Paula: Welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty, an Industry podcast for loyalty marketing professionals. I’m Paula Thomas, The founder of Let’s Talk Loyalty. Today’s show is hosted by my colleague Amanda Cromhout, The Founder of Truth, an International Loyalty Consultancy firm based in Cape Town, South Africa. If you work in loyalty marketing, make sure to join Let’s Talk Loyalty every Tuesday, every Wednesday and every Thursday, to learn the latest ideas from loyalty experts around the world.
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Amanda: Today we’re in for a real treat as we chat to Celeste Williams who is Head of Marketing for Vitality, South Africa. Vitality is part of the Discovery Company, which is over 30 years old, and the Vitality program is over 26 years old. The Vitality program is based on what has turned a shared value model.
Which is driving a behavioral change second to none. They have 40 million lives impacted positively in 40 different marketplaces and their home base being South Africa. The discussion with Celeste is absolutely fascinating where she shares stats such as their most engaged members, which are called Diamond members, during Covid 19, were less severely ill, and in fact, a Diamond member had an 81% lower risk of death, so they won’t call the Vitality Model Program a loyalty program. It is a behavioral change program to help you improve your health. They focus on knowing your health, improving your health, which obviously then creates less claims in the healthcare space, and those excess funds are plowed back into their Vitality program to offer massive rewards, such as 75% off flights or 75% of healthy foods. There’s lots of innovation, lots of newness and lots of examples of where an engaged member behaves so significantly differently that the reduction in death during Covid 19, or an increase in lifespan of very clearly measurable. This is a program not to be missed and extremely well explained from Celeste.
So Celeste, welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty. This is a longer waited interview with Vitality, so I’m extremely excited to welcome you here today. Welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty.
Thanks,
Celeste: Thanks, Amanda. Really excited to be here.
Amanda: Yeah, it’s going to be an incredible conversation. I thoroughly enjoyed, um, our pre-discussion and your, the brand that you’re representing is a huge brand in the world of rewards and behavioral change.
So I’m really, really looking forward to us unpacking that. And obviously I have the privilege of being in South Africa where it’s your home base, so, uh, we are really well accustomed to it here in South Africa, but I think globally now, It’s Vitality is certainly a brand that everybody is aware of. So that gives us a great discussion for the global audience of Let’s Talk Loyalty.
But before we get into that, um, as I think, you know, the, the first question of let’s talk loyalty. Celeste, what’s your favorite loyalty program? So,
Celeste: Amanda, I love to travel, so I had quite a hard time choosing, you know, which is my favorite. Um, but it has to be inward skywood program. Um, correct. The Miles program is just incredible.
Um, it’s so easy to use from upgrades to tickets, to getting extra rewards when you’re on your flight. Um, but I think one of the most, um, amazing benefits of it is that your miles are valid for three years. Um, so you can say for that special trip or that upgrade that you’ve been wanting to experience for a long time,
Amanda: Amazing.
And I don’t think anyone who’s an audience of Let’s Talk LA is. Shy of understanding Emirate skywards because a, so many of, of the guests also claim it’s their favorites. You’re, you’re not alone. And also that’s, yeah. Paul has also interviewed, um, professionals from Skywards a couple of times, so if you’re interested in those, you may have already heard them.
There’s a couple of amazing podcasts covering Sky Wars program, so that’s lovely to hear. I also love them as well. So I really, I’m looking forward to unpacking more about the brand discovery and the program vitality, but I think from your point of view, having you here on the, on the program today is extra special.
You and I have known each other for many years and you were telling me earlier, you’ve been with Vitality for many years, but you had an interesting career before Vitality. So please can you bring the audience up to speed with your career that brings you to be head of marketing for Vitality South Africa.
And I’ve always loved
Celeste: psychology in the world of psychology. Um, and in fact, I did my degree in, um, consumer psychology. And I’ve always been fascinated, you know, by how, what makes people tick, what makes people do the things they do. We completely irrational human beings. Um, So I started my career off, um, in the p pharmaceutical industry at Merck Sharp in Dome.
