Search results matching tag 'loyalty'

Rewarding beyond price

209478 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:32:00 GMT

UK entertainment retailer, HMV, has launched Pure, a customer loyalty scheme that offers members the chance to snap up a range of limited edition or hard-to-find items not available on the high street.

Following a successful trial in the West Midlands and East Anglia, Pure HMV is about to be rolled out nationwide. Money spent either in the shops or on HMV’s website will be added to a user’s account, with 100 points available for every £1 spent.

Examples of items on offer include a guitar signed by Kasabian, tickets for the UK Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen premiere, signed artwork by Paul McCartney and the chance to work as a roadie at the upcoming Download Festival.

‘The Pure HMV rewards scheme will be unique in the market place,’ HMV’s head of CRM marketing Matt Button stated. ‘There is no other card out there that gives people access to such amazing, ‘money-can’t-buy’ rewards. The real beauty of it is that in getting our customers closer to the music, film and games they love, Pure HMV will help us get even closer to our customers.’

Ref. http://www.mcvuk.com/news/34267/HMV-launches-new-customer-reward-scheme

Clients deserve a break too in these tough times

317324 — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:45:58 GMT

We're living through some tough times and we've all had to find ways of making cut backs in recent months. Some companies have had to look at staff numbers and whether there are roles that they're funding which they just have to make do without while they ride the storm of recession. Others have cut back on hospitality or more social aspects of their day to day lives to save money. We all look forward to the time when these can once again become less a luxury and more an important element of our working lives. We've looked at all the options for how to survive and have had to consider both of the above. However, we've also taken the view that the critical thing is to maintain high levels of client service and to keep your clients on your side if you're going to come out of this recession strong enough to remain a force to be reckoned with. If we, as suppliers, are shopping around and looking for ways to cut back on costs then, of course, our clients are doing exactly the same thing. Recruitment is an area that comes under the spotlight in times of economic hardships because there are people who think that it's more of a luxury than a necessity. Thankfully there are many, many more people in business who understand that having a successful working relationship with a professional recruitment consultancy, can mean the difference between finding the best candidates for your team and settling for the mediocre. We've built up some strong relationships with our clients and we do feel that rewarding their loyalty, especially when they're under such pressure to bring their own operating margins down, is of paramount importance. We've launched Purple Payback which we believe is the first client reward scheme in the recruitment sector and we hope that our clients recognise it as a way for us to thank them for past business they've given us, and also to give them a helping hand in tough times - something we all need at the moment. Some may view it as an obvious sales promotion vehicle, but we genuinely feel that it allows us to continue to provide the high levels of service our clients are used to, at the same time as giving our clients something back. www.purple-consultancy.com

New Opinion poll puts a price on the loyalty of football fans

628994 — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:05:00 GMT

On Wednesday 13 May over 900 movers and shakers from the football world will converge at Wembley Stadium to discuss a wide range of commercial challenges within the sport at Soccerex. And I will be chairing one of the biggest sessions – Football sponsorship in the Recession.

The results of a new Soccerex/NSP Sport poll will be released on Wednesday and it makes interesting reading!

What is striking is the high degree of consensus amongst football clubs and those who are part of the football industry on the way in which fans should be treated.

A key poll finding is that fans’ loyalty comes at a price and that football clubs need to treat fans more like paying consumers and not take their continued loyalty for granted.

In other words, in these credit crunch times where household disposable income is stretched to max clubs won’t be able to get away with hikes in the price of annual season tickets or replica kits in the way they have done so in the past.

Today, fans behave more like traditional consumers than supporters and will turn their back on clubs if the price isn’t right or the product isn’t good enough. The potential loss of revenues for football clubs will be the price paid for having destroyed the loyalty of their supporters that may have been built over years or even generations within the same households.

This level of introspection within the football industry should have happened a long time ago of course. Warning bells are clearly now being heard in club boardrooms up and down the country as the long term sustainability of football clubs has been questioned most recently by an All Party Parliamentary Football Group report that urged them to break free from the legacy of debt-leveraging in order to create a more secure and financially stable future.

Many commentators think that the recession will claim the scalps of football clubs as they fail to retain commercial sponsors over the next five years and revenues from broadcasters start to dry up as a result of a downturn in TV advertising.

And as the rest of the UK struggles to tighten its belt in terms of salaries, perhaps football clubs will have to follow suit, which could usher in a new era in player salaries as well as more realistic approach in managing their finances in the future.

