Welcome back to The Wise Marketer. Every Monday, our team of editors curate a list of the latest customer loyalty, marketing, and other relevant news. Our goal is to make it simple for busy professionals to quickly digest important news and trending topics. Show your support by joining our mailing list to gain access to exclusive content, events, and promotions. Or you could just follow us on social media!
- The New York Jets release updated rewards program with an emphasis on season ticket holders
- Visa forms strategic partnership with Ascenda to leverage its loyalty platform across the Asia-Pacific region
- Convenience store chain Stinker tapped Liquid Barcodes to develop a gamified-loyalty program
- Wise Marketer Group announces Women in Loyalty three-part video interview series produced in collaboration with AIR MILES
- Ikea's currently testing a furniture buyback and resale program with plans to make it a permanent service in the future
- Retail gas market under investigation by the FTC as the average price of gasoline skyrocketed since last year
- As Google and other tech giants enter the Indian retail banking industry, traditional lenders may be under threat
- RocketFuel announces plans to issue its own crypto token, which will be used to implement token-based loyalty program
- New study details how the data privacy rights of Palestinians are being violated and urges the implementation of data protection laws
- United Airlines, Delta, and other carriers are utilizing data to make tough, controversial decisions
LOYALTY PROGRAM NEWS:
Jets Enhance Value & Access for Season Ticket Holders with All-New Rewards Program
Highlight: In a time where fan engagement has never been more important, the Jets are upping their game, re-launching a completely revamped Jets Rewards program this week. The modernized loyalty program will play a key role in enhancing Jets Season Ticket Holders' relationship and experience with the team, as the 2021 regular season kicks off in a few short weeks… “We are always looking for ways to enhance the subscription benefits for our Season Tickets Holders,” said Tim Kemp, Vice President of Marketing. “Using best-in-class technology, along with data insights from previous years of the program, we are re-launching Jets Rewards with a greater emphasis on the user experience along with redemption opportunities that you can't get anywhere else.” Kemp added, “this program has become critical to our business, as it allows us to better understand fan behavior – which ultimately helps us create a more personalized experience.”
Visa and Ascenda Partner on Next-Gen Loyalty and Rewards in Asia Pacific
Highlight: Visa, the world leader in digital payments, today announced a strategic partnership in Asia Pacific with Ascenda, the loyalty technology company. The payments network will be first globally to leverage Ascenda’s new Nexus platform, which will enable Visa’s partners to adopt a comprehensive new rewards program for their customers… “Visa and Ascenda already have a strong track record of partnering to equip top-tier banks with leading customer engagement solutions,” said Sebastian Grobys, chief commercial officer at Ascenda. “With Visa now leveraging our new Nexus model and integrating Visa’s existing engagement solutions for rapid deployment, we are unlocking significantly greater scale for our collaboration going forward.”
Stinker Launches New Loyalty Program Powered by Liquid Barcodes
Highlight: With a total of 103 convenience stores across Idaho, Colorado and Wyoming the new app-based loyalty program features a way for customers to earn digital stamps every time they buy coffee, donuts, fountain drinks or energy drinks. With engagement at its heart, the Stinker program is designed to be completely frictionless to use, with just one scan needed to pay and enjoy the program benefits and rewards… “It’s a clever new way for Stinker to allow their partner brands to promote their products, creating a win-win-win for those brands, for Stinker, and of course, for their customers,” said Saurabh Swarup, General Manager for Liquid Barcodes North America.
EVENTS:
The Wise Marketer Announces 3-part Women in Loyalty™ Series in Collaboration With AIR MILES
Highlight: This three-part video interview series will be produced in collaboration with AIR MILES and highlights female executives from leading brands who are influential and leading change in digital customer loyalty marketing… Rachel MacQueen, AIR MILES, emphasized the reason for their support of the series saying, “AIR MILES is one of the foundational coalition programs in the global market and we continue to believe in the importance of recognizing and rewarding customers as a source of business growth. Supporting initiatives such as Women in Loyalty make clear the AIR MILES commitment to diversity, gender inclusion, and recognition of our female executives, clients, and partners.”
RETAIL NEWS:
Ikea Pilots Furniture Buyback and Resale Program in the U.S.
