Loyalty awards honour FedEx, Sears & Coca-Cola
Some of the world's biggest names in finance, retail and travel, including American Express, GameStop, Coca-Cola and Best Western, were the winners of the 2nd Annual Colloquy Loyalty Awards, which recognises the most transformative, customer-focused enterprise loyalty initiatives internationally.
Colloquy launched the awards in 2010 and expanded it globally this year, with members of the loyalty industry, including its subscribers, voting for the 'best of the best'.
The winners were each voted upon from a group of three finalists in eight loyalty categories. A ninth category recognises the Master of Enterprise Loyalty - that company whose corporate-wide loyalty strategy improved both financial and customer performance.
The winners were as follows:
- Master of Enterprise Loyalty (International) Sears Holdings Corp., for its Shop Your Way Rewards. Many own a Craftsman screwdriver, a sweater from Lands' End or a Kenmore washing machine. And therein lies the 125-year-old company's challenge: when most of the country is already shopping at the nation's fourth-largest retailer, acquisition isn't the most effective growth strategy. But how does a historical mass-marketer get down to the customer level? Sears launched an enterprise-wide initiative, Shop Your Way Rewards, which includes Kmart, Sears, Lands' End, Great Indoors, Sears Auto centre, and even Home Services. The initiative touches marketing, sales and operations at every brand, and is now beginning to change the way the company approaches problem solving. The results: Shop Your Way Rewards exceeded its 36-month membership target in 17 months, now with memberships numbering in the eight digits.
- Loyalty Innovation in Financial Services (North America) American Express, for its Membership Rewards: Everyday Rewards. By turning to its customers, American Express found two ways to add more attainable rewards while simplifying redemptions. The first was the launch of Everyday Charges, a feature that addresses customers' demands for choice, flexibility and attainability by offering real-time point-of-sale redemption when they want it and how they want it, through points, cash or a combination of all three. Among its steps for getting there was a partnership with Amazon.com, which enables customers to use their points toward purchases on Amazon. The results: Twelve months after launching Everyday Charges and four months after the Amazon.com partnership, both rank both among American Express's Top 10 rewards.
- Loyalty Innovation in Financial Services (International): Barclaycard, from the UK, for its Freedom Project. Launched in March 2010, Freedom was simultaneously activated on more than 8 million Barclaycards and made available in more than 20,000 retail outlets, all of which were mapped out in individualised consumer mailers. Members can earn and redeem Reward Money instantly on purchases made with their Barclaycard, and the rewards are earned in pounds, not points, a transparency that resonates with customers and affords merchants richer customer data. The results: Since Freedom's inception, retail partners have seen a 15.2% lift in spending.
- Innovation in Loyalty Marketing (North America): FedEx, for FedEx Game Time. Since 2004, FedEx Game Time has driven shipping in the small business segment by involving customers throughout the NFL season. But in 2010, FedEx decided to kick engagement higher, with a more targeted approach using a customer value database and integrated Web platform. Customers were able to visually track their FedEx packages as they related to their shipping goals. As they reached their individual goals, they could redeem for gift cards, consumer electronics, NFL memorabilia, and more. The results: Touchdown! Game Time's revenue-to-expense ratio was 17:1. Almost 19,000 customers signed up to participate; representing a 66% increase.
- Innovation in Loyalty Marketing (International): Hero MotoCorp Ltd, India, for the Hero MotoCorp GoodLife programme. India is a competitive market and to stay ahead, Hero MotoCorp needed a plan to retain customers, grow market share and support the dealer network. Hero MotoCorp put it into gear with the Hero MotoCorp GoodLife programme, which uses engagement to transform its customers into brand ambassadors through rewards, invitations to exclusive events, personal accidental insurance, service bonuses, and an interactive website. The results: With 380,000 new members a month and a membership base of more than 7.2 million, it is the largest customer-relationship programme of its kind in India.
- Loyalty Innovation in Travel/Hospitality (North America): Best Western International, for Status Match... No Catch. Best Western not only kept its doors open to full reward redemption, it widened its doors to non-members. With a programme called Status Match No Catch, Best Western welcomed all travelers to redeem their points from competing hotel brands and get Best Western Rewards in return. A daring move, with great results: Since announcing the offering, Best Western said Status Match... No Catch has generated close to 5,000 additional new Best Western Rewards members and led to 37,000 room nights, translating to US$3.4 million in revenue.
- Loyalty Innovation in Travel/Hospitality (International): InterContinental Hotels Group, South America, for its Diamond Club Marketing Relationship. InterContinental Hotels Group started with a makeover of its website, providing the content that every executive assistant wants, while also arranging one-to-one time for them with its hotel sales coordinators. New technologies were developed to monitor loyalty points online, view promotions and messages targeted to personal profiles and more. The results: These refinements contributed to a 320% sales increase, with 28% from catering and 262% from room nights.
- Loyalty Innovation in Retail (North America): GameStop, for GameStop PowerUp Rewards. Leveraging the unique relationships GameStop had with its publishers, the gaming chain designed PowerUp Rewards. Using a playful mix of points, discounts, rewards merchandise and sweepstakes that could not be duplicated elsewhere, GameStop created totally unique experiences for its best customers, including NASCAR tickets and access to the Comic-Con International. The results: In its100-day pilot phase, more than 350,000 customers enrolled, spurring an earlier-than-planned national rollout. In less than one year, PowerUp Rewards scored more than 10 million members.
- Loyalty Innovation in Other Industries (North America): Coca-Cola North America, for My Coke Rewards. With a 2010 goal to improve activity among its 1.5 million members and gain 100 million points monthly, My Coke Rewards added a Facebook page with faster navigation and reward redemption and a menu of 'gotta have it now' offers. Further, it launched a mobile web site and a mix of promotions including its Million Point Giveaway contest. The results: My Coke Rewards.com reached 16 million members, with 1 billion product codes entered. It is now a Top-500 visited site, with more than 4 million monthly unique visitors.
"This year, the awards were extended to accept nominees from around the world because we know visionary loyalty innovations are taking place globally and deserve to be recognised," said Colloquy managing partner, Kelly Hlavinka. "In the 21 years since Colloquy was founded, we've seen loyalty transform itself from a fledgling marketing concept to a highly sophisticated, multi-channel industry that spans the globe, and we are happy to honour those who are getting it right."
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