Ardi Kolah is director of NSP Sport, a pioneer in how sports rights holders and commercial brand owners can cost effectively leverage the value of sports sponsorship through a powerful partnership with communities, young people, families and teachers. NSP Sport’s clients include LloydsTSB, Disney, EDF and Norwich Union. NSP Sport is part of National Schools Partnership (NSP), the UK’s leading social partnership marketing specialist.

Every Brand Needs a Moral Contract to attract Women

2085942 — Mon, 11 May 2009 08:15:00 GMT

The latest N-vision data highlights 50% of women buy fair trade products compared to 35% of men. Women are 10% more likely than men to boycott those manufacturers who contribute to pollution. Women are 5% more likely to consider themselves as ethical shoppers compared to men. Younger women (under 35) and older women (45-64) are far more likely to disagree or disagree strongly compared to men with the statement 'Most companies in this country are fair to consumers.'

There has been a change in the nation's mood over the last 30 years: In 1980, only 12% of women and 15% of men agree with this same statement about fairness. By 2008, it was over 40% of men and 42% of women.

There is now a sense of injustice about the way women feel companies treat them. A feeling of being cheated by those corporations who have power. A sense that they should be 'doing their bit' for the people and their 'bit' should be much more significant than it currently is.

I predict women will lead the movement from a 'me' society to a 'we' society. Women no longer want a society with naked greed at its heart. They want generosity as its core value and will seek out brands that offer this.

Brands which are seen to lack this moral dimension are loosing out on more than just a sales opportunity: Brands which are known for their morality are more easily forgiven, or at least given the benefit of the doubt in the event of rumors and bad-news. Take the opposite extreme: Brands such as Monsanto which have allowed themselves to be known for doing things which are not entirely ethical are more easily embroiled in yet more whispering campaigns. There's a huge cost to appearing immoral.

Brands such as Kiva.org (the micro-lending exchange) are leading the way with a moral contract at the heart of their proposition. Technology brands,with the exception of Google's "Dont Be Evil", are trailing way behind with moral propositions.

But why should tech brands care? We are used to buying our tech-products from anonymous sounding foreign brands of whom we know very little about. What could these companies benefit from being seen as ethical? I think there is still a great deal to win in a world of undifferentiated products in commodity markets. You might as well flip a coin when choosing between an Asus and an Acer, but what if the manufacturers could find a way show their differences which appeal to the "slacktivist" sense of moral consumers?

The cynical amongst us will call it green-washing, but the fact remains that people will often choose a higher-priced product if they feel that it is more ethically sound, even people who'd never attended a protest march in their lives. Shopping is a form of passive-activism.

Tech brands must take the advice of Bill Bernach and:

Stop believing in what we sell and start selling what we believe in."

The fact remains women are still more loyal to companies than men. Men are approx 10% more likely to agree with the statement 'I am less loyal to companies that I previously was'. If tech brands want to attract and retain the most loyal sex, they must start with a moral contract and set of values.

This is no longer niche idealism but corporate realism.

Loyalty For Life

1244467 — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:25:31 GMT

That was a recent question that came up in the Gyro corridors. Is it possible? An achievable goal? Or is it a forlorn aspiration for a brand? The following website poses the same question and has managed to draw in contributions from folk around the globe. http://www.loyaltyforlife.co.uk Have a look and post a comment. A quick skim of the results so far is interesting. We want brands that change and grow with us. Brands that offer us something at every step. The younger audiences talk about this a lot. They also want to feel that they or their tribe are getting something back from the brand. People talk about football teams as the ultimate in loyalty. You pin your colours to your chest early on in life and you do not change. No matter how badly they might let you down. Can brands in other catageories match that? It's difficult but you can draw similarities between other high commitment brands, brands that take you from prospect to customer and to advocate in the blink of an eye - take Skoda for example. For the older audiences the basics have to be in place. The product or service has to live up to the brand promise. Always. And then people want to feel valued. A simple letter will do. A thank-you. When was the last time your bank wrote to you just to say thanks for being a customer? The post that sums it up for me is this one: '"Tune into my aspirations and values; change with me through my life; be easy to find; give me something back; don’t ever assume I will come back to you and when I have a problem, surprise me with how easy you are to deal with. Simple really."

Check out the website and share your views.