Bill Hanifin
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Frequent Flyer Miles, American Express Membership Rewards Points, Citi ThankYou! points, AirMiles – which loyalty currency holds the crown as the world’s most recognized and highly valued?
While that debate rages on, let me suggest that the answer might be “none of the above”.
It’s not the points or miles that will drive consumers to shift their shopping habits in favor of your brand. It might be the TIME those points represent.
What’s more important, Time or Money? That question has been debated since the industrialized world has matured.
The conversation has reignited in the US as Americans have experienced tough economic times, triggering self evaluation of lifestyle and priorities. In a fascinating story on CBS Sunday Morning, Jim Axelrod reported that, “of the 33 richest countries, the U.S. is the only one with no legally-required paid vacation for its workers”. The finding came from a study authored in part by John Schmitt of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Axelrod went on to say “Even when times are good, people don’t take their vacation – they don’t want to be seen as ‘That guy who’s always taking his time off,’ who values his time off more than being at work”.
This angst over taking what vacation time we do have is in direct conflict with the fact that “69% of all middle class Americans say their number one desire in life is to have more free time”. At least, that is what Congressman Alan Grayson (D Orlando) cited on CBS as part of his motivation to introduce legislation in Congress to require companies with over 100 employees to offer paid vacation by law.
This is more than a casual social issue as the US now has one of the highest gaps between rich and poor among all industrialized nations. A report from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation & Development (OECD) stated that, on average in 2005, the richest 10% of the population in OECD countries have 9 times more income than the poorest 10%. In Mexico the ratio is 26 to 1, the United States is over-indexed at 16 to 1 while Canada and the UK were at par with the global average.
Time is a currency that all of us desire, whether rich, poor, or somewhere in the middle. It is highly liquid and does not come with capacity or fulfillment issues ala frequent flyer miles.I can see a new category of rewards options opening up that save time, make time, or share time for program members.
I won’t go into specifics, but let’s just say we’ve got lots ideas to make this work and, once again, change the game in Loyalty Marketing.
Got time to hear about it?
