There are plenty of full news stories listed on our main news page - make sure you don't miss them! Here are some of the latest news highlights...  
 · 40% show their brand preferences on Facebook
 · Marketers use social media to deepen loyalty
 · Brands failing to work with social media advocates
 · Youth is more receptive to direct mail
 · How data will underpin 'next gen marketing'
 · Retail marketers not making enough of mobile
 · Investor loyalty depends on marketing relevance
 · Affiliate marketing sales to hit £4.6bn in 2010

 
More: See the main news articles
 

In the face of falling Canadian consumer confidence, the SPC Card (Student Price Card) programme is approaching membership of some 935,000 consumers, an increase of 30% over 2009. The new 2010-2011 card launched in August with an 83% increase in online member registrations. This growth is mainly attributed to the money saving value that the programme provides for student shoppers. SPC Card has also added more than a dozen new retailers and offers to the programme for 2010, including stores such as American Eagle Outfitters, Blockbuster, Costa Blanca, Danier, Mexx, Rexall/Pharma Plus, Second Cup, and The Body Shop. The card is sold for Can$9 online, and is also available from some national retailers.

Web: http://www.spccard.ca

In the US, Jewel-Osco stores are offering a promotion (based on the idea of a continuity rewards programme) that adds a twist to traditional trading stamps. Through the new programme, available at 175 stores in the Chicago area, customers who shop with their Preferred Customer Card over a 20-week period will receive a reward sticker for every US$10 spent on eligible purchases. These are placed on saver cards, which can then be redeemed at participating stores for eight different pieces of Thomas Professional Cookware at a cost of US$0.01 each. Members of the programme have until 26th January 2011 to redeem their cards full of stickers.

Web: http://www.supervalu.com

Some 60% of Canadians report that, in today's economic environment, high quality customer service is more important to them than other factors, and that they will spend an average of 7% more if they believe that a company provides excellent service. However, many businesses are missing out on this opportunity, according to research by American Express, which found that more than one-third of consumers believe that businesses have not changed their attitude toward customer service. In fact, 27% feel that companies are now paying less attention to good service, and nearly 40% of consumers reported "always" or "often" viewing online posts or blogs to get opinions about a company's customer service reputation. Worryingly, most pay more attention to negative reviews than positive views because they are specifically looking for "watch outs" from other consumers.

Web: http://www.aexp.com

OfficeMax has announced a free OfficeMax App (written in partnership with interactive agency Rosetta) for the iPhone, available via the Apple App Store. The application (for iPhone and iPod touch) was designed to help customers shop more easily and access information and rewards while on the go. Real-time benefits include the ability to view exclusive deals and offers, locate OfficeMax stores, and of course to click through to the OfficeMax web site to browse office supply products from the mobile handset. The application also enables MaxPerks loyalty programme members to access their account, view their reward programme progress, edit their account information, browse their purchase history, and also to redeem rewards at the checkout using their mobile phone.

Web: http://www.officemax.com

Aeroplan Members can now redeem miles at 19 Fairmont properties in the US, including The Plaza, a Fairmont managed Hotel in New York; the Fairmont San Francisco; and the Fairmont Scottsdale or Fairmont Turnberry Isle in Miami. These new US-based properties are available in addition to the existing 21 Canadian properties that are already part of the Aeroplan programme. With immediate effect, Aeroplan members can earn 500 Aeroplan Miles for every Fairmont stay redeemed via the Aeroplan.com web site.

Web: http://www.aeroplan.com

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide is the latest Partner of the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards frequent flyer programme. Rapid Rewards members can now earn a half Rapid Rewards credit for each eligible stay at one of Starwood's global hotel brands. In order to earn credits, Rapid Rewards members must be enrolled in the Starwood Preferred Guest programme and select Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards as their earning preference. In addition, SPG members have the option to transfer Starpoints to Rapid Rewards credits. For every 1,500 Starpoints transferred, members earn one credit - SPG members who transfer at least 20,000 Starpoints earn a bonus of an additional three and a half credits.

Web: http://www.southwest.com

Hilton Worldwide has committed to be the official hotel partner of Little League Baseball and Softball for three years. Little League families, friends and volunteers can receive a 15% discount on stays when booking at any of Hilton Worldwide's brands. For each reservation, a contribution will be made by Hilton Worldwide to support the Little League organisation. Hilton Worldwide team members will be onsite at the Little League Baseball World Series to sign up new members to Hilton HHonors, and to offer a series of contests and sweepstakes. A grand prize winner of the text-to-win sweepstakes will win a free five-night stay at any hotel within the Hilton Worldwide portfolio of brands. Other prizes include one-night stays at hotels around the world.

