Thanks in large part to a recently opened office in Shanghai, Carlson Marketing’s international business is flying high.
The Minnetonka-based sales and marketing company, a division of the Carlson Companies’ hospitality empire, recently booked a six-month consulting flight with China’s largest airline, China Southern Airlines, and that assignment appears to be the initial entry the sales and marketing arm of Carlson was looking for to gain a foothold in the most populated country on the planet. Carlson’s assignment is to redesign the customer-data infrastructure of the airline’s frequent-flyer program, The Sky Pearl Club, and maximize benefits for the airline’s top customers.
The China Southern Airlines project will be managed from Carlson Marketing’s new Shanghai office. Other Carlson Companies businesses—including Radisson and Regent hotels, TGI Fridays, and Carlson Wagonlit Travel—already have a presence in the Chinese city.
“Part of our growth plan is to open offices in Beijing and Guangzhou in the coming years, potentially via targeted acquisitions,” says Gabi Kool, Carlson Marketing’s Asia Pacific executive vice president and China managing director. Kool notes that “many of Carlson Marketing’s clients have a fast-growing presence in China, or are just entering the market.” Carlson Marketing wants to ensure that “we have the global capabilities and local presence to deliver innovative marketing ideas, and execute these often large and complex programs and events in a consistent way in all of our clients’ strategically important markets,” he adds. “China is definitely one of those markets.”
While China Southern is the Shanghai office’s first client, the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing are also providing Carlson Marketing with opportunities; as of this writing, Carlson Marketing expects to be supporting at least four Olympic sponsors with their hospitality programs during the Games. Carlson is in discussion with two of its technology-company clients to set up meetings and events in China.
Kool says that the Shanghai office will focus on clients in the airline, financial-services, automotive, and technology markets that wish to expand in China. It will be providing support in the meetings and events area, as well as a variety of other sales and marketing services.
Kool, a native of the Netherlands, joined Carlson Marketing in 2002 from KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, where he oversaw KLM’s frequent-flyer program. Since joining Carlson Marketing, he managed the firm’s operation in southeast Asia (based in Singapore) and worked on marketing programs for a variety of clients, including ExxonMobil and Ku-wait Airways.
Carlson Marketing first connected with China Southern when the Minnesota company was invited to present its frequent-flyer program best practices in December 2004 at an internal China Southern conference. Four months later, Carlson offered to host a three-day workshop with the airlines’ senior leadership team, where they evaluated and analyzed the frequent flyer program. As a result of the workshop, China Southern issued an RFP to retool its Sky Pearl program—business that was awarded to Carlson Marketing.
For Kool and his six employees, the biggest challenge of doing business in China so far has been working within its legal system. “Working the legal system to get all the necessary work permits and legal permits to operate as a wholly foreign owned enterprise [WFOE] took longer than expected,” he says. “But that is now all sorted out.”
