Welcome back to the Wise Marketer! That is, if you've been here before! Each week, our team of editors curate a list of the latest customer loyalty, technology, and other relevant marketing 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, promotions, and more. Or simply enjoy today's newswire!
- Blue Apron attempts to fight climate change through its new loyalty program
- Comarch partners with Motisha to introduce fully customizable, engaging loyalty member touchpoints
- QNB First launches a referral campaign in which five customers will win 1 million Life Rewards points
- Entries to the International Loyalty Awards 2022 are open until 14 February 2022
- Purple Dot’s innovative “waitlist and pre-order” solution allows inventory to be sold before it arrives in the warehouse
- Israeli gaming firm launches new debit card that rewards users for their achievements within compatible games
- FTC seeks to create a new rule to rein in broad data collection and use
- As holiday travelers aim to return home, flight cancellations continue to rise
LOYALTY PROGRAM NEWS
Blue Apron to Fight Climate Crisis Through New Loyalty Program
Highlight: Blue Apron is ready to help its customers offset a part of their carbon footprint. Heading into its 10th anniversary next year, the meal kit company is now adding a loyalty program to fight climate change. The New York-based meal kit company, which saw a dip in second-quarter sales and continued losses in the third quarter of 2021, is introducing a Blue Apron Aspiration Zero Card. The co-branded credit card created in collaboration with Aspiration, offers its cardholders rewards to help fight the climate crisis, the company said in a release… The company said it is in discussions with additional partners to provide other benefits and expects to launch other new programs in 2022. The company's current loyalty program for its customers includes the option to send free boxes to friends and family.
Comarch S A: Partners up with Motisha to Introduce a New, Highly Engaging Loyalty Member Touchpoint
Highlight: As a result of this new partnership, Comarch's LMC platform will include a brand-new, highly engaging loyalty member frontend (member portals) that is, firstly, pre-integrated with the LMC backend (to ensure reduced time-to-market), and secondly, fully customizable, which means it can look and feel exactly as the LMC business user wants them to. “Thanks to our collaboration with Motisha, we [Comarch] are able to provide our customers with an engaging and highly rewarding experience for their loyalty or incentive program Members, complete with a pre-integrated, responsive and customizable frontend, fulfillment services on a global scale and an endless catalogue. Together with Motisha, we are a one-stop solution for brands that are willing to invest into the most precious asset of all - the loyalty of their customers.” - says Marco Ricci, Partner Channel Manager at Comarch.
QNB First launches 1 million Life Reward points for members referral campaign
Highlight: QNB, the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa, launched a campaign to promote referral of new QNB First Members, where five lucky customers will get the chance to win 1 million Life Rewards points from December 26, 2021 to May 31, 2022… Life Rewards is a loyalty program introduced by QNB to reward customers with points on the basis of their accumulated relationships, not only from the traditionally popular credit card spending. Customers will receive up to 20,000 Life Rewards points upon their first salary transfer to the Bank and up to 8,000 points upon first purchase on their Life Rewards credit card.
EVENTS
Entries to the International Loyalty Awards 2022 Are Now Open
Highlight: The Loyalty Magazine Awards has rebranded for 2022 as the International Loyalty Awards in recognition of its global scope and stature as the most influential awards event in the customer loyalty industry. The International Loyalty Awards celebrate the world’s most innovative and memorable loyalty initiatives from across six continents. The awards recognise brands that are building lasting and profitable customer relationships and bring together the global leaders of loyalty, to celebrate innovation, creativity, and sheer brilliance. The Wise Marketer is a media partner for this event and Managing Editor Bill Hanifin will be participating as a judge for the competition. Entries are open and we encourage submissions as quickly as possible, submitted here. The closing date for entries is 14 February 2022 a mere 8 weeks away!
RETAIL NEWS
Purple Dot, a waitlist and preorder platform for the fashion industry, raises $4M
Highlight: Because of the unpredictable nature of the fashion industry, fashion brands often have to “guestimate” demand for their products, and if they get that demand wrong, they have to deal with the wasted inventory. All too often clothes end up being incinerated unnecessarily, adding to their environmental impact. U.K. startup Purple Dot has an e-commerce “waitlist and pre-order” platform, allowing fashion brands to only produce the exact volume of goods ordered, thereby cutting down waste… Founded in 2019 by entrepreneurs Madeline Parra and John Talbott, Purple Dot says it allows e-commerce businesses the ability to “sell inventory earlier as a way to maximize sales, build brand loyalty, and access demand data earlier.” Purple Dot’s waitlist solution allows inventory to be sold before it arrives in the warehouse. The startup claims it’s the only solution of its type available in the market.
PAYMENTS NEWS
Buff, Israeli gaming firm, launches debit card for gamers
Highlight: Buff Technologies, which developed and created a loyalty program platform for gamers, has launched a debit card for gamers under the BUFFPAY brand. The Israel-based company was founded in 2018 and develops technology which operates in the background and does not interfere with users while they play games. Buff supports more than 15 games, among them: Fortnite, League of Legends and Valorant. The loyalty program is operated by the company, which rewards the users by granting then Buff points for their achievements within the games and the time spent using the platform. Buff launched the debit card this past weekend in the US as part of a Christmas campaign that will last for a few weeks.
DATA & PRIVACY NEWS
FTC Seeks to Move Beyond Notice and Consent to Restrict Data Collection and Use
Highlight: In October 2021, FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter made two speeches in which she expressed a desire to move beyond the FTC’s “notice-and-consent” framework to address broader surveillance practices that underlie the digital advertising economy, specifically by applying “bright-line purpose and use restrictions that minimize the data that can be collected and how it can be deployed.” Driving these changes is the concern that the notice and consent framework has left collection, retention, and sharing of data largely unchecked, which Slaughter argues can be harmful to consumers whether or not the collection itself has been disclosed in some way. To underscore her concerns she cites an FTC staff report published in October 2021, which revealed the extent to which ISPs are able to amass consumer information. The report details how this information can be combined with data from brokers to categorize and target consumers based on their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, economic status, political or religious affiliation.
TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY NEWS
Travel Meltdown: Another 2,600 Flights Canceled Tuesday, And Climbing
Highlight: Travelers trying to get rebooked on future flights need a game plan. The golden rule is to shoot for the earliest flight possible on any given day. “The early bird gets airborne, statistically, with less delays and fewer cancellations,” says Kathleen Bangs, a former commercial airline pilot and current spokesperson for FlightAware. “The later it gets in the day, the more likely your flight is to be delayed or canceled. As the day wears on, airlines have less options for passengers which is why if you really need to be on-time, taking the morning flight is often your best bet.”
Did you miss last week's newswire? Stay informed: Loyalty Newswire – December 20th, 2021
The Loyalty Newswire is compiled and edited by the staff at The Wise Marketer.