I then went, um, overseas to London and I worked for an ngo, um, for two years there. And then when I came back to South Africa, I always knew I wanted to align myself with a really purpose, purpose-driven brand. And I, I think that led me to, um, discovery. Yeah. Been with discovery now for almost 20 years, and, um, the majority of their time worked on the Vitality brand and really helped sort of grow and shape it in, into what it is today.
Incredible.
Amanda: So you, you are almost 20 years and you were telling me that the vitality brand itself is 26 years old, so you really have been at the heart of it for the majority of its life as well.
Celeste: Really have
Amanda: Celeste, I think anyone who’s listening to this show in South Africa particularly needs no introduction to the discovery brand or vitality, but globally, both brands are, you know, are, are not unknown.
So I think. If you could just take a short while to tell us a bit more about discovery, which I believe is 30 years old. Um, I understand it really specializes more in financial services, but I think let’s position discovery and what it does, and then we’ll move into vitality. Sure.
Celeste: Um, discovery, as you said was, um, started in 1992, so just over 30 years ago.
Um, and this is a proudly South African financial services company. Um, started in the health insurance and, um, quickly expanded into the life insurance, um, short-term, long-term insurance markets, um, and most recently into the banking sector. Um, but at the core of vitality, I mean, at discovery we’ve really been governed by a really strong core purpose of making people healthier and enhancing and protecting their lives.
Um, and we’ve really been able to do this through what we call our share value model. Really what that is, is that what we do is create better health and value for our clients. Um, as well as what it helps us do is create superior arterial dynamics for us as the insurer, and then creates, helps us create a healthy society and a better world.
In fact, um, But at the heart of that model is Discovery Vitality, um, which is a leading, um, behavior change platform. Um, and essentially what, uh, vitality does is incentivize, incentivize people towards better health. Um, and it’s a really simple premise of get people healthier, um, to reduce their risk of.
Um, we’ve now, um, actually, which is really exciting, um, transported that model into 40 markets around the world. Wow. Um, and actually impacting over 40 million lives and making 40 million people healthier.
Amanda: Wow. What is that 40 million lives across, do you say? 14 million. 40 million lives across 40 countries.
Celeste: 40 different markets. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, vitality is essentially, we’ve taken the entire ecosystem and, um, transported that in sort of a technology cloud-based solution. Um, and then it’s resonating in markets such as Australia, India, south America, the us, the uk. And what’s really exciting, I mean, in South Africa we’ve even taken that model one step further.
Um, and looking not only at people’s health and wellness, but also their driving patterns, um, getting them to drive better through our Vitality Drive program. Um, and now just recently through our Vitality Money program, encouraging members to save more and, um, spend more responsib.
Amanda: Yeah, I was going to say in our, in the home market, it’s so much more than health, although obviously it’s, um, known originally for health, but as you say, the insurance for driving better and your discovery bank products, so you have this vitality money.
Um, it’s certainly changing how people bank more responsibly and I’ll talk about that later. Cuz I was, li had the privilege of listening to your investor relations presentation, which gave, gave away some fantastic results. But I do want to talk about that in a short while. So, so as you say, vitality’s hitting 40 countries.
I think, um, last time we spoke, you were talking about, you were up to, um, did you start with 300,000 members?
Celeste: In South Africa, we, you know, when I started 20 odd years ago, um, we were on about 300,000 members and we’ve grown in South Africa to just over 2 million, um, lives. Um, and then of course, you know, grown into the various different markets across the world, um, that’s grown exponentially, you know, through the different, um, life insurers and life life, um, insurers.
In these various markets. Um, and that’s how we’ve scaled and touching all these millions of lives.
Amanda: Yeah. Incredible. I had no idea you’d say the number as large as 40 million, so that’s absolutely fantastic. It’s amazing because we, we do think that’s incredible from a South African point of view, so 2 million to 40 million globally.
That’s absolutely very impressive. So I think, um, what would be, just before we get into how vitality works, you and I always have a, a big smile and a big debate when we talk about loyalty because for the audience today, one of the discussions Celeste and I have had in the past is No, but vitality isn’t a loyalty program has been the discussion and debate.
