The initial perspective on the Future of Loyalty kicked off the Future Agenda 2.0 global discussions taking place through 2015. This summary builds on the initial view and is updated as we progress the futureagenda2.0 programme. www.futureagenda.org

1. The
Future
of
Loyalty
Insights
from
Discussions
Building
on
an
Ini4al
Perspec4ve
by:
Christopher
Evans
|
Director
|
Collinson
Group

2. Context
The
ini4al
perspec4ve
on
the
Future
of
Loyalty
kicked
off
the
Future
Agenda
2.0
global
discussions
taking
place
through
2015.
This
summary
builds
on
the
ini4al
view
and
is
updated
as
we
progress.
Ini4al
Perspec4ves
Q4
2014
Global
Discussions
Q1/2
2015
Insight
Synthesis
Q3
2015
Sharing
Output
Q4
2015

3. Loyalty
Experiences
For
brands
that
aspire
to
crea4ng
customer
loyalty
in
this
disorderly
world,
there
is
a
fundamental
ques4on
that
needs
to
be
addressed.
Quite
simply,
what
will
‘loyalty’
be?

4. Beyond
Loyalty
Brands
may
have
been
mistaken
in
assuming
that
‘loyalty’
behaviour
was
ever
more
than
ephemeral.
The
challenge
lies
in
understanding
the
consumer
of
the
future,
and
their
redefined
needs
and
expecta4ons.

5. The
Personal
Data
Dilemma
Lurking
ominously
in
the
background
there
is
also
the
ques4on
of
to
what
extent
consumers
will
allow
us
to
collect
and
use
their
personal
informa4on,
and
what
they
will
expect
in
return?

6. Diluted
Value
of
Loyalty
Consumers
will
increasingly
face
the
problem
of
having
a
wallet
fat
with
loyalty
cards.
In
this
scenario,
the
value
of
loyalty
may
become
diluted,
the
consumer
may
become
overloaded,
eventually
disengaging
from
loyalty
altogether.

7. Pointless
Points
Will
the
ability
to
make
prices
dynamic,
rewards
instant,
and
responses
to
consumer
demands
individually
relevant,
all
mean
that
tradi4onal
loyalty
models
become
meaningless
or
(to
use
an
excrucia4ng
pun)
pointless?

8. Brand
Alliances
We
will
see
a
set
of
consumer
expecta4ons
that
brands
will
no
longer
be
able
to
deliver
alone.
Strategic
brand
alliances,
designed
to
deliver
sophis4cated
choice
and
content,
to
complex
consumer
needs,
are
likely
to
emerge.

9. Consumer
Power
The
consumer
is
likely
to
gain
the
upper
hand
in
terms
of
the
power
dynamic
and
principles
such
as
‘great
customer
service’
will
no
longer
be
a
nego4able.

10. Extreme
Customer
Centricity
Customer
engagement
will
become
a
core
func4on
that
cuts
across
tradi4onal
silos,
and
helps
to
focus
en4re
businesses
on
the
contextual
needs
and
value
opportuni4es
for
different
audiences
at
different
stages
of
a
customer
journey.

11. Dynamic
Experiences
Consumers
ideas
of
u4lity
value
and
expecta4ons
of
loyalty
move
from
a
recogni4on
of
the
value
in
standard
loyalty
proposi4ons
to
dynamic,
exci4ng,
changing
and
variable
experiences
that
are
‘here
today’
and
‘gone
tomorrow’.

12. New
Value,
Different
Models
In
the
coming
years,
brands
will
need
to
be
disrup4ve
in
their
thinking
about
loyalty,
seeking
new
kinds
of
value
proposi4on,
exploring
different
models
and
redefining
the
very
ways
in
which
loyalty
is
conceived.

13. Device
is
King,
Consumer
is
Queen
Whether
on
devices
or
in
the
cloud,
our
digital
repositories
will
know
who
we
are,
where
we
are
and
what
we
redeem.
Businesses
need
to
understand
these
new
intermediaries
and
how
they
define
our
rela4onships
with
their
brands.

14. Rewarding
B2B
Loyalty
Leveraging
high-­‐value
rela4onships
between
corporates
means
going
beyond
‘more
savings’
for
loyal
customers.
B2B
rela4onships
come
to
resemble
the
more
qualita4ve
interac4ons
already
found
between
customers
and
brands.

15. PredicIve
Not
RetrospecIve
Tradi4onal
loyalty
rewards
and
schemes
involve
measuring
past
customer
behaviours
and
transac4ons.
In
the
future
reward
could
be
linked
to
the
predic4on
or
presump4on
of
ways
customers
might
behave
in
the
future.

