In 2007, the Air Miles Reward Program reached milestones of 15 years of operation and over 9 million active collectors, and wanted to share its five-year strategic plan at a special event for the over 100 C-level executives from the its national Sponsors—executives difficult to reach and have them commit to an event.

“Navigating the Future” was the theme chosen for concept development. We felt that theme and its creative had to be thought provoking enough to capture the recipients’ attention, getting them to commit to coming this year event and create anticipation for the years that follow. The concept relied on two touches: a teaser letter that included a pencil and acknowledged their busy schedule, asking them to mark the date in their calendars; and a follow-up package that included a hand-held GPS device that paid off our theme of ‘navigating the future’.

Within the first two days of the drop, the teaser mailing generated a response rate of 14 confirmations. The follow-up package garnered another 46. In total, we had a Response Rate of 60% with 60 of the 100 senior executives who were contacted reserved the date and attended the event.