Cultural immersion can coincide with the biggest reason to create a bespoke B2B travel incentive program and share it with your most valued customers, which is to strengthen the relationship between your brand and your audience. The purpose of the incentive is to build a bond between the brand and customers – your program provides the customers with additional value from transactions with your business, which then rewards them with an exclusive, aspirational trip.
This is when your brand can truly build a connection. By sharing experiences with the people who elevated your brand to end-customers, you provide them with memories they can think of whenever it comes time to consider which brand they’d like to stock.
This favourability means that your brand will want to provide an experience that will stand the test of time in their minds. That’s why we recommend diving into the local culture and immersing them in experiences they cannot find at home! We will explore the power of cultural immersion in travel incentive experiences and a few recent favourites from our travel team.
As mentioned above, a B2B incentive travel experience promotes bonding and strengthens the relationship between your brand and customers. The most vital partners are those who favour and promote your stock, services, or otherwise. While the trip itself is a reward for the partners who excelled the most within the program, it isn’t the end of the road.
The trip allows memorable interactions between your brand (and its representatives) and its most prominent supporters. These experiences can bolster the relationship, meaning that when your customers are back to reality in their jobs, and it comes time to restock, the choice should be clear – is it going to be a competitor, or is it going to be the brand that gave them a once-in-a-lifetime experience simply from doing business?
These memories can be stronger than any marketing push, allowing your brand to live rent-free in your customers’ minds. The stronger the experiences, the more likely they are to refer back.
This is why cultural immersion is so intense in this context. By giving them experiences that cannot be replicated in their day-to-day life, your customers are sure to tie them directly to your brand, and they’re far more likely to stick around when it comes time to make these important decisions.
The first step to providing authentic cultural immersion in a B2B incentive travel experience is understanding the demographic attending. While cultural immersion is vital to creating lasting memories with your group, it shouldn’t come at the expense of your group’s enjoyment. The best trip fits your group’s expectations, so if it’s not a perfect fit, we won’t recommend it!
Once the destination has been decided and the budget has been established, it’s onto our experienced events management team. They plan the trip through expertise and connections, usually through a Destination Management Company (DMC). We’ve written about DMCs before, but basically, these are companies that are based in the destination and have connections with local venues, restaurants, and events that can provide the best experience for your group possible. They can help us provide ‘money can’t buy’ experiences – such as having a private function on the Great Wall of China with a Grand Piano.
Through DMCs, we can provide genuinely authentic trips, allowing your group to deeply immerse themselves in local culture and have events that provide the most memorable time possible.
Now that we’ve explored the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of cultural immersion within travel incentive programs, it’s on to some of our favourite recent examples!
Considering the impact of cultural immersion, which provides memories that will stay long after the trip ends, this is a great one. We recently took a group to South Korea for an incentive travel experience, and one of the activities we booked for them was a Korean cooking class with a local chef. The group attended a market to purchase fresh ingredients and sample street food snacks before returning to the chef’s house to get hands-on and learn how to make some local favourites. The experience finished with a ‘Hanjeongsik’ dinner, sitting down to eat what they had made.
This culinary adventure was more than just a cooking class; it was an immersion into the heart of Korean culture. The group not only learned about the ingredients and techniques but also the stories and traditions behind each dish, deepening their connection to the cuisine.
Korean food is gaining traction quickly in the West (and rightfully so—it’s delicious!), so giving the group a chance to sample authentic cuisine and the ability to cook it when they return home provides your customers with a chance to remember your brand every time they’re deciding what to make for dinner. 365 dinners a year—that’s a lot of opportunities for brand recognition!
Culture goes wider than food, with once-in-a-lifetime experiences allowing your guests to return and brag to all their mates about what supporting your brand did for them. One such experience was the group we took to Denmark, which got to set sail aboard a reconstructed Viking ship!
These ships don’t have a motor, so focused teamwork is required under the supervision of expert Viking ship instructors and sailors. This gave the group something that they could never have gotten to do back home, while packing out the trip with an unreal experience that they’d be sure to talk about for years to come. The thrill of navigating the waters like ancient mariners not only built camaraderie but also offered a profound appreciation for history and heritage.
What’s cooler than setting sail like an authentic Viking, working together to breeze through the water? Getting back and telling everyone in the pub!
Cultural immersion doesn’t just mean activities – it can also be seeded in relaxing experiences, which we did in Malta with an authentic dinner on the second night of the trip, in a legendary castle with entertainment provided by Maltese dancers! This allowed the group to kick back, relax and enjoy themselves, surrounded by Maltese cuisine and culture without lifting a finger.
Immersing your guests in the culture throughout the trip strengthens the memories and ensures that they’ll stay connected to the trip—and your brand—upon return.
If the calendar lines up, your trip can lock into local events and engage in authentic celebrations, which is what we organised for one group last November! Our trip to Mexico coincided with the Day of the Dead, a traditional Mexican holiday celebrated at the start of November to honour and remember the deceased. Families create offerings to their family members who have passed away in the form of flowers, photos, food, and drinks enjoyed by those who have left us.
Our group had the opportunity to participate in these heartfelt traditions, joining locals in the vibrant celebrations and gaining a deeper understanding of the significance behind the customs. This rare chance to engage directly with the local community created a bridge between cultures, fostering mutual respect and admiration.
Through immersion in local celebrations, the guests experienced group culture first-hand, which gave them a way to remember something they could never achieve at home.
These are just some of our travel team’s favourite recent events, but by no means is that where it ends! If you’re ready to consider the power of an authentic travel incentive experience for your brand, our expert travel team can curate a program that will fit perfectly for your brand and your guests and leave them raving about your brand upon their return.
