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Yorkshire Tourism Industry Celebrates in Style

Widely recognised as one of the finest tourism events on the social calendar, the White Rose Awards once again impressed guests and winners alike.

Presented by The Most Revd and Rt Hon The Lord Archbishop of York this spectacular black tie event had been eagerly awaited by finalists from each of the nine categories awarded.

Carrier Direct Marketing were proud sponsors of the 'Outstanding Customer Services Award' won by Linda Banks of Wakefield TIC.

Pictured is the delighted winner with Sarah Laycock Customer Services Account Manager of Carrier Direct Marketing and celebrity guest Jo Willoughby (World Champion Sitskier).

Cumbria Tourism Awards May 2009

Tourism professionals took part in a celebration of excellence at the Cumbria Tourism Awards held in Kendal earlier this year.

Each winner received a stunning handcrafted award, specially designed by Jonathan Stamper of High Head Sculpture Valley.

Carrier Direct Marketing sponsored the "Most Exceptional Young Tourism Manager", which was won by Emma Wright of Townend National Trust. She is pictured below receiving her award with Ian Parkington of Carrier Direct Marketing and Ted Robbins, the event host.

Cornwall Tourism Awards - Award Winners 2009

Having recently sponsored the ‘Tourism Information Centre of the Year’ category at the prestigious Cornwall Tourism Awards, Carrier Direct Marketing are proud to congratulate the finalists. The bronze award was presented to Looe Tourist Information Centre, silver to Bude Tourist Information Centre and Bodmin Visitor Centre won the coveted Gold award. Other notable awards of the evening were the ‘Winner of Winners’, presented to St Michael’s Hotel & Spa in Falmouth, and ‘Outstanding Services to Tourism’ presented to John Hick.

Pictured is Senior Account Manager of Carrier Direct Marketing, Rachel Bater, with the team from Bodmin Visitor Centre and guest presenter, Kirstie Allsopp.

The Tourism Society – Tourism & New Media Event

Dawn Sims of Carter Communication was one of five guest speakers at the Tourism & New Media event hosted by The Tourism Society on 24th October.

The event, held in The Shelley Theatre at Bournemouth University, was officially opened by Professor Dimitris Buchalis, Deputy Director for Tourism and Hospitality Research at Bournemouth University.

Delegates then enjoyed several informative presentations by Matt Jerwood (formerly of WAYN.com and Lastminute.com, Andrew Pozniak MTS (Industry Leader – Travel, Google), Philip Alford MTS (Senior Lecturer Bournemouth University), James Poulter & Rosie Robbins (Digital Strategists Ogilvy PR), and lastly Dawn Sims our ICT Project Manager.

Dawn presented a fascinating short seminar on 'e-mail marketing: Improve Your Reponse Rates' during the event, which delegates found most useful.

Carrier Wins "Swansea Bay" Tender

Carrier Direct Marketing have been working with the City and County of Swansea for almost nine years and are pleased to announce that we have recently won a tender to provide "Swansea Bay" with fulfilment services for a further three years. We will be operating a brochure request and information line, processing and fulfilling UK and overseas requests for the Swansea Bay Holiday Guide, and providing database management services.

"After a recent EU tendering process, we are delighted to be able to continue our successful working relationship with Carrier Direct for the enquiry processing and fulfilment of our Swansea Bay Holiday Guide." Commented Steve Hopkins, Tourism Manager, City & County of Swansea

Company re-branding: The Carrier Group

The Carrier Group was officially launched at the Tourism Management Institute's "Hot Topic" event in April 2009. Consisting of Carrier Direct Marketing, Carter Communication, Westacott Mailing, Customer Maze and We Take Your Calls, the shift to group status will allow each different brand to become specialists in their own right.

Originally established in Barnstaple as Carrier Direct Marketing in 1993, The Group now has representative offices in Newbury, York and Durham, whilst the headquarters now occupy 45,000 square feet of purpose built offices and warehousing for storage, mailing, call centre and IT services. Starting out as a relatively simple mailing and distribution operation The Group has grown almost out of all recognition, hence the need to divide services into five distinct divisions. Further information can be found on The Carrier Group website.

