Incentive Travel Case Study

Designed to motivate and reward, sales incentives often follow the same format.

Employees compete against each other to earn a place on the trip, whilst an events and incentives agency like Inconnection get to work behind the scenes.

But with CCS Media, things are a little different.

We’ve been working with CCS Media for a couple of years, delivering partner incentives in Europe and beyond to their top sales people every quarter. We’ve developed a brilliant relationship, like we do with all our clients, and that’s meant we’ve been able to develop a fantastic understanding of CCS Media as a whole, and the individuals who we’ve come to know as regulars.

Our incentive trips are designed as money-can’t-buy experiences that we know will stay in the minds of those lucky enough to get a place for months, even years after they return.

Most of the time, we plan and execute our trips according to an itinerary that the Monica Geller’s of the world would die for. But this time, our client fancied doing things a little differently. And who are we to say no?

The Brief

An incentive trip for 20 delegates to a nearby European destination that promises sun and the opportunity for guests to have plenty of free time.

Inconnection’s Response

Whilst we’re always sure to include some down time on our incentive trips, most of our clients and delegates want to experience as much as they can in the time they have away. This usually means a jam-packed itinerary full of brilliant activities that take the group from day to night.

Instead, we needed a destination that offered the best of both worlds – a place where delegates could be free to relax or explore on their own but also somewhere we knew we could organise a couple of incredible activities that would stand out from the rest of the trip.

Famous for its vibrant, culture-rich city centre and beautiful Mediterranean seafront, Palma ticked all the boxes. We chose a modern hotel with a spacious pool area, and we weren’t far from the abundance of bars and restaurants Palma is known for either.

As well as meeting our client’s desire to prioritise free time in the itinerary, we knew it wouldn’t be an Inconnection incentive trip without a couple of breath taking activities that would become the talk of the trip.

Creating memories that matter

For an incentive trip like this to be effective, it needs to make an impact and the way we do that at Inconnection is through creating memories that matter.

We use our Science of Memories framework to create ‘hero experiences’ that we know will not only generate excitement in the lead up and during the trip, but also have a long-lasting impact on individuals and the business itself.  

The great thing about a relaxed itinerary like this is that it gave us the opportunity to go truly go all out on the activity options. Not only could we channel a higher percentage of the budget into the activities, but we also had the delegates full attention and enthusiasm as they weren’t too busy the rest of the time.

The itinerary

The group arrived in Palma on the Friday and enjoyed a laid-back afternoon before dinner and drinks at the beautiful Can Eduardo near the harbour. On the Saturday, they made the most of the sunshine at the stylish Anima Beach Club and had a delicious dinner at La Paloma.

After a late night spent in Palma’s lively bars, Sunday morning was dedicated to rest and relaxation before the main activity of the trip – a luxury catamaran boat trip.

Hired exclusively for our group, the boat trip was a true once in a lifetime experience. They departed at 3:30pm and sailed for an hour past Mallorca’s beautiful coves before arriving at a secluded white sand beach. Whilst the group enjoyed sunbathing and swimming in the sea, the catamaran’s catering team prepared a barbeque on the beach.

The catamaran made a second stop on the way back to Palma for the group to try their hand at paddle boarding, snorkelling and of course, jumping into the sea from the side of the boat. After a sun-soaked afternoon, the boat arrived back to the harbour at 8.30pm.

The group headed back to the hotel to freshen up before meeting up again to explore the Mercat 1930, a lively food and drinks market. The delegates had a spending allowance pre-loaded onto wristbands so they were free to pick and choose what they fancied from the various stalls which complimented the relaxed nature of the trip.

On Monday morning, it was time for the group to check out and get their transfers back to the airport. As had been the case throughout the trip, our Senior Operations Executive, Jenny, was responsible for making sure everything ran smoothly and the delegates were back on home soil later that evening.

Feedback and MEMDEX scores

A large part of developing MEMDEX was establishing the correct length of time that needed to have passed before MEMDEX scores could be collected. For example, a product sampling event may have a lag time of two weeks, whereas a large conference or hospitality trip may be months later.

For an overseas incentive trip like this, we need a period of 6 months to have passed before reliable MEMDEX scores can be collected.

Once we have collected the MEMDEX scores for the Palma, we can compare the results to a previous incentive trip the client ran in May 2019 to Barcelona. The results will help us understand which event of the two was the most memorable for attendees and we can use this information when planning future trips. To find out more about the MEMDEX score from the May incentive trip, click here.