16. Tension
with
RegulaIon
Some
regional
regulatory
interven4ons
protect
consumers
whilst
others
prevent
innova4on
by
limi4ng
use
of
new
technologies.
A
power
struggle
between
brands
and
government
emerges
around
wider
data
sharing
and
use.

17. ConInuous
Proof
of
Loyalty
Brands
have
to
consistently
demonstrate
their
loyalty
to
consumers
as
customer
mobility
and
switching
between
brands
increases.
Global,
regional
and
local
affilia4ons
blur
and
drive
wider
brand
consolida4on.

18. The
Voice
of
Youth
Younger
consumers
are
more
difficult
to
pin
down
but
they
are
more
willing
to
share.
Brands
can
speak
to
the
youth
in
these
terms,
crea4ng
opportuni4es
for
interac4on,
but
also
more
personal,
human,
experiences
and
rela4onships.

19. The
Composite
Consumer
Flexible
digital
iden44es
allow
consumers
to
connect
with
each
other
even
as
they
connect
with
brands.
Loyal
rela4onships
will
be
made
not
just
with
individual
customers
but
also
with
families,
couples,
and
groups
of
friends.

20. 10
Seconds
of
ANenIon
Increased
consumer
choices
and
channels
leave
brands
figh4ng
for
10
seconds
of
a`en4on.
A
new
paradigm
will
emerge,
based
on
dynamic,
fast-­‐moving,
calls
to
ac4on
rather
than
long-­‐term
rela4onships
with
delayed
rewards.

21. CounIng
the
Costs
of
Loyalty
Keeping
customers
loyal
is
increasingly
expensive.
Brands
will
learn
to
differen4ate
between
the
‘truly’
loyal
and
the
merely
‘conveniently’
loyal,
in
order
to
maximise
the
value
in
maintaining
costly
long-­‐term
rela4onships.

22. Loyalty
from
Top
to
BoNom
Driving
an
authen4c
loyalty
offer
will
require
companies
to
address
the
rising
promiscuity
of
employees.
Organisa4ons
will
have
to
make
a
choice
between
facilita4ng
increasingly
flexible
career-­‐paths,
or
nurturing
internal
loyalty.

23. Polyamourous
Loyalty
Brands
begin
to
embrace
customer
promiscuity,
finding
ways
to
recognise
their
emergent
desire
to
build
a
patchwork
iden4ty
through
diverse
and
conflic4ng
choices.

24. The
Human
Touch
In
a
world
of
global
and
digital
marke4ng
and
consump4on,
consumers
will
increasingly
favour
those
brands
that
can
offer
more
emo4onal
engagements,
and
specifically
human-­‐to-­‐human
contact.

25. Love:
Warts
and
All
With
corporate
transparency
becoming
a
necessity,
businesses
have
to
address
it
as
both
an
opportunity
and
a
threat.
Successful
brands
will
find
ways
to
take
customers
with
them
-­‐
even
as
they
reveal
their
less
a`rac4ve
sides.

26. The
Sharing
Economy
will
be
RegulaIon-­‐light
Consumers
will
become
more
loyal
to
business
models
that
connect
them
to
other
people.
Personal
rela4onships
will
dominate
-­‐
but
within
the
safety
of
recognised
global
networks
that
act
as
insurance/reassurance
for
users.

27. TransacIonal
vs.
EmoIonal
Seamless
payments
will
distance
consumers
from
understanding
monetary
value.
Brands
will
have
to
reconsider
the
way
they
connect
to
customers
providing
more
holis4c
and
emo4onal
value.

28. Customers
Before
Shareholders
Driven
by
changing
views
of
their
social
value,
corpora4ons
will
increasingly
seek
to
focus
more
on
real
customer
needs
and
so
decrease
emphasis
on
short-­‐term
pressure
from
shareholders.

29. Dreaming
of
Humanity
The
norm
will
be
automa4on:
machines
will
respond
to
humans
who
respond
to
machines.
Human
interac4on
will
only
be
used
to
problem-­‐solve
and
provide
more
personalised
and
premium
services.

30. Combining
Neuroscience
and
Big
Data
Organisa4ons
will
take
the
opportunity
to
exploit
innova4ons
in
neuroscience,
wearable
electronics
and
big
data
to
provide
enhanced
customisa4on
in
the
design
and
delivery
of
new
products
and
services.

31. Personal
Data
Store
Led
by
developments
in
authen4ca4on
systems,
new
personal
data
pladorms
migrate
into
the
world
of
marke4ng.
These
lead
to
seamless
and
universally
accepted
creden4als
stores
that
share
data
with
mul4ple
brand
partners.