Highlight: The global furniture giant is testing a furniture buyback and resale program at its store in the Philadelphia suburb of Conshohocken from August 30 through September 30. Ikea plans to roll out the program to additional select U.S. markets, with the ultimate goal of making it a permanent service at all its U.S. stores “in the future.” The program, which is open to members of Ikea’s free loyalty program, allows participants to sell their used Ikea furniture in exchange for store credit. The service is available only for fully assembled and functional Ikea furniture, with all items will be reviewed for condition, age and functionality… “At Ikea, we are passionate about making sustainable living easy and affordable for the many, and want to be part of a future that’s better for both people and the planet,” says Jennifer Keesson, country sustainability manager, Ikea U.S.
FTC to Investigate Retail Gas Market for 'Collusive' Schemes to Raise Prices
Highlight: Federal regulators are taking a closer look at the market for gasoline to root out illegal practices that could be leading to higher prices at the pump, following a White House request. Lax oversight of mergers in the oil and gas industry may have created “conditions ripe for price coordination and other collusive practices,” Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan said in a letter dated Aug. 25 to Brian Deese, director of President Joe Biden’s National Economic Council. Crude oil prices have risen sharply in recent months in concert with a recovering global economy, which has led to higher gas prices for American consumers. The average price of a gallon of gasoline was $3.15 during the week ended Aug. 23, according to the Energy Information Administration, up 96 cents from a year earlier.
PAYMENTS NEWS:
Banking Could Go the Way of News Publishing
Highlight: Alphabet Inc.’s Google already provides one of the two most popular payment wallets in the country. But now Google Pay wants to push time-deposit products of small Indian banks that don’t have much of a retail liability franchise of their own. The move has global significance. It shows the tenuous nature of the hold financial institutions have on a core operation like deposit-taking, and their vulnerability to an assault from online search, social media and e-commerce behemoths. Alphabet, Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. may pose a far bigger challenge to brick-and-mortar lenders than fintech startups that don’t have the scale of platform businesses. Just like in India, deposit-strapped challenger banks might throw the keys to tech intermediaries with hundreds of millions of active users. When the giants storm the fortress, even larger banks will lose control of banking.
RocketFuel To Issue its own Crypto Token through an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) to Raise $15M and Implement Token-Based Loyalty Program
Highlight: The coin will be used for a token-based loyalty program aimed at incentivizing shoppers to make purchases using cryptocurrencies or any other payment method. RocketFuel’s blockchain based loyalty program will be designed to address the growing loyalty fraud in the travel and other industries. The global pandemic hasn’t slowed the steep rise of loyalty fraud, but quite the opposite. As frequent flyer balances are left untouched by members, they become lucrative targets for fraudsters to swoop in and steal them without being noticed. According to a Morder Intelligence report, “the global loyalty management market was valued at US$4B in 2020 and expected to reach US$14B by 2026.” RocketFuel believes that its blockchain-based loyalty token will be virtually impossible to hack.
DATA & PRIVACY NEWS:
Palestine: The Reality of Digital Privacy and Data Protection
Highlight: This investigative study, which is the first of its kind in Palestine, attempts to examine and analyze the reality of privacy and data protection in Palestine, and addresses the different violations against Palestinians’ privacy and data by various parties. The report showed that there is a strong interest among Palestinian users in introducing a new law on privacy and the protection of their data. The report also showed that companies are not transparent about a majority of information they collect, and the nature of its use, processing, and sharing with external or internal third-parties. These operations take place secretly and in the absence of an authorized oversight body or an official law that protects the privacy and data of Palestinians in general, and their digital data in particular. This means that Palestinians cannot truly know the extent to which their data gets violated on a daily basis.
TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY NEWS:
United Airlines and Delta are using data to make truly controversial decisions
Highlight: It seems that businesses are spending as much money on bulking up their data capabilities as they are on, well, anything else. I worry that this constant number-munching turns us all into permanently neurotic beings. Still, sometimes the numbers seem to help senior executives make decisions that they know won't be universally popular. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has often been regarded as the quintessential data-driven human. So when he announced that his airline's employees would all have to be vaccinated by Oct. 25 -- or they'd be fired -- it was instructive how he presented his case.
Did you miss last week's newswire? Stay informed: Loyalty Newswire – August 23rd, 2021
The Loyalty Newswire is compiled and edited by the staff at The Wise Marketer.