Princess Cruises has added the Alterian Marketing Services Platform to its mix of marketing tools.
The cruise line has had a relationship with Alterian since 2003 and started using the company’s advanced analytics tool in 2007. It moved to the Alterian Marketing Services Platform to streamline its marketing efforts and improve its database queries. Direct mail and personalized e-mails are an important piece of Princess’ integrated marketing strategy, making database analytics essential.
“Princess is a data-driven decision making company, and Alterian fits because it’s easy to get at data quickly,” said Stanley McClurkin-Birge, director of direct marketing for Princess Cruises. “We have an enterprise CRM system but it isn’t perfectly fit for marketing. Alterian is designed for how marketing operates.”
“Princess is executing database marketing, traditional direct marketing and now e-mail all from the same analytics, so it’s truly integrated,” Jason McNamara, CMO of Alterian, noted. “The real-time aspect is very important because of the speed of marketing today: audiences are moving online and marketing is now both inbound and outbound. Thus, online requires a platform that combines data, analytics, content and multichannel execution.”
Princess had been searching for a platform that allowed flexibility for the company’s direct marketing team. Another factor in the switch to the Alterian Marketing Services Platform was that Princess wanted to double its campaign efforts. The cruise line’s large database would often overload the CRM system and made it difficult to scale their online marketing efforts.
The cruise line reaches out to a multitude of consumers — from young families to retirees, with baby boomers quickly becoming a sweet spot. Princess also puts a lot of effort into retaining past passengers through loyalty programs and benefit offers.
“Direct marketing is really key right now,” McClurkin-Birge said. “It’s about getting the right message out to the right person, at the right time, in the right way, with the right frequency.”
