Like many other Silicon Valley companies, VMware, a global leader in virtualization technology, hosts a high-profile, invitation-only “sales club” event each year to reward members of their sales team who attain specific performance milestones. Attending “Club” is a badge of distinction for the 300 reps who qualify, and a unique reward for the individuals and their significant others.
For the location of the 2008 event, VMware selected Banff, a resort town (and one of Canada’s premier tourist destinations) nestled in the Canadian Rockies. VMware asked CDI to create an integrated direct marketing campaign designed to maximize the event’s visibility and create buzz within members of the sales team.
In response, CDI developed a sequence of communications scheduled for delivery throughout the year, announcing the club’s location, providing incremental detail on planned activities and amenities, and reminding each rep about what he or she needed to achieve to qualify for the event. CDI designed a creative concept based on the classic look of 30s-era travel posters, intended to underline the romance of the destination.
Included as part of the program were four HTML e-mails, a custom Web mini-site providing details on the event (and a live leaderboard), and two direct mail pieces: a four-color postcard and a dimensional package containing a set of playing cards featuring custom illustrations developed specifically for the campaign.
As a result of the campaign, excitement about this year’s club was at an all-time high. Buzz from the campaign was immediate, perhaps best illustrated by complaints from salespeople that the leaderboard needed to be updated more frequently.
“The investment VMware makes in Club each year is significant,” says Sharon Little, VMware’s Director of Global Field Communications. “It’s important to leverage that investment by building excitement and momentum with our sales team. Connect Direct made it possible to accomplish our goal of creating a real campaign for Club, with a storyline, exceptional graphics and a real call to action.”
Howard J. Sewell is president of 
3 Comments
Great example of a fully integrated campaign across a variety of media types. “Playing Cards” may never be one of the more common media types used, but definitely a fun one…
Thanks Steven. It was a fun campaign to work on (made more enjoyable by the reception it enjoyed at VMware) and the client – to their credit – was very open to us pushing the envelope, creatively speaking. Of course, it’s worth noting that when targeting an internal audience as in this case, you gain a certain “latitude” in approach (ex: playing cards) that you might not have were you speaking to the world at large.
Howard:
It is nice your client understood the power of multiple messages delivered via several vehicles. You used exclusivity with a little bit of greed, dusted with the deliverance of a get-away destination. Nice work using three of the “direct” motivators.