Summary: Highlight what matters. This clever mailer for Holland America Line combined cruise education with a literal highlighter—inviting agents to “draw attention” to key features across Caribbean, Alaska, and Panama Canal itineraries for a chance to win a free cruise.

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🖍️ Case Study: Draw Attention to Our Highlights

Client: Holland America Line – Westours
Campaign Objective: Boost early-season bookings for Caribbean, Alaska, and Panama Canal cruise itineraries by engaging travel agents through an interactive mailer campaign.

🎯 Challenge

Holland America Line needed a way to excite and educate travel agents while encouraging early deposits. They aimed to highlight product strengths like no-tipping-required policies and a free air program across multiple seasonal itineraries.

💡 Strategy & Execution

The campaign hinged on a dual-meaning concept: “Draw Attention.”
Agents were literally asked to highlight correct answers using the enclosed branded pen in order to enter a cruise giveaway.

📦 Key Materials

• Tri-fold Brochure

  • 🌴 Caribbean Itineraries: Ports like St. Thomas, San Juan, Curaçao

  • 🚢 Panama Canal Cruises: East–West options with free air incentives

  • ❄️ Alaska + Westours: Glacier Bay, land extensions, and more

• Branded Highlighter Pen – used to answer trivia

• Bold Teaser Insert – “Enter our drawing for a free Holland America Line cruise”

• Custom Envelope – Marked “EXTREMELY URGENT LETTER ENCLOSED”

🎁 Incentive Offer

Agents who correctly answered trivia questions using the brochure content and returned their entries were entered to win a free cruise.

📈 Results

• • 💡 Increased Agent Engagement: The interactive format boosted retention of cruise details

  • 📅 Early Bookings Lift: Helped fuel a stronger spring season

  • 🧠 Brand Recall: The campaign stood out for its creative simplicity and tactile appeal

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Summary: How do you turn a simple booking offer into a hands-on experience? This cheerful mailer used scissors, paper dolls, and a clever “cut a deal” theme to help travel agents visualize client savings—and earn a free cruise of their own in the process.

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✂️ Case Study: Cut a Deal for Your Clients

Client: Holland America Line
Medium: Tactile Direct Mail | Incentive Promo
Target: Travel Agents
Objective: Boost early-season Caribbean cruise bookings through agent incentives and playful engagement

🎯 Challenge

Holland America Line wanted to energize bookings for its Caribbean spring sailings. The challenge: deliver a promotional message that stood out—without falling into the “same old brochure” trap—and communicate an irresistible offer for clients and agents alike.

💡 Creative Concept: Paper Dolls with a Perk

This cleaver, tactile promo invited agents to “Cut a Deal for Your Clients” using literal paper dolls and a pair of included scissors. The message: book the first two passengers, and the 3rd and 4th sail free. A memorable call to action—delivered through a hands-on metaphor that encouraged agents to engage, snip, and sell.

📦 Kit Contents

• ✂️ Hinged Box Mailer – Featuring illustrated nautical map graphics and a bold call to action

• 👯‍♂️ Folded 4-Panel Paper Doll Sheet – Each figure representing a passenger deal

• ✉️ Details Brochure – Explained offer mechanics, dates, and booking codes

• ✂️ Mini Scissors – Included for trimming the paper doll chain (and cutting through clutter)

🎁 Incentive Offer

• Travel agents who booked clients using the offer were entered to win a free cruise

• Messaging reinforced savings: “Simply trim along the dotted lines and see how much your clients can save…”

📈 Results

• ✂️ Strong tactile engagement—agents interacted with the kit immediately

• 🧠 High message recall thanks to visual metaphor and physical interactivity

• 📅 Early-season bookings surged, especially for group sailings

• 🛳️ Offer created buzz in agency offices and aligned with Holland America’s brand tone: upscale, clever, and personable

🧠 Why It Worked

• Playful packaging brought a smile—and product awareness

• Inclusion of real scissors created novelty and shareability

• The “cut a deal” metaphor made the offer easy to understand and communicate to clients

• Aligned value for both agent and customer = increased motivation to act

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Summary: How do you train travel agents on luxury land excursions—with a smile? This playful campaign for Holland America’s LoungeCoach experience turned product education into a hands-on activity using pink highlighters, oversized visuals, and a prize-worthy incentive—leaving agents, and their clients, thoroughly tickled.

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💗 Case Study: Tickled Pink – The Alaska Yukon Explorer LoungeCoach Promo 

Client: Holland America – Westours
Type: B2B Travel Agent Promotion
Objective: Build agent excitement and fluency around land-cruise features in Alaska & Yukon

🎯 Challenge

Sell a premium land component—like the LoungeCoach—to agents who are used to selling sea-only cruise packages. The solution needed to be visual, memorable, and fun enough to spark conversation and retention.

