Press Release: AccuData America
August 16, 2001
CAPE CORAL, FL -- Today's travel and hospitality marketers must sell to the largest mature market in history --
a vastly different consumer landscape than that of 10 years ago. But this difference lies in more than sheer numbers.
The mature market in the new millennium is younger in spirit than previous generations.
``The appearance of the `older, but not old' consumer is just one example of the complex demands placed on today's
travel marketers,'' said Michael Peterman, director, AccuData Travel and Hospitality Data Strategies Group. ``Travel
and hospitality customers are becoming more sophisticated, and market segments are becoming more complex. Broad
demographics just aren't targeted enough to reach `most likely to buy' prospects.''
Prompted by the $3-trillion industry's emerging need for customized data solutions, AccuData America formed Travel
and Hospitality Data Strategies Group. The group, composed of data and direct marketing experts, was announced
yesterday, marking AccuData's latest step in the company's 11th consecutive year of explosive growth. The Travel
and Hospitality group joins AccuData's other premiere data teams, focused in agriculture, broadband, cable, energy,
insurance, retail, sports, telecommunications and wireless.
AccuData's official entry into travel and hospitality evolved from a growing client base in the travel industry.
``In the past three years, we've worked with Starwood Hotels and Resorts and the Marriott Vacation Clubs on timeshare
marketing and four of the top 10 cruise lines in the world,'' Peterman said. ``When these businesses kept coming
to us with more projects, we discovered we had something no one else was offering the industry.''
As an independent provider, AccuData has access to more consumer and business-to-business data sources than anyone
else in the industry. ``We can pick and choose which data sources are best for our clients, because we're outside
the lines of competition -- which isn't true of large compilers,'' Peterman explained.
Another determining factor in effective data selection is industry knowledge.
``Before we can identify the `best data' for our travel and hospitality clients, we need to know the industry and
what the marketing challenges are,'' Peterman said. According to Peterman, seniors hold about 80 percent of all
money in the United States and 50 percent of discretionary income. Surprisingly, few advertisers -- an estimated
10 percent -- target this group.
``To sell to mature consumers, we need to update our `senior' profile. We're no longer marketing to the senior
of the past -- we're targeting late bloomers with longer life expectancies and more active interests,'' Peterman
said. ``For some leisure marketers, this means updating their customer database by appending psychographic and
lifestyle data to existing files. From there, we can build a `best prospect' segment model by identifying and analyzing
recurring themes in current customer characteristics.''
AccuData is also prepared to serve marketers' increasing interest in ethnic travelers, especially more profitable
groups such as Asian-Americans, who spend nearly 50% more on trips than the average U.S. traveler. ``We use several
different compilers to obtain ethnic traveler data,'' Peterman said. ``The advantage of this is that we can create
the most complete, most targeted database for our clients.
``Most marketers don't think about multiple data sources as a hard-hitting benefit. But not many know that some
data universes are incomplete,'' Peterman continued. ``For example, there's no single source that comes close to
capturing 100 percent of online consumers. In fact, the estimated number of Internet-connected households in the
U.S. is 50 million, and the largest compiler has about 45 percent of that total. By using multiple data sources
for elusive market segments such as this, you'll get better counts and a better cross-section of records.''
More and more leisure marketers are turning to the Web to economize their campaigns, but Peterman isn't surprised.
``Travel is what I would call an Internet pioneer. Even before e-commerce took the Web by storm, travel agents
were communicating online. They had a head start, which is why travel is the number one industry on the Web.
``But now leisure marketers are learning that the secret to good ROI for online campaigns is good data. The Web
contains a torrent of behavior. If you can segment that behavior -- while eliminating bad email records and identifying
non-openers -- you can pull a high response and increase your sell-through.''
For more information or a consultation, call the AccuData Travel and Hospitality Data Strategies Group at 1-800-403-3660,
or send an email to m.peterman@accudata.com.
AccuData America, based in Cape Coral, Fla., is a national data solutions company that supplies marketing data
and database analysis services for industries involved in new client acquisition, customer retention, market analysis
and data quality maintenance.
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Contact:
AccuData America, Cape Coral
Shelly Lucas, 800/732-3440, Ext. 217
or
Data Strategies Group
Michael Peterman, 800/403-3660