32. Cultural
Relevant
Conundrum
In
an
increasingly
global
and
diverse
world
how
will
brands
embrace
na4onal
consciousness
and
touch
consumers
whose
na4onal
iden4ty
is
disconnected
to
where
they
live?
How
will
brands
reconnect
with
the
diaspora?

33. Up
Close
and
Personal
Consumers
are
increasingly
in
the
driving
seat
and
aware
of
the
use
of
their
data.
We
may
see
loyalty
U-­‐turn:
With
greater
transparency
in
place,
brands
will
have
work
ensure
consumer
loyalty
not
the
other
way
around.

34. Brand
vs.
PlaVorm
Loyalty
Digital
pladorms
will
be
both
friend
and
enemy
to
brands.
Pladorm-­‐based
loyalty
may
threaten
tradi4onal
brand
loyal4es.
Brands
will
respond
in
different
ways,
with
temporary
price
wars
perhaps
giving
way
to
new
alliances

35. Loopy
∞
Loyalty
Brands
will
move
beyond
closed-­‐loop
transac4ons
with
individual
customers,
and
seek
to
engage
with
social
groups,
especially
on
digital
pladorms,
enabling
con4nuous
product
and
service
itera4on
based
on
p2p/c2c
sharing.

36. China:
“From
Blood
to
Business”
Businesses
in
China
have
long
operated
on
the
principle
of
making
the
kinds
of
rela4onships
with
customers
that
are
sought
with
family.
They
will
bring
this
thinking
to
loyalty,
reimagining
brand-­‐consumer
rela4onships.

37. China:
Leapfrogging
and
Expanding
Innova4ons
in
technology
and
social
media
pladorms
in
China
will
mean
that
China
leapfrogs
tradi4onal
loyalty
models
and
creates
loyalty
models
that
are
innova4ons
for
the
whole
world.

38. Government
IntervenIon
With
loyalty
pladorms
increasingly
u4lising
personal
data
–
and
social
media
pladorms
providing
private
spaces
for
poten4ally
undesirable
behaviours
–
government
interven4on
in
loyalty
models
becomes
more
likely.

39. Loyalty
is
Convenience
Loyal
customer
behaviours
may
be
revealed
starkly
as
being
nothing
more
than
convenience.
In
a
world
where
consumers
are
agile
and
empowered
–
the
most
convenient
op4ons
will
win.

40. Rise
in
Religious
Followings
There
is
a
rise
in
the
number
of
conserva4ve
religious
communi4es
–
some
genuine,
some
underground.
These
heighten
regional
tensions
but
also
act
as
a
catalyst
to
open
or
change
viewpoints
to
pragma4cally
suit
local
needs.

41. Extreme
Faiths
Religion
con4nues
to
be
a
powerful
galvanising
force
defining
our
values,
ac4ons
and
iden44es
-­‐
but
in
some
regions
is
increasingly
polarising.
Fana4cism
con4nues
to
rise
-­‐
amplified
by
social
technologies.

42. Sport
Entertainment
Changing
consumer
life-­‐styles
and
shorter
a`en4on
spans,
linked
with
more
connected
and
influen4al
fan-­‐bases,
combine
to
see
a
more
commercial
spor4ng
landscape,
triggering
the
birth,
evolu4on
and
destruc4on
of
sports.

43. Live
Experiences
Live
sport
and
fes4vals
are
put
on
a
pedestal
-­‐
a`rac4ng
cross-­‐overs
with
other
industries
and
greater
technical
innova4on
to
enhance
fan
interac4vity
and
audience
engagement.

44. More
Niche
Groups
More
alterna2ve
groups,
niche
cults
and
ideologies
bring
together
like-­‐minded
people
from
across
tradi2onal
boundaries.
Brands
adapt
to
this
rise
by
crea2ng
more
niche
product
categories
catering
for
smaller,
dispersed
'tribes’.

45. Trusted
Reviews
Social
peer
review
data
is
combined
with
other
qualita4ve
insight,
to
separate
the
authen4c
reviews
from
the
fake
and
'bought’.
New
regula4on
in
the
review
space
also
helps
create
equal
opportuni4es
to
compete
for
trade.

46. Future
Agenda
84
Brook
Street
London
W1K
5EH
+44
203
0088
141
futureagenda.org
The
world’s
leading
open
foresight
program
What
do
you
think?
Join
In
|
Add
your
views
into
the
mix
www.futureagenda.org