💡 Strategy & Execution

Enter: “Your Clients Will Be Tickled Pink.”
The mailer included bright pink highlighters and a visual overview of the Alaska Yukon Explorer LoungeCoach experience—inviting agents to literally highlight what made it special.

📦 Kit Components

• 📜 Oversized Color Mailer - Featured images and blurbs agents could mark using the highlighters

• 🖍️ Two Pink Branded Highlighters - Reinforced the theme while making the training interactive

• 📬 Rolled Tube Packaging - Wrapped in pink tissue paper for an engaging unboxing moment

🌟 LoungeCoach Features Highlighted

• Club-style recliner seating

• Full-service galley

• Friendly onboard attendant

• Video entertainment system

• Floor-to-ceiling tinted sightseeing windows

• Extra-long, high-deck Prevost design

🎁 Incentive

Agents who completed the highlighting exercise and entered were eligible to win a free Alaska cruise for two aboard the MS Statendam.

📈 Results

• 🖍️ High engagement thanks to whimsical branding and tactile interaction

• 🧠 Boosted product familiarity—agents remembered (and retold) key LoungeCoach benefits

• 📊 Land-cruise sales uplift in regions where the promo was most distributed

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Summary: How do you make travel agents feel the destination before booking it? This immersive campaign used a custom Holland America View-Master and 3-D photo reels to turn cruise promotion into an emotional, hands-on preview—sparking bookings, contest entries, and nostalgic engagement.

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👀 Case Study: See It to Believe It – 3-D Cruise Brochure + Free Cruise Contest

Client: Holland America Line – Westours Inc.
Medium: Dimensional Mailer + Custom View-Master Experience
Objective: Drive cruise package sales through an immersive, sensory-rich promotional tool that made destinations feel real before agents even booked them.

🎯 Challenge

Traditional brochures weren’t doing justice to Holland America’s immersive cruise experiences. The challenge was to help agents visualize and emotionally connect with the product—and turn those moments into bookings.

💡 Creative Concept

"Take Your Clients on a 3-D Voyage—Before They Even Book."
The campaign transformed a nostalgic favorite—the View-Master—into a powerful B2B sales tool. Inside the viewer: tropical beaches, canal-side towns, and glacier-fed Alaskan landscapes.

📦 What Was Included

• ✉️ Oversized envelope marked “Open Immediately!”

• 📝 Personalized welcome letter + contest instructions

• 🔍 Custom-branded Holland America View-Master

• 🖼️ Three full-color 3-D reels with:

  • Caribbean cruise ports

  • Panama Canal journey highlights

  • Optional Alaska extension via Westours

🧠 Engagement Strategy

• Agents were encouraged to share the reels with clients as a “see it, feel it” selling tool

• Reels helped build emotional resonance and showcase premium itineraries

🎁 Incentive Offer

Agents who showcased the reels and submitted either commentary or booking proof were entered to win a free Holland America cruise. Entry was quick, easy, and familiar to agents.

📈 Results & Impact

• 🌟 Breakthrough engagement due to tactile nostalgia and novelty

• 🛳️ Boosted participation in sales contests and visibility for multi-destination itineraries

• 🧠 Increased memorability of Holland America’s brand promise: immersive, upscale travel

• 🔄 Flexible use: Additional Alaska reels extended the kit’s shelf life and reuse potential

🧠 Why It Worked

• Tactile storytelling enhanced emotional connection

• Interactive format invited client participation

• Nostalgia and novelty made the promo unforgettable

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Summary: How do you stand out in a cluttered travel agency? This lightweight, 3D hanging ship display helped Holland America claim prime point-of-sale real estate—sparking destination awareness, photo submissions, and cruise contest buzz from front-line travel agents. 

🚢 Case Study: Holland America Line – MS Noordam Mobile Display

Objective: Boost in-agency visibility for Holland America Line’s cruise packages by turning travel offices into branded showcases—complete with incentive-driven agent participation. 

🖼️ Display Concept

A visually engaging mobile display featuring a 3D paper replica of the MS Noordam, suspended beneath the Holland America Line Westours logo. Circular side panels promoted Caribbean Cruises, Panama Canal Cruises, and Westours Alaska itineraries.

📍 Merchandising Strategy

In a POS environment packed with competition, the mobile’s lightweight, easy-to-hang design gave agents a no-fuss way to show support—and helped the brand stand out visually above the desk, in windows, or near booking stations.

🎁 Agent Incentive

Agents were asked to:

1. Hang the display in a visible area

2. 📸 Submit a photo of the installation

3. Be entered to win a free cruise

The simple act of hanging the mobile became a gateway to engagement and reward.