Web: http://www.hiltonworldwide.com

Recently launched Nectar Italia is outperforming Groupe Aeroplan's expectations. It achieved the 12 month targeted 5 million member milestone in just four months, and recently signed up three new partners: UniCredit, Italy's largest financial institution, IBS, an online book retailer, and Quixa, a direct insurance provider. Based on Nectar Italia's performance to date, Groupe Aeroplan is increasing its forecast for 2010 gross billings to 40-50 million Euros from its original forecast of 30-40 million Euros.

Web: http://www.groupeaeroplan.com

Air New Zealand and Fly Buys have partnered; Fly Buys members will soon be able to redeem their Fly Buys Points for any available seat on any Air New Zealand flight, and Air New Zealand Airpoints members will be able to earn Airpoints Dollars by shopping at any of the 3,000 retail outlets across the country that are part of the Fly Buys programme. One in five New Zealanders currently use the Air New Zealand Airpoints programme, which rewards customers with benefits and allows them to collect Airpoints Dollars. Fly Buys, managed by Loyalty New Zealand, has one of the highest active household penetrations in the world of any loyalty programme, and is New Zealand's largest, with 2.3 million active members. Currently more than half a million Fly Buys members already have enough points to redeem a one-way flight between Auckland and Wellington with Air New Zealand.

Web: http://www.airnewzealand.com

Churn rates for the largest players in the wireless carrier sector for the second quarter of 2010 show that for total number of customers (Prepay and Postpaid), Verizon had the lowest customer churn rate (1.27%) against 1.29%, N/A, and 3.4%. Among postpaid customers, the rates were Verizon 0.94% against 1.01%, 1.85% and 2.2%. For 21 of the last 23 quarters, Verizon Wireless has led the wireless industry in customer loyalty, reporting the lowest churn rates among the four major US carriers.

Web: http://www.verizonwireless.com

A new report, Global Retailer Cards: Co-Branded, Loyalty and Private Label programmes 2010, reveals that of 1,945 retail chains offering their own payment cards, 17.0% of retailer cards are affiliated on an exclusive basis to the Visa network and 13.6% are linked in the same fashion to the MasterCard brand. As many as 42.5% of retailers with their own payment cards offer one or more private label products only. Furthermore, 18.7% of the retailers offering payment cards promote cards that are linked to more than one of these networks - this can occur either by means of the fact that they offer two separate cards or, in a few cases, because a single card carries more than one brand. The report is based on a survey of 6,280 prominent retail brands in 65 countries.

Web: http://www.researchandmarkets.com

Canadian retail loyalty programme, Shoppers Optimum, is now ten years old. All Canadians are being invited to join a party with weekly bonus offers, in-store promotions and prize opportunities at more than 1,180 Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix stores country wide. Since it began in 2000, the Shoppers Optimum programme has issued billions of points to its now more than 10 million cardholders. Every second, across Canada, an item is redeemed for free, using Shoppers Optimum Points. Prizes include ten Ford Fiestas and ten million points.

Web: http://www.shoppersdrugmart.ca

A new promotion allows guests who stay three times at Aloft and Element hotels to earn a free night's accommodation. Guests can register for the promotion through the Starwood Preferred Guest programme. Qualifying stays between 9th August and 30th September 2010 count toward the free night. There are no limits on the number of free nights a member can earn and members can redeem their awards at any Aloft or Element hotel worldwide until mid-December.

Web: http://www.starwoodhotels.com

Crayon has launched a new integrated rewards programme that allows British Gas to reinforce its green commitment. Generation Green is a  web-based education and loyalty programme, aimed at making it easy and rewarding for teachers to promote sustainability in the classroom. The re-launched interactive website will help British Gas to engage and educate its target audience via curriculum compliant lesson plans and teaching resources. The programme will also include an 'Eco Club' which allows children to play games and compete against each other. Underpinning the programme is a loyalty programme rewarding schools with a selection of sustainable goods that can be redeemed from the points they have earned from their engagement and commitment to undertaking green activities. Over 10,500 schools have already signed up; over 22,000 lesson packs have been downloaded; and 5,000,000 green activities have been completed.