AITO - Association of International Tour Operators

Carrier Direct Marketing have recently renewed their AITO Business Partnership scheme for 2010 and look forward to networking with clients, industry partners and colleagues at its forthcoming events!

 

 

Corporate Sponsorship of the Tourism Society

In February 2009 Carrier Direct Marketing were named as Corporate Sponsors of the Tourism Society for a two year period. Additionally, we are absolutely delighted to be the main sponsor of the 2010 Tourism Society annual conference, venue to be confirmed.

 

TMI Sponsorship

The Carrier Group has come of age and is the main sponsor of TMI events for the next 3 years in a groundbreaking sponsorship deal worth in excess of £30,000.

"This sponsorship deal cements and builds our commitment to the TMI and its overall aims and objectives within the profession of tourism management" says Bob Carter, Managing Director of The Carrier Group. "We have come a long way in our fifteen year history, growing with the fast moving times in destination management, and are therefore very pleased to continue our longstanding commitment to TMI and their 300 members from across the UK.”

Audits passed with flying colours

August 25th was our first annual external audit date of our 3 International Standards, ISO 9001 Quality, ISO 14001 Environment, and OHSAS 18001 Health and Safety, the audits were carried out by International Management Systems Marketing who worked with us in achieving the standards throughout July and August 2008. All audits were passed successfully proving that Carrier Direct Marketing is working within the strict criteria required in maintaining these important standards.

Premier Cottages prepare for 2010

Premier Cottages have been a client of Carrier Direct Marketing for over 7 years, using our contact centre, brochure mailing, database management and bulk distribution services amongst others.

In 2007 we started to provide e-marketing services, which has gone from strength to strength. Working closely with the Premier Cottages Marketing Manger, Stuart Diplock, Carrier Direct Marketing and Carter Communication have produced a variety of targeted e-mails, newsletters and surveys. With the creation and distribution of the latest e-mail newsletter we have sent over half a million e-mails on behalf of Premier Cottages!

Stuart Diplock commented "With more and more services available from Carrier Direct this just gets better and better."

'New media' for The Olde Rectory

Carrier Direct Marketing have been re-appointed by The Olde Rectory to undertake an e-mail marketing campaign to promote their new website (www.olde-rectory.co.uk).

The Rectory's six luxury cottages in Worcestershire offer a perfect combination of chic boutique boltholes for two, cottages for families and party houses for group accommodation, making them a popular choice for celebrations, hen weekends, spa breaks, wedding parties and team building. Guests can even chose to forget the fuss of self catering with a five star concierge service.

The Irish Cottages – New client

Irish Cottages has appointed Carrier Direct Marketing to undertake a series of e-mail promotions. Hidden between Lough Erne and Derrin Mountain in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, Irish Cottages at Portagaria Wood is a private 11 acre park with luxury lakeside character cottages available for holiday lets, amongst the magical moods of Lough Erne (www.theirishcottages.com).

Alistair Bruce Business Development Manager of Carrier Direct Marketing says “We have been working alongside Premier Cottages for many years now, and are extremely pleased to have been appointed by Irish Cottages to partner their e-mail campaign. We hope this is just the start of a long and successful partnership".

The National Trust

Carrier Direct Marketing were awarded the provision of Telephone & Literature Fulfilment Services. We will be handling their Group Travel brochure requests as well as answering general enquiries. National Trust also sell touring passes to overseas customers that are travelling to the UK. Carrier Direct Marketing will be fulfilling these pass requests as well.

On Top of the World!

Congratulations to Customer Contact Centre Team Leader Fraser Manning, who married his long term partner Laura, on April 15th, in the idyllic setting of Koh Samui in Thailand. Not content with just one globetrotting adventure, Fraser has since jetted off for his honeymoon to Peru, treating Mrs Manning to a 4 night mountainous trek to reach Machu Picchu.

Fraser is pictured on his honeymoon, at Machu Picchu, promoting The Carrier Group in a rather innovative way! Could this be the inception of our first worldwide branch office?

Brittany Travel sign a 12 month contract…

Brittany Travel continue their longstanding relationship with Carrier Direct Marketing, embarking on an extensive 2009/10 promotional e-mail campaign. Alongside special offers and destination news, holiday makers will have the opportunity to upload their vacation photographs, the best of which may be chosen for the Brittany Travel website and promotional literature.

