DIREM and ICICI Bank Home Loans organised an unforgettable launch for the websites of ICICI Bank Home Loans channel programs - High Rise and Rising Star.

Introduction
ICICI Bank Home Loans is India’s largest home loans provider. Since 2003, DIREM has conceptualized, designed and managed two performance incentive programs,High Rise and Rising Star, for two distinct channel partners.

Target Audience:
High Rise is a program aimed at Direct Marketing Agents (DMAs), and Rising Star is meant for individuals (I-counsellors) in the sales force. Both programs have been hugely successful in managing to retain talent and ensuring that targets are met.

Taking the programs online
In order to take the programs to a higher level, lower the response times and manage processes more efficiently, DIREM initiated the process of taking the programs online. This step would increase interactivity between the members and the respective programs and provide asingle window for all information on each programs.

Rising Star and High Rise Programs at your fingertips
www.myrising-star.com and www.myhighrise.com are windows to the programs designed to reward the performance of DMAs and I-counsellors. Yet another initiative to service the sales team better and make the interaction faster and smoother, these websites allow instant access to the High Rise and Rising Star Programs. Now a member can access his Rising Star membershipinformation even when he is in the field, every day. He can find out his latest points statement, tier status, recent tier upgrade and even redeem rewards online. Moreover, the member can also learn about the latest exciting promotions instantly, and know the program better than ever. He can look up the online FAQs page for clarifications on the program, and a lot more!

Key Features:
These websites allow the program members to enjoy the following facilities:

• Log on to a personalized home page
• The home page welcomes the member by name, displays current tier; lists the redeemable points up to the current month.
• Know latest points balance at a glance. Anytime. Anywhere,
• Choose and redeem rewards instantly from the interactive rewards gallery. Receive a confirmation of the redemption request or a reason for non-confirmation.
• Access a POINTS CALCULATOR that tells the member where he is, and where he is headed!
• Access information on all the permutations and combinations of privileges he can aim for.

The Launch Theme:
Launch of the next generation efficiency booster: ‘Welcome to the Future’

Venue:
The Ballrooms of a 5 star hotels in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore (Jan 2006).

The execution of the theme:
The ambience at the venue had a space ship décor from the moment the member entered the venue.

The entrance:
It was done up to simulate the entrance to a space ship like the Star Trek Voyager. Two hostesses dressed as space cadets welcomed the guests, and asked them to register on a touch-screen console. They were given name badges and then asked to walk onto the transportation platform to enter the main hall. The journey to the main hall was through a corridor which resembled the interior of a space ship.

The main ballroom:
With dim ambient lighting and images of the galaxy projected onto the side walls, the main ball room replicated the feeling of being in space. Each table had a centre piece with a model of the planets, to add to the experience.

The Main stage:
This critical area was made to look like the space ship’s cockpit with only space welcoming guests as they entered. Rows of lights led to the stage from the entrance.



The Launch and flight:
As guests settled down, the emcee (Captain of the Starship) entered on stage to announce departure. He guided the guests thru a journey to somewhere exciting in the future… they did not know exactly where.

The take-off sequence started with a formal announcement and a count down with all lights being dimmed, and images of the galaxy being shown on the AV screens.

Then the Captain (Emcee) called on stage the Captain of ICICI Bank to take us thru on the journey ICICI Bank has embarked upon.

Mr. Rajiv Sabharwal (GM Retail – ICICI Bank) delivered his speech on the ICICI Bank Home Loans’ progress, followed by Mr. Rohokale’s ( Sales Head ) speech on the High Rise Program.

The Landing Sequence:
After the speeches, the emcee announced that the space ship would land shortly. He called on stage Mr. Sunil Rohokale together with Mr. Sabharwal/ Mr. Vaidyanathan to help him unveil what was in store on Planet High Rise.

This initiated the unveiling sequence which was the splitting of the backdrop to reveal a 3 D planet with the logo of myhighrise.com superimposed on it.



The discovery:
Both High Rise and Rising Star members were very impressed by the launch party and the fact that they could now interact with the program on a real-time, online platform. Moreover, this year, with online redemptions, we have seen a growth of approx 18% in both programs, over offline redemptions last year.