RELATIONSHIP MARKETING AWARDS 1999: The Haymarket Customer Magazines retail award

WINNER

Client

Tesco

Agency

Forward Publishing

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Client

Freemans

Agency

In-house

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Client

Safeway

Agency

141 Communications

WINNER

Although baby food manufacturers have run mother and baby loyalty

programmes for many years, Tesco was the first supermarket to enter this

field.

It has been successful, with eight out of ten participants expressing

complete satisfaction with the scheme and nine out of ten recommending

it to others. The programme reinforces loyalty and influences shopping

patterns.

Customers join by filling in a form, distributed in-store and through

other media, including the parenting press. This requires the mother to

fill in the date on which her baby is due, or its birthday, which is

essential information for the database. Currently the programme has

550,000 members.

Elements in the programme include tactical mailings, in-store events and

the opportunity to save pounds 100 on products. The core communication,

however, is a series of eight magazines, posted to coincide with key

stages, from early pregnancy to two-year-olds.

The magazines provide information and advice from experts, health and

food tips, and real-life stories from other Baby Club members.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Difficult trading conditions in mail order last year prompted Freemans

to relaunch its Freemans Finest loyalty club for its top agents.

The five-year-old programme combines practical benefits, such as extra

commission, with features praising members’ efforts.

Innovations include two new tiers, Platinum and Elite. Sales growth

generated by members exceeded that of those agents not in the

scheme.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

From its database, Safeway has been able to identify high-spending

holders of its ABC loyalty card showing signs of defecting to other

retailers.

A strategy was developed to halt this drift. Questionnaires are posted

to the relevant customers, with a response on receipt of the form.

Response rates of 57% have been achieved against a target of 30%, and

fall-off has reduced.

This article was first published on Marketing