This Loyalty Newswire can be broadly classified into two categories: “Good News” and “We Told You So”. In the Good News category, among other items, the emerging technologies that are becoming available to empower deeper, more effective loyalty marketing, are nothing short of phenomenal. No kidding. On the We-Told-You-So side, more stories about not paying close enough attention to their consumer data practices. Also, as it turns out, a billion just isn’t what it used to be. Here is what we’re following in loyalty news …
TECHNOLOGY
BMW showcases blockchain car mileage app on VeChainThor
Quotable: “BMW’s Albay explained that in Germany every third used car sold has a manipulated odometer. The average impact is €3,000 ($3,390) on the price of a vehicle, and the total annual damage is €6 billion ($6.78 billion). The aim of the VerifyCar app is for the car owner to be able to prove what he’s done with the car in a verified way.”
How Asia's Largest Loyalty Program Uses Blockchain to Reward Members in Real Time
Quotable: “we embed our marketing campaigns in blockchain-based smart contracts. Typically, members have to wait several months to earn their bonus miles, but with the smart contract, they can earn the bonus hours in real time. This is because our team typically takes time to make the calculation, the data retrieval, and the reconciliation before awarding bonus hours. However, that all goes away with the smart contract. Once we know that a member just spent $1,000 in a restaurant and reached level one, they get the bonus miles then and there.”
IgnitionOne uses Amazon Neptune to Power Identity Resolution at Scale
Quotable: “IgnitionOne will leverage Amazon Neptune’s extensive database engine to increase its CIP capabilities and extend audience reach through the combination of first and third-party data. The multifaceted cloud strategy will also allow IgnitionOne to dynamically link identities across devices and browsers in real time. This extends IgnitionOne’s Customer Intelligence capabilities through identity resolution and will be at the core of cross-device and cross-channel attribution capabilities.”
A Personality Test for Ads
Quotable: “The digital footprints people leave on Facebook, Twitter, text blogs and other online sites provide data to determine whether users are more extroverted or introverted by nature, or eager to try new things versus more conservative. In a new study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, researchers show how this digital data could be leveraged with machine learning algorithms to personalize ads based on personality types.”
How Retailers Like Guess are Personalizing the Shopping Experience
Quotable: “Alibaba partnered with fashion brand Guess to pilot Alibaba’s first FashionAI concept store in Hong Kong featuring smart racks, smart mirrors and high-tech fitting rooms. Shoppers check in with a QR code or via facial recognition, and, as all items are RFID-enabled, when the shopper picks them up, they automatically appear in a smart mirror.”
US Stores install Cameras that Guess People's Shopping Habits
Quotable: “Grocery store chain Kroger is testing cameras embedded in a price sign above shelves in two stores on the outskirts of Cincinnati and Seattle. Video screens attached to the shelves can play real-time ads and show discounts to shoppers. The cameras guess a shopper's age and gender, but the information is anonymous and the data is not being stored, Kroger told Associated Press. If the tests work out well, the company said it could expand it into other locations.”
LOYALTY PROGRAM LAUNCHES & RE-LAUNCHES
PRH Creates Reader Loyalty Program
Quotable: “readers who buy PRH books across print, electronic, and audio formats will be able to collect points for purchases made at online or physical stores. According to Sanyu Dillon, executive v-p and director of marketing strategy and consumer engagement, the program taps into what consumers are looking for when making purchases. "Penguin Random House Consumer Insights research shows that today’s consumer expects to be rewarded by the brands they purchase from frequently, and this program delivers an initial step toward building deeper, more meaningful relationships with readers …”
PEOPLE
Former CEO of Holiday Inns Inc. Appointed to the Board of Loyyal
Quotable: “During his 9 year tenure as CEO, Holiday Inns Inc. launched or acquired brands such as Hamptons Inns Inc, Embassy Suites, Homewood Suites, and Residence Inns, and was the leading hospitality brand with more than 19% market share worldwide ,and more than 4000 hotels in 53 countries.”
DATA & PRIVACY
Fearing Patchwork Privacy Laws, Tech Industry Calls for Federal Regulation
Quotable: “80 percent of U.S. companies that handle consumer data favor a federal law that would supersede sporadic state regulations. The researchers surveyed over 250 businesses, all with over 500 employees and $25 million or more in revenue across varying industries.”
A Record FTC Fine Won't Fix Facebook, Privacy Experts Say
Quotable: "A billion isn't what it used to be," says former Federal Trade Commission chair William E. Kovacic, now a law professor at George Washington University. "The problem with Facebook writing a check is that it’s the cost of doing business and not a deterrent."
FTC Settles with Two Websites Over Lack of Consumer Data Security
Quotable: “As a result, hackers were able to gain access to the company’s network, and steal clear text information about 6.6 million consumers, including around 500,000 U.S. consumers. The hackers then published and offered for sale the personal information of approximately 2.7 million consumers — including full names and addresses, dates of birth, genders, answers to security questions, email addresses and passwords, as well as hundreds of Social Security numbers.”
Is it Time for Consumer Data to go Mainstream in Healthcare?
Quotable: “Consumer data presents a huge untapped opportunity in healthcare’s digital transformation, primarily as a way to understand and engage with healthcare consumers proactively. As newer sources of data become available from the proliferation of smart devices and digitization of consumer-facing processes, there will be a greater need to understand healthcare consumers from an omni-channel perspective and serve them accordingly.”
AWARDS
The Inaugural Irish Loyalty Awards were a Glittering Success
Quotable: “It is clear that Irish consumers are paying more attention to rewards and extra benefits when they shop and this is giving a burst of energy to the loyalty industry and leading to countless new scheme launches. This added impetus is reflected in the massive response to the Irish Loyalty Awards Public Vote where consumers really got behind their favorite programme.”
LOYALTY STRATEGY
As Brand Loyalty Subsides, Legacy Companies Adapt
Quotable: “When brands build an engaged digital community of happy fans, this social tribe becomes an honest advocate who shares, recommends and drives others to trial,” he said. “It’s magical when real engagement happens. By always being genuine, truthful and helpful with consumers, a connection can be created and this can accelerate a brand into a community of conversations.”
AskNicely Raises $10M
Quotable: “No one blinks an eye at investing in technology to drive marketing and sales, yet many companies are flying blind when it comes to managing the customer experience. It won’t be long before we look back and shake our heads at how we used to operate businesses without customer experience software …”
Ad-blocking Browser Brave Trades Ad Views for Rewards
Quotable: “In exchange for viewing Brave Ads, users receive 70% of gross ad revenue in the form of a cryptocurrency called Basic Attention Tokens, which can be redeemed for rewards, like hotel stays, restaurant vouchers and gift cards, via TAP Network's 250,000 brand partners.”
Five Reasons the Loyalty Site Is Still Valuable
Quotable: “Loyalty sites can create more lifetime value with customers because of the loyalty or affinity that the third party creates. According to research, "emotionally connected customers have a 306% higher lifetime value (LTV), stay with a brand for an average of 5.1 years vs. 3.4 years, and will recommend brands at a much higher rate (71% vs. 45%).”
Bridging the Brand Loyalty Gap
Quotable: “Kirk explains, “This is clearly a reflection of the overall experience economic trend where consumers are now spending four times as much on experience-related services versus hard goods. When a unique experience is redeemed through a loyalty program and then shared on Facebook or Instagram, it can provide that consumer with a sense of status and earn attention. You really can’t accomplish this by redeeming a gift card.”
The Loyalty Newswire is compiled and edited by the staff at The Wise Marketer.