Brittany Travel are also giving their customers the chance to ‘have their say’ with a series of post vacation questionnaires. The results of these will be analysed to help Brittany Travel further improve their excellent service.

Own Property Worldwide: Opportunities abound in the overseas property market

Carrier Direct Marketing has been selected to undertake a series of targeted e-mail campaigns for Own Property Worldwide. With a fantastic and diverse range of below market value properties in Marbella, the Algarve and the Caribbean OPW are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with in the overseas property sector.

Steve Dawkins, Director of Own Property Worldwide says “We continually strive to source the most lucrative investment opportunities from around the world to match our client’s requirements. All of our properties are well below market value or distressed sales, meaning that they offer excellent investment opportunities in the current economic environment, and we are pleased to be working with Carrier Direct Marketing to promote our services”

Little Dish...

Little Dish, famed for their 100% natural nutritious meals for children, have recently appointed Carrier Direct Marketing to help with their Community Marketing campaign.

Already a market leader in its sector, the recent campaign will further strengthen the Little Dish brand. Alistair Bruce Business Development Manager at Carrier Direct Marketing commented “We selected staff from our Customer Contact Centre who understood the importance of nutritious natural food as a major building block in the healthy development of children. Knowing that our staff could speak with complete commitment about a product they felt passionate about ensured the project was very successful”.

16 June 2009 - The 2009 Carrier Group Conference: Innovative Marketing.

The 2009 Carrier Group Conference at The Belfry certainly went with a swing!

Managing Director Bob Carter welcomed delegates and industry partners before handing over the reigns to Tim Manson, Operations and Policy Director of Marketing Birmingham who gave an inspirational opening address.

Delegates then took part in workshops covering five core topics; Destination Management, Consumer Data, E-mail Marketing & SEO, Social & Viral Marketing and Market Research, presented by a host of knowledgeable experts. Additionally, one to one advisory sessions were available throughout the day, offering new marketing concepts and practical advice.

Early feedback from our delegates indicates that the day’s events were incredibly productive and memorable, with many delegates already putting into action marketing tips they picked up on the day.

For a full overview of the conference, to see images of the event or to download conference notes please visit our event web pages.

March 2009
New to North Devon and New to Carrier...

But not new to direct marketing and database marketing, Samantha Astill-Chandler is a welcome addition to the Carrier Direct Marketing team as Assistant business development Manager.

Managing Director Bob Carter extolls Sam's virtues: "we are always on the lookout for experienced professionals to add to our successful teams and in this case Sam will be the ideal addition as we continue our development of new services and launch into new business sectors."

20 February 2009 - A Welcome Return!

Ian Parkington rejoins the Carrier Direct Marketing fold as Senior Project Manager with sister company, Carter Communication.

Ian has a wealth of experience in tourism marketing, both as a tourism officer and working in the private sector as a consultant and business development manager.

His destination management career encompasses successful senior tourism manager roles in Swanage, North Wales and North Devon. In 1992 he became Deputy Director and Head of Marketing at Northumbria Tourist Board and, over a seven year period, helped to lead the region into a period of unprecedented tourism growth, building a marketing reputation based on the application of market segmentation techniques.

In 2000 Ian moved across to the private sector and undertook consultancy and business development roles with Carrier Direct Marketing and then Hunter Johnstone Marketing, helping both companies to establish themselves as market leaders in specific tourism support services.

In 2009 Ian rejoined Carrier Direct Marketing as part of the Carter Communication team and looks forward to continued success, working with tourism clients in both the destination and operator sectors. He will use his tourism marketing expertise and experience to help clients create clear and innovative strategies and business plans.

10 February 2009 - Meet the team at 'Best of Britain & Ireland 2009' Exhibition

Carrier Direct Marketing will be exhibiting at the Best of Britain & Ireland 2009; a new annual event, held at ExCel London, 26 - 29 March.

Best of Britain & Ireland is the UK's official exhibition dedicated exclusively to domestic tourism, designed as a showcase to celebrate the richness of its nations and regions.

