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April 2006 - Strategy Magazine
Up front

Tell Us About Us's yacht caper

by Terry Poulton
page 9

If strategically planned pizzazz is a surefire way to raise a company's profile, why not up the ante by staging pizzazz aplenty aboard a luxury yacht? That's what the folks at customer research firm Tell Us About Us thought when they learned that the venue for an upcoming conference would be balmy Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Normally, says Winnipeg-based TUAU president Tyler Gompf, the annual meeting of the Institute for International Research is...well, he actually used a euphemism for "boring." He spied an opp to position the firm "as young, fun and exciting" - plus "get some quality face time" with some of the Fortune 500 attendees, which normally takes months of effort to achieve.

So, ROI-wise, did the yacht caper, which cost under $20,000, pay off? Definitely, says Gompf. Wining and dining nearly 100 key people during the late-February cruise has already resulted in lining up three formal pitch meetings with U.S. based credit card, insurance and financial services companies, any of which, if landed, says Gompf, would lead to contracts "starting at six figures minimum." Whichever new clients decide to sail with TUAU will join a roster that includes Dunkin' Donuts, Subway, and American Greetings, among others.

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