📈 Results & Highlights

• 🚀 High agent participation—driven by low effort and high reward

• 🧠 Increased destination awareness at the moment of decision

• 🏆 Boosted product excitement with a physical reminder of featured itineraries

• 📣 Reinforced Holland America’s premium positioning through thoughtful, elegant visual merchandising

💡 Key Takeaway

Even simple 3D point-of-sale tools, when paired with a well-structured incentive, can elevate visibility, encourage participation, and turn everyday spaces into branded selling environments.

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Summary: How do you turn smooth service into something agents can feel? This clever direct mail campaign featured a real bottle of hand lotion—reminding agents that Holland America not only sells luxury, but delivers it with care, comfort, and just the right touch.

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⛵ Case Study: Smooth Sailing – Holland America Handles Your Clients with Care

Client: Holland America Line
Medium: Tactile Direct Mail + Incentive Promotion
Campaign Focus: Panama Canal Sailings | Travel Agent Engagement | Upscale Brand Positioning

🎯 Campaign Objective

Promote Holland America Line’s Panama Canal cruises by driving agent engagement and early-season bookings, while reinforcing the brand’s premium, guest-focused experience.

💡 Campaign Concept

Agents received a pump bottle of branded hand lotion labeled:

“Holland America Line Handles Your Clients with Care.”

The lotion was packaged in a bright pop-top Smooth Sailing mailing tube, reinforcing the message of a pampered, effortless cruise experience.

📦 Tactics & Elements

• 🧴 Branded Hand Lotion – A tactile, desktop-friendly giveaway

• 📬 Pop-top Mailing Tube – Brightly designed with campaign messaging

• 📝 Insert Cards + Quiz Questions – Lighthearted, slightly challenging prompts for sweepstakes entry

• 💸 Savings Message – “Save up to $600 per couple” created urgency for bookings

🎁 Promotional Hook

Agents who answered the quiz correctly and submitted qualifying bookings were entered to win a free luxury cruise. The interaction added fun, reinforced retention, and nudged agents toward conversion.

📈 Results

• 🧠 High recall and repeat exposure from the lotion’s desktop presence

• 💬 Buzzworthy execution—agents discussed and shared the promo

• 📊 Boosted early bookings for Panama Canal itineraries

• 💎  Reinforced brand tone of thoughtful, elegant, and guest-first experiences

💡 Why It Worked

• Tactile novelty made the piece unforgettable

• Humor and wordplay kept it light but on-brand

• Premium presentation aligned with product value

• Practical gift = daily brand exposure

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Summary: How do you launch a new cruise ship with more than just a brochure? This joyful 3D pop-up mailer introduced travel agents to the MS Noordam by literally bringing the ship to life—blending visual delight, booking incentives, and the unmistakable pull of Caribbean wanderlust.

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☀️ Case Study: The Newest Caribbean Hot Spot, In—3D!

Client: Holland America Line
Category: B2B Direct Mail | Travel Industry Promotion | Tactile Marketing
Target: U.S.-based Travel Agents

🎯 Objective

• 🚢 Drive early bookings for MS Noordam’s Eastern Caribbean Fall sailings

• 🌴 Build awareness of its entry into service alongside the MS Nieuw Amsterdam and SS Rotterdam

🧩 Key Campaign Elements

📦 3D Pop-Up Mailer

A folded mailer that opened to reveal a dimensional, paper-engineered model of the MS Noordam sailing across illustrated seas. The pop-up created a surprise-and-delight moment agents wouldn’t soon forget.

🎁 Book Early, Win Big

Agents who booked qualifying itineraries and submitted postcard entries were eligible to win one of 10 free cruises for two.

💰 Dutch Incentive Savings

Clients could save up to $300 per couple on 7-day Caribbean cruises, adding urgency and value to agent conversations.

✍️ Easy Entry

A simple postcard submission with client and agency info, anchored by the line:

“Holland America Line Is The Caribbean.”

📈 Results

• 🧠 High recall and visual impact due to pop-up presentation

• 🛳️ Sustained agent engagement—mailer remained on desks long after standard promos were discarded

• 📊 Lift in early bookings for Fall sailings; helped fill cabins and boost excitement

💡 Why It Worked

• Tactile surprise broke through mailbox fatigue

• Blended emotional storytelling (a beautiful cruise moment) with practical rewards

• Gave agents a conversation starter and physical reminder to recommend HAL first

This promotion exemplified the genius of tactile communication—turning a standard mail piece into a memorable brand interaction. With a perfect mix of visual storytelling, tangible value, and the thrill of reward, Holland America Line created a campaign as unforgettable as the cruise itself.