"can loyalty be productized? Should we even be asking the question?"
Isn’t that the whole point of the Amex, Chase, American Airlines, and Delta loyalty programs? You don’t show up for your Chase credit card, you choose it for the rewards. I do agree that it makes the sense of loyalty a bit thinner, but the constant outcry whenever one of those programs changes their reward structure seems to suggest there’s still a real sense of attachment from their members.
There is a strong business case for what Blackbird is doing (and for the record, I find it interesting), but the buy-in from the front line, who are often very old school and operating in the softer diplomacy of the human terrain, is essential.
Vicky is pointing out core tension of old school hospitality and innovation, which is a fruitful discussion.
And to push back a bit, you're sharing one definition of loyalty, which has been gamified and productized, and one can argue, also seeing a huge backlash as a lot of frequent flier programs are moving to a revenue based carrot (BA, AA, etc). Loyalty can also be the slow, compound interest of patronage + relationships growing over time, organically.
"can loyalty be productized? Should we even be asking the question?"
Isn’t that the whole point of the Amex, Chase, American Airlines, and Delta loyalty programs? You don’t show up for your Chase credit card, you choose it for the rewards. I do agree that it makes the sense of loyalty a bit thinner, but the constant outcry whenever one of those programs changes their reward structure seems to suggest there’s still a real sense of attachment from their members.
There is a strong business case for what Blackbird is doing (and for the record, I find it interesting), but the buy-in from the front line, who are often very old school and operating in the softer diplomacy of the human terrain, is essential.
Vicky is pointing out core tension of old school hospitality and innovation, which is a fruitful discussion.
And to push back a bit, you're sharing one definition of loyalty, which has been gamified and productized, and one can argue, also seeing a huge backlash as a lot of frequent flier programs are moving to a revenue based carrot (BA, AA, etc). Loyalty can also be the slow, compound interest of patronage + relationships growing over time, organically.