InfoPrint TransPromo Pilot Boosts Customer Loyalty at Best Western

BOULDER, CO—December 8, 2008—InfoPrint Solutions Co., a joint venture between IBM and Ricoh, today announced that Best Western International, the World’s Largest Hotel Chain®, has successfully grown awareness for its own branded credit card, and increased revenues through incremental bookings via implementation of a TransPromo pilot. The scheme replaced inserts previously included with the program statement, with personalized and targeted promotions on quarterly rewards statements, sent to a segment of Best Western Gold Crown Club International rewards card customers in North America. The program was executed as part of the Routes to Revenue research initiative released by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, highlighting key opportunities for companies looking to drive growth and customer engagement through highly personalized, relevant and measurable campaigns.

The eight week pilot aimed to promote the Best Western branded MasterCard among rewards cards members, as well as encourage guests to upgrade their membership level through increased hotel usage. It was carried out with a group of 100,000 guests; 50,000 of these guests became the control group and the other 50,000 received TransPromo communications. The primary marketing campaign highlighted Best Western’s fall promotion, titled ‘More Rewards, Faster.’ The scheme encouraged hotel guests to stay during a set time period to earn double points or miles, which could be used on free nights, airline miles, gas cards and more. This promotion in turn increased the number of customer stays and customer spend.

Applications for the Best Western credit card among the guests receiving the TransPromo statement were boosted by 500 percent and 15 percent more of these guests registered for the “More Rewards, Faster” scheme than those in the control group. More than one third (39 percent) of that group then went on to stay in a Best Western location after signing up for the promotion, stayed a longer duration than the control group, and generated 30 percent more in incremental revenue during their stay.

“We are delighted in the results of this trial and our work with the CMO Council and InfoPrint. This pilot really does underline our ongoing commitment to rewarding our loyal customers and our commitment to continually deepen our relationships with them,” said Tammy Lucas, Director, Marketing Programs at Best Western International. “Our rewards statements have typically been reporting rather than response vehicles, but with the help of InfoPrint and CMO Council, we have identified ways to expand our interaction with customers.”

Best Western and InfoPrint worked together to identify 100,000 customers that were similar in their Best Western relationship. Once identified, these 100,000 rewards customers were randomly assigned, 50,000 to the test segment to receive TransPromo communications and the remaining 50,000 to receive their usual rewards statement.

“This leading edge pilot demonstrated not only the cost savings of moving from inserts – in this case three plus with each statement – to onserts, but also has a strong environmental message. Reducing mailings by one quarter is a huge decrease in carbon footprint,” said Lee Gallagher, Manager, Direct Marketing Solutions at InfoPrint. “Added to that, the success of this pilot during one of the most tough economic times for many years, and the benefits of TransPromo are more than clear for any marketer looking to drive value and revenue from existing customer communications.”

This is part of the CMO Council’s Precision Promotion campaign, which explores strategies and techniques for customer revenue optimization, including integrating transactional print and electronic communications with personalized promotional marketing offers.

The pilot was run at the InfoPrint Innovation Center in Boulder, Colo., and output sent to selected Best Western hotel guests on their rewards statements. InfoPrint leveraged their TransPromo Consultancy Practice and software offerings, from best of breed partners such as GMC. GMC software lets users easily design and create personalized documents, such as direct marketing materials, while enabling integration of data-driven marketing messages into statements. The pilot was being printed on its full color, continuous forms inkjet drop-on-demand printing system, the InfoPrint 5000.

TransPromo is a pioneering technique that combines transactional data with promotional documents and information to provide more targeted marketing on trusted documents such as statements. It is an easy way to reach out to customers without having to make a huge investment in new promotional campaigns or materials.

Market-leading combination of technology and expertise for marketers

InfoPrint’s Professional Services from its TransPromo Consultancy practice combined with the quality, speed, reliability and ease of use of its InfoPrint 5000 flagship solution, equips marketers with state-of-the-art solutions that assist in attracting and retaining customers. InfoPrint’s Data Analytics and Campaign Measurement Services enable brands to calculate the TransPromo Campaign potential return on investment while complementing existing marketing programs and branding.

About Best Western International
Best Western International is The World's Largest Hotel Chain®, providing marketing, reservations and operational support to over 4,000* independently owned and operated member hotels in 80* countries and territories worldwide. An industry pioneer since 1946, Best Western has grown into an iconic brand that hosts 400,000* worldwide guests each night. Best Western's diverse property portfolio, its greatest strength, stems from a business model designed to give owners maximum flexibility to address market-specific needs. Equally committed to the business and leisure traveler, Best Western recently embarked on a five-year mission to lead the hotel industry in customer care. Since 2004, Best Western has served as the Official Hotel of NASCAR®. For more information or to make a reservation, please visit www.bestwestern.com. (* Numbers are approximate and can fluctuate.)

About InfoPrint Solutions Co.
InfoPrint Solutions Co., headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, brings to market the advantages IBM and Ricoh have in the development, manufacturing, marketing and building of strategic solutions for customers, creating a growth-oriented global enterprise that is strategically focused on the output market.

The InfoPrint Solutions Co. portfolio includes solutions for production printing for enterprises and commercial printers as well as solutions for office workgroup environments and industrial segments. The company offers customers the highest quality output solutions that optimize productivity by providing efficient workflow and, at the same time, delivering low cost of ownership and high return on investment. The heritage of InfoPrint Solutions Company includes the development of the IBM Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) Architecture – now an industry standard – and Intelligent Printer Data Stream (IPDS), which has since become the standard for mission critical business printing. The company also leads the industry in print management solutions with both InfoPrint Process Director and InfoPrint Manager. Please visit www.infoprint.com for more information.

About The CMO Council:
The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership and personal relationship building among senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide-range of global industries. The CMO Council's 3,500 members control more than $90 billion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest communities include over 6,000 global executives across 57 countries in multiple industries, segments and markets. Regional chapters and advisory boards are active in the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The Council's strategic interest groups include the Coalition to Leverage and Optimize Sales Effectiveness (CLOSE), Brand Management Institute, and the Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience (FAME). More information on the CMO Council is available at www.cmocouncil.org.