Background

Airline reward programs make money when people earn and spend points. And they have constantly got new news and information on how their members can earn and spend points. Which they mercilessly bombard them with. Airline and vacation deals, app launches, shiny new websites, bonus offers, perks, redemption deals, bank deals, deals, deals. Where to earn points, here, here, here, there!! It’s overload. And the result is that customer engagement rates plummet. We needed a way to reach our members in new ways that would allow them to hear about all the ways to earn and spend points. And what’s more, we needed to prove that Velocity Points are easier than ever to earn. In fact, you can pretty much earn them anywhere.

Describe the creative idea

Rather than paying one person with millions of followers lots of money, we converted our marketing budget into points and offered millions of people, with a handful of followers, millions of points. A ‘Call to Earns’ video launched the new platform, asking real members (who actually use the program) to create content about points, for points - an epic product demonstration of the power of Velocity Points. We put 12-months of briefs online and let members choose what they promoted - our new app, 15% transfer bonus offers, and many more. The more creative, authentic and educational the content, the more points they got, regardless of how many followers. Earnbassadors democratised the entire points category, allowing regular people to earn more points than influencers and those other rich people who earn points on their big expensive credit cards. Which meant more regular people got to fly around the world for

Describe the strategy

We know that a small percentage of our members understood the program better than anyone, they also contributed to the majority of our revenue. So, our strategy was two-fold: get these members to tell us how they used the program and then use this content to target the members who could be doing more. Our first step was to define the most valuable actions that members could take to drive immediate revenue and promote lifetime value to Velocity. These were things like: flying with Virgin Australia, transferring points from a credit card and earning points on their groceries - they became our briefs. Next, we identified our members who needed to do more, and grouped them into segments based on their next best action with the program. All we needed now was the member content to target them with.

Describe the execution

We started by sending an email and using addressable paid to invite the millions of Velocity members to become an #earnbassador. Within minutes, they were sharing program hacks we didn’t know existed. The creativity was immense - we had surfers, skydivers, and puppeteers. Within 48 hours, we had over 150 pieces of content. But most importantly – the content was all simple and easy to understand. Next, we used addressable paid-media to turn the best Earnbassador content into ads targeting our specific segments. Never flown with us? We used member videos to teach them about our 600 destinations. Never earned points on groceries? We shared member content about getting to fiji from filling their trolley. This content was also reposted across Velocity’s social, website, and owned channels - we even produced a clothing line (distributed through airline lounges), aiming to get members in the know to share content for Points.

List the results

Leaving your marketing in the hands of consumers is terrifying. Ultimately, the risk was well worth the return. Using this modern direct marketing approach, Earnbassadors returned a wealth of educational and revenue-driving content delivering: 5700+ one-to-one ads (and growing) +484.5% positive sentiment 7.76M earned cumulative reach 30% increase in retail revenue Almost 10,000,000 Velocity Points have been paid to Earnbassadors - achieving exactly what Velocity exists to do - give everyday Australians the chance to travel in return for loyalty. It also revealed real-life feel-good stories. Earnbassador Julie flew her daughter Josie to a New York exhibition showcasing work from individuals with Down Syndrome. Sarah visited her friend recovering from chemotherapy. And many more travelled the world on Points. The Earnbassadors continue to create content, saying all the things we need to say (and some that we don’t) in a better, more human way than any brand could.