The essence of a great synergistic brand partner led loyalty scheme is encapsulated by the award winning Times Culture+ program.  The complete opposite of trying to buy readers by bribing them with cover price discounts and a myriad of completely random free items ranging from health sticks to bottles of water, orange juice to free chocolate bars is the Daily and Sunday Express.

One, The Times and The Sunday Times, is rewarding readers and subscribers over a long period of time by looking at their passions and saving them money on them while also offering them money can’t buy screenings and events. They are also marrying this with rich content and editorial that matches their passions too.

The other, The Daily and Sunday Express, is simply thrashing around desperately looking for anything to stand out on the front page and catch some hapless passerby and bribe him to buy the paper.  There is absolutely no link with editorial or any content in the paper itself. The problem with the latter is that there is no loyalty and no incentive for that reader to come back and therefore the trick (and it is a trick) has to be performed again and again.

The benefit of the former is that it builds up positive word of mouth, readers expect and know that they will be getting rewards based on their passions every week which is matched by editorial they can enjoy and this in turn encourages their loyalty and continued purchase. 

This kind of quality brand partner led loyalty scheme wins every time when the competition is this kind of unfocused sales promotion. One is cost effective, the other is a waste of effort.