It introduces two distinct events - a high-profile trade show on the first two days (26-27 March), the successor to the British Travel Trade Fair, entitled Best of Britain & Ireland Travel Trade Forum; followed by a brand new, innovative and imaginative public event over the weekend, Best of Britain & Ireland 2009 (28-29 March).

Visit Website to find out more

24 Sept 2008 - MD Praised for 15th Anniversary

Carrier Direct Marketing held a celebratory lunch at its Barnstaple Head Office for a specially invited audience of clients, suppliers and staff.

The guest speaker, Martin Wickham, General Manager of local business development organisation North Devon+ said: "As a supplier to us I think they are second to none. They continue to strive to ensure they are ahead of the game..."

Read the full article in our Press Centre

10 Sept 2008 - Carrier Answers London Call

Carrier Direct Marketing has been appointed by the London Development Agency (LDA) to provide tourist information through a dedicated contact centre for the next 12 months. This appointment is as part of the LDA's work on "Building the Visitor Welcome" prior to 2012.

Read the full article in our Press Centre

22 Aug 2008 - Carrier Direct Celebrate Trio of Awards

Carrier Direct Marketing was the proud recipient of three quality standard certificates from IMSM, (International Management Systems Marketing).

ISOs 9001, 14001 and 18001 now provide Carrier Direct Marketing with quality control for Management systems, environmental management and health and safety, three vital areas to give added confidence to Carrier's lengthy list of both public and private sector clients.

Read the full article in our Press Centre

May 2008 - In-Store Promotions

Alistair takes on a new role...

After many years working as our Warehouse Manager and then as Senior Account Manager, Alistair Bruce is now so well versed in the Carrier Direct Marketing systems and services that he has become the new Business Development Manager.

So if you want to pick his brain about anything to do with our numerous services please Contact him or call 01271 336009.

Rachel takes on a senior role...

Following Alistair's appointment as Business Development Manager, Rachel Bater has moved up to take his place as Senior Account Manager.

Rachel's eight years at Carrier Direct Marketing have largely been spent rising up the ranks to Contact Centre Manager before moving to Account Manager last year.

She will continue to look after her existing client portfolio whilst working with the other members of her team to continue the high standards of service Carrier Direct Marketing's clients enjoy.

Txt4

Carrier Direct Marketing has formed a strategic alliance with txt4...

Allowing us to offer the latest technology in response handling. txt4 is the pioneer and leader in mobile response. With this alliance CDM are able to offer all the benefits of having SMS as part of a Marketing & Advertising campaign, at a realistic cost.

Mobile phones are becoming a recognised response channel for many businesses, providing increased response to advertising. This is an intuitive service that lets the customer request brochures or other information by sending a text message in response to an advertisement. Automated address validation matches a full address from a submitted house number and postcode, so the process is quick and easy for customers, and provides our clients with highly accurate data to aid ongoing communication.

There is also the option to send out messages to receptive and interested consumers, for example alerting them of up and coming events, or new brochure availability. Alerts are ideal for keeping consumers up-to-date with news, product launches and events. Specific segments of a database can be selected, giving accurate targeting for your message and maximum relevance to the consumer.

CDM are delighted to offer this service and feel it will maximise opportunities for our clients in these ever changing times.

Up and Coming Events - Autumn 2007

Come and see us at the following events...

TMI - Annual Conference will be held at The Paramount Hotel, Oxford on Wednesday 10th October - Thursday 11th October. This is the 'tourism event' of the year and we are delighted we will be attending as the major sponsor. We look forward to catching up with many of our existing clients and new ones alike.

The Annual National Conference of Visitor Attractions will be taking place on Tuesday, 16 October 2007 at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London.

This is the 4th National Conference which we look forward to attending.

Parkdean Holidays

CDM have recently been appointed to fulfil their brochure requests...

Parkdean is a UK focused self-catering operator with 20 award winning Holiday Parks throughout the UK, offering a range of quality accommodation, including caravan holiday homes, lodges, apartments and chalets.

CDM Managers have vast experience in managing brochure distribution for our clients. We are able to achieve unique levels of postal discounts (subject to certain criteria). This enables CDM to provide a high quality fulfilment service at exceptionally competitive rates.

