Commission Agenda Item No. 9
Presenters:  Linda Campbell
Carly Montez

Briefing
Big Time Texas Hunts Program Update
May 26, 2011

I.       Executive Summary:  This item seeks to brief the Finance Committee on marketing efforts to reduce costs and increase the return on investment of Big Time Texas Hunts in 2010, including new direct mail segmentation strategies, email marketing and online advertising efforts.

II.      Discussion:  Since 1999, the Big Time Texas Hunt (BTTH) program has been one of TPWD’s most successful fundraising projects for the Wildlife Division, with proceeds going toward wildlife conservation, habitat management, and public hunting on both public and private lands.  The program allows anyone to enter to win one of seven prize hunt packages, and TPWD sets no limits on the number of entries.

In 2010, the program generated $437,530 in net revenue and achieved a 240% return on investment (ROI), the highest in the program history.  This high ROI was achieved by reducing overall program costs by 53%, primarily by using segmentation to target direct mail to only the customers most likely to respond.  In addition, low-cost marketing strategies such as email and online advertising were utilized to increase online sales and build the program’s customer base.

In 2010, 64,759 total entries were sold, with an average of 4.8 per participant.  The percent of online sales increased dramatically from 29% to 41%.  Increasing online sales is important because online buyers purchased an average of 6.1 entries, spending an average of $55, compared with 4.3 entries or an average of $43 for mail-in buyers.  Call-in and license retail sales accounted for only 4% of total sales.

Given the higher average sale of online purchases and the rising cost of direct mail, staff plans to continue to reduce marketing costs by targeting only our best customers with direct mail, growing email marketing efforts and using cost-effective advertising to drive customers to purchase online.  Efforts will also continue to control hunt costs while providing a diversity of high quality guided hunting opportunities.