THE GREEN GAMER
Jacobsen masterminded a travel program gamification program that planted 175,000 trees in Haiti in 2015 and created employment opportunities for local villagers. Oh yeah, program compliance spiked too.
Bob Jacobsen’s influence on the travel industry may yet to be realized, but his influence on the planet grows every single day. Looking to increase compliance to T-Mobile’s travel program with a gamification strategy, Jacobsen needed a reward structure that would resonate with his company’s largely Millennial workforce but without breaking the bank. “I didn’t want to do a $5 gift card; it didn’t mean anything,” he said. Simultaneously tasked with a firmwide sustainability directive from T-Mobile’s largest stockholder Deutsche Telekom, Jacobsen decided to combine the two goals: incentivizing travel program compliance with an eco-oriented reward.
He sourced The Eden Projects, a nonprofit organization that employs local villagers to reforest hurricane-ravaged Haiti. T-Mobile travelers who book according to policy earn points toward getting trees planted. He also solicited preferred airline Delta to sponsor “bonus” points for booking with the carrier. His agency of record, Travel and Transport, tweaked a languishing gamification platform to support the program.
Since launching the program, the company has planted 175,000 trees, and compliance to booking online, booking the lowest logical rates and booking with preferred suppliers was up significantly. Delta’s bonus point sponsorship spurred a 12 percent increase in contract compliance. “It’s really awesome to be able to spend time and collaborate and not just argue over a few percentage [points] here and there,” Jacobsen said.
While the industry is still waiting for copycat programs to surface, T-Mobile’s sustainability strategy and story have gone viral. “I was invited to speak at [a supplier] sales and account management launch event,” he said. “There were 2,000 people from all over the world in the audience, and I made them all promise to do something for the planet.”