Web: http://www.generationgreen.co.uk

The multi-channel shopping solutions provider Mall Networks has rebranded itself as 'Cartera Commerce', aiming to reflect the company's recent growth and expanded range of solutions in the multi-channel shopping and merchant-funded rewards arena. Cartera's private label shopping platform and targeted performance advertising network now reach over 150 million consumers, driving incremental spend, customer acquisition and engagement for banks, loyalty programmes, and more than 1,000 merchant partners. The company has also announced triple-digit revenue growth for Fiscal 2010, driven mainly by new product releases, marquee client wins, programme launches, and key management hires.

Web: http://www.carteracommerce.com

Northumbrian Fine Foods, manufacturer of branded and own label snacking products including cereal bars, biscuits and premium cookies, is using coupon services from Valassis to promote its fair trade product Geobar in Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping magazines. The coupons will give 30p off any product in the Geobar range and are redeemable in all major supermarkets. Research commissioned by Northumbrian at the end of last year showed that consumers were increasingly price promotion sensitive, browsing amongst and purchasing cereal bars that were on promotion and not giving the full fixture their complete attention.

Web: http://www.valassis.com

According to The Perils of Incrementalism, the latest addition to the Retail 3.0 Position Paper series from Hawkins Strategic, retailers' marketing programmes, piled on top of one another for decades, are due for review. Temporary price reductions, managers' specials, continuity programmes, loyalty programmes, clubs, direct mailers and fuel programmes (and more) have all steadily increased retailers' marketing costs, but to what effect? Non-participating shoppers actually decline in spending, while participating shoppers drive a temporary sales increase and then quickly plateau. Yet retailers fear losing the incremental gain the programmes drove (sometimes years before). Marketing incrementalism is alive and well in the retail industry. Retail 3.0 is about taking a transformative approach, and making digital, personalised offer communication a centrepiece of retailers' go-to-market strategies. To download the paper, click here.

Web: http://www.hawkinsstrategic.com

In the UK, McCain Foods is to create a new eCRM hub and strategy, and extend its CRM activity across multiple channels. Underwired Amaze is designing and building the consumer website using Agillic's multi-channel marketing software. The site will target mothers with busy lifestyles and will feature new recipes, games, surveys, coupons and video content. The surveys and a feedback forum will facilitate an increased dialogue with customers. On-pack promotions, coupons, brand partnerships and other activation channels, including Facebook and Twitter, will be integrated with advertising to drive traffic to the hub, promoting the McCain product range and acquiring visitor data. The activity follows an investment by McCain of over £5 million as principal partner of UK Athletics.

Web: http://www.underwired.com

Hilton Worldwide is to offer complimentary high-speed internet access to all Gold and Diamond Hilton HHonors members from September. Elite tier members will receive the benefit during stays at any of the company's hotels across its global portfolio of ten hotel brands. According to Hilton Worldwide, business travelers rank quality, high-speed internet access as one of the most important guest room attributes. The programme recently achieved 26 million members, of which more than a million joined in 2010, an increase of almost 13% over the same period in 2009. Hilton HHonors members typically generate 40% of the occupancy of Hilton Worldwide's portfolio of hotel brands annually, totaling more than 40 million guests.

Web: http://www.hiltonworldwide.com

In the US, QuikTrip is expanding its QuikTrip Rewards Debit Card programme using Tempo's affinity debit card platform and reissuing the cards with Tempo partner First Bank & Trust of Brookings, SD (part of Fishback Financial). The new cards link to members' existing cheque accounts and can be used everywhere that Discover cards are accepted. The card provides a fuel purchase discount of US$0.05 per gallon at QuikTrip for the first 90 days after activation, and US$0.02 thereafter. Those activating cards before 30th November 2010 qualify for a discount of US$0.10 per gallon during the first 90 days (and US$0.02 thereafter). The card also provides quarterly cash-back rewards for purchases made at other merchants.

Web: http://www.tempo.com

J.D. Power and Associates has announced the winners of its 2010 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index study, with two of Hilton Worldwide's brands being ranked among the winners. Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites both earned the highest honours in terms of guest satisfaction within their categories (mid-scale full service and extended stay, respectively). The awards were determined by seven key measures of overall satisfaction (reservations, check-in/check-out, guest room, food and beverage, hotel services, hotel facilities, and costs and fees).

