universe into 6-8 customer groups was too broad brush an
approach to meet requirements. An additional complexity was that the targeting framework needed to
be situational, in that customers effectively have two different mindsets at different points in time, in
that they can be travelling on business or for leisure.
Our unique approach was to build an agile targeting framework in effective a series of mini-
segmentations, profiles, targeting variables and models that can be used in conjunction with each other
or in isolation depending upon the objective. The easiest way to conceptualise the behavioural
targeting framework is to think of its components as a series of lenses or filters onto the customer base
incorporating: Customer value, travel behaviours, air miles earning & redemptions, partner
engagement, and communications
Our data consultants developed the overall approach drawing upon a huge breadth a depth of previous
experience in this area gained from similar projects across numerous industry sectors. With this
particular implementation, our close working relationship with our client meant that we were able to
develop a solution that could be hosted within their existing Teradata datawarehouse and be
implemented through their existing campaign management software CRM.
Results
A view of the first 12-months reveals a realistic gains equivalent to the size of the total loyalty
marketing budget. The largest gains are based on application across two levers:
Cost Reduction: Streamlining of contact strategy: In particular reduction of volume communications
for those not/ with a low level of engagement in email and ensuring more relevant contact through a
more data-driven communications strategy
Marketing Effectiveness: Insights generated have allowed prioritisation of marketing activity, with
particular focus now being afforded to customers deemed to have ‘revenue at risk’