South West Tourism Excellence Awards 2006

CDM were pleased to sponsor two categories at the South West Tourism Excellence Awards 2006...

which celebrate 'The Best in the South West' and aim to promote and reward the very best businesses and people in the tourism industry.

CDM sponsored both the Tourist Information Centre of The Year Award and the Tourist information customer service award, both of which were awarded to Salisbury TIC who will go on to represent the SWT region at the National Enjoy England Excellence Awards to be held in London during April 2007.

Thermae Bath Spa

The £45m attraction opened in early August and CDM are pleased to be handling telephone calls on their behalf.

Thermae Bath Spa were struggling to meet the demand for telephone calls for their product and after realising that they were losing approximately 95% of their calls they contracted CDM to handle telephone calls for brochure requests, selling vouchers and giving out general information regarding the various spa sessions and treatments available.

Within a couple of days, we had recruited and trained specialist staff to handle the calls and within the first week we had taken in excess of 2,000 telephone calls which had resulted in £5,000 of sales vouchers.

We would like to wish Thermae Bath Spa success and look forward to providing support for their product.

Excellent Response to Customer Satisfaction Survey

Obtaining research is a valuable exercise which is often overlooked by organisations.

At CDM we are constantly providing research for our clients, but rarely take up the opportunity ourselves, so with that in mind we thought that it was about time to research what our customers thought about us and the service that we provide. A Customer Satisfaction Survey was sent to all our clients via email and all responses were collated online through our sister company Customer Maze.

The response rate that we received was excellent with over 30% of our client base completing the survey and thankfully this highlighted some very positive comments regarding the company, service and our customer account management.

Bob Carter, MD of CDM says, 'We were delighted with the feedback received and all the valuable comments have been taken on board to ensure that we maintain the high level of service that our clients have come to expect. I would like to thank all our clients for taking part in the survey and also to thank the team of staff at CDM, who continue to provide an exceptional service to our clients at all times.'

Enjoy Sussex

Enjoy Sussex have commissioned our sister company Customer Maze to undertake focus group work to research the qualitative values of their brochure. This work is being carried out in conjunction with consumer research on their 2005 marketing campaign.

British Resorts and Destinations Annual Conference

CDM will be attending the British Resorts And Destinations Association Annual Conference in Folkestone, 12- 14th June.

The conference is loosely based around the dual, but separate themes of arts and culture as a tool of regeneration and European tourism initiatives and funding. There will also be some more general presentations including maximising the Olympics benefits to the wider visitor economy in 2012 and beyond, presentations from DCMS and a keynote speech by The Shadow Tourism Minister. There will be a short study tour themed on regeneration through arts and culture on the Monday morning and a tour on Tuesday travelling to France via the Channel Tunnel to view cooperative projects and to speak to European partners.

For more information, please visit www.britishresorts.co.uk

Royal Mail - Pricing in Proportion

Royal Mail will change its prices again on Monday, 21 August 2006 when Pricing in Proportion (PiP) will come into effect.

With PiP, the price you pay to send mail will be dependent on size as well as weight - meaning customers pay a price that more truly reflects Royal Mails costs.

There will be three main pricing formats: Letter, Large Letter and Packet.

Royal Mail estimate that around 70 per cent of mail items will remain unaffected by this change, however postage of brochures will be affected and if you require any further information regarding how these changes will affect your postage rates, please contact your Customer Account Manager who will be pleased to advise further with regards to the new costs.

Royal Mail Tariff Change - 3 April 2006

Royal mail have recently changed their postal charges. Key changes include:

• a two pence increase on First and Second Class stamped letters up to 60g (from 30p to 32p First Class and from 21p to 23p Second Class)
   
• a two pence increase on First Class items sent by Account and Franking customers up to 60g (from 29p to 31p)
   
• this means that the 1p discount up to 60g for Account and Franking customers will be maintained (going up to a 12p discount at higher weights)
   
• a similar 1p discount will now be introduced for Second Class Account and Franking customers for items up to 60g (going up to a 5p discount at higher weights). This means that Second Class PPI and meter letters up to 60g will increase from 21p to just 22p
  

If you'd like to know more about our range of Marketing services, call 01271 336 000 or Contact Us today!