Web: http://www.jdpower.com

In the US, Kroger is set to expand its fuel-rewards programme to include 37 Richmond-area Shell fuel stations, more than quadrupling the number of places where customers can get fuel discounts. Shoppers can use their Kroger loyalty cards to get a US$0.10 per gallon discount at the Shell stations as well as up to a $1.00 per-gallon discount at one time at local Kroger stores that have fuel forecourts. In addition, the discounts are also applicable at seven Shell stations in Dinwiddie, Amelia, Northumberland, Cumberland, Richmond and Buckingham counties.

Web: http://www.kroger.com

Members of JetBlue Airways' frequent flyer loyalty programme, TrueBlue, can now earn points toward reward travel twice as quickly when they book a JetBlue Getaways holiday package (including airfare and hotel, cars, airport transfers and various activities). With the double points offer, members booking a package for three or more nights can earn an average of 4,400 points per person, per package. For a launch promotion, customers booking a Getaways holiday package up until 31st August 2010 will also earn three base points plus three bonus points for every eligible US$1 spent.

Web: http://www.jetblue.com

In South Africa, members of eBucks, First National Bank's (FNB) rewards programme, have now spent over eB51 million (R5.1 million) on fuel and oil since the announcement of fuel retailer Engen as a spending partner for the eBucks programme in November 2009. According to Jolande Duvenage, CEO for eBucks, the ability to buy fuel with eBucks is turning out to be one of the fastest-growing redemption options in the rewards programme: "With travel costs taking up to 10% of the average household's monthly expenses, it is perhaps no surprise that eBucks members have jumped at the opportunity to purchase fuel and oil with their eBucks. We've also had a number of previously inactive eBucks members who have begun their redemption activity with buying fuel". In fact, more than one third of the eBucks members who have purchased fuel using eBucks were previously listed as inactive members.

Web: http://www.ebucks.com

In the US, specialty retailer Talbots has begun using Bazaarvoice's social commerce platform to power its new Pearls of Wisdom: Your Voice platform online, which provides customers with a place to share their stories, opinions, and style. Customers are encouraged to address topics close to their hearts, such as summer reading lists, embarrassing moments with their mothers, and even their absolute worst Valentine's Day gifts. Topics are promoted via email and Facebook, and top stories and authors are highlighted on Talbots Facebook fan page. Talbots expects an increase in both brand involvement and interaction, and will use the user-generated content (UGC) to help attract and influence new visitors to become loyal customers. Finally, the user-generated content on the Your Voice site can be used to achieve greater results from multichannel contests, campaigns, and promotions.

GreenSaver, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to energy efficiency, has joined the Air Miles coalition loyalty programme in Canada, allowing members living in Ontario to earn 100 Air Miles with the purchase of a home energy audit from GreenSaver. In addition to earning reward miles, collectors can also redeem reward miles for GreenSaver home energy audits through the Air Miles My Planet programme. My Planet, which was launched in 2009, encourages consumers to make greener lifestyle choices and rewards them for purchasing selected eco-friendly products and services from participating Air Miles partners such as GreenSaver. Eco-conscious members also have the opportunity to redeem their miles for environmentally sustainable products and services.

Web: http://www.airmiles.ca

HSBC Bank Middle East has enhanced the rewards available from the Air Miles programme for holders of its Premier Credit Card, which now offers 50% more Air Miles if the cardholder's monthly spending is above AED 4,000 (approximately US$1,000), equating to 1.5 Air Miles for every AED 1 spent. Holders of the bank's Advance Platinum Credit Card earn 1 Air Mile for every AED 1 spent on the card. All HSBC Premier Credit Card customers are to be automatically issued with a new Gold Air Miles Card, enabling them to earn twice as many miles when they use their Gold Air Miles Card together with their HSBC Premier Credit Card at over 2,000 participating outlets in UAE, Qatar and Bahrain.

Web: http://www.airmilesme.com

JetBlue Airways has launched an online mall to allow members of its TrueBlue frequent flyer programme to earn additional points for online shopping. Powered by Points International (owner and operator of the Points.com loyalty points portal), the new online shopping mall allows programme members to earn points for everyday purchases with more than 800 participating retailers including K-Mart, Nordstrom, eBay, the Apple Store and Dell. ShopTrue is an expansion of the airline's existing partnership with Points.com that began in 2008 with the 'Buy TrueBlue Points' service, which allows members to purchase extra points either for themselves or to give to other members.

Web: http://www.jetblue.com