And I think I’d really like Celeste to describe this around. Okay, so it’s not a loyalty program. So then what is it? Help us understand what you mean by that. Yeah, a
Celeste: long-term debate. Um, but essentially what, how we see and um, how explain it is, you know, Vitality is a behavior change program. Um, and I briefly explained the share value model earlier on, and really what that does is it turns the typical insurance model on its head, whereas other loyalty programs, they’ll often, um, reward loyalty for sometimes bad behavior, um, getting up to spend more or buy more things than we shouldn’t be. But Vitality essentially does is become a driver for good health. And getting you to do positive things like exercise more, drive better, spend more responsibly.
Yeah. Essentially putting money back in, um, your pocket. So really what we’ve done over the, and we, we relook our rewards and our incentives every year to make sure that we are giving our members massive, massive amounts of value. And all these incentives of nudge, you know, our members to do better to go for that health screening, to do that little extra bit to get healthier.
And these will add up into big rewards, such as travel rewards, iPhones, um, free Apple watches, um, and weekly coffee or smoothie. Yeah. Um, but you know this is still being paid through, paid for through, you doing good or doing good activity, and eventually these positive behaviors all add up into healthy habits, and we know once we have created these healthy habits, it leads to long-term positive behavior change. So far more than just loyalty. Um, And what, where we really saw this, um, actually play in, out is, you know, during the Covid 19 pandemic, um, where, you know, our gold and diamond vitality members, those are, are highly engaged, um, members Yeah.
Who are exercising more, eating healthier, and doing all those Right. Um, those good behaviors, um, we’re much, um, less severely ill and had. Past fewer deaths, um, than non-members or people who were less engaged on vitality. So those long-term behavior change, um, actions really having a massive, massive impact in terms of, of that behavior change and long-term effects on your
Amanda: health.
Wow, what a massive statement. I mean, that’s so obviously it’s so measurable, but just that nuggets of information around, okay, so we’re running this program and it’s a behavioral change program on a platform, and sounds like loyalty, but it’s more than loyalty and mm-hmm. Along comes your tiering system and your top tier actually, when the rubber hits the road, you have got evidence that these individuals were vastly less affected by the global pandemic.
That’s
Celeste: correct. And it, you know, when you see those kind of effects of, and how it really, really is changing health for the better and you know, this is a program that, um, is a, has a fundamental effect on, on people’s lives.
Amanda: Wow. Yeah. Fantastic. What a great soundbite. I love that. And I think then you’ve, you’ve given some explanation, Celeste, into how the program works, just by explaining why you describe yourselves as the share value model, behavioral change.
Platform. But actually, let’s go a little bit back to the basics to explain, if you don’t mind, how the program works, because I know it intimately. I’m, I’m on one of your top tiers and I thoroughly engage in the program, but I think it’s really worthwhile if you can please take the audience through, um, your tiering system and some of the core things you have to do to change, get through the tiers, and then some of the reward structures that are available.
So
Celeste: vitality is actually a, a really simple concept. It’s, it manifests in a very simple, um, construct of, you know, get healthy and you get rewarded. Um, so how we’ve really broken it down is it’s really, really important for people to, to know their health. Um, it’s, it’s important to understand your numbers, understand, um, Where you stand.
So I think that could be the first step of, of ensuring that you are doing your health screenings, going for what we call a vitality health check, which, um, measures your blood pressure, your, um, B m I, which is your, your weight circum and your weight. Um, taking your, your blood pressure, making sure that you understand where you.
What we do is we give you tools and incentives, um, to improve your health. Um, we all know how difficult it is to, um, change behavior. Nobody wants to go for that. Extra runways Friday nights and, um, you’ve just got home from a long day at work or in a long week. Um, we all know how convenient, um, you know, going down and getting, um, fast food versus making some healthy food is Yes.
Um, so what we’ve done is remove those barriers, um, to. Making those decisions. Um, also, you know, going to the gym can be expensive. So we give 75% of gym. We give up to 75% off unhealthy food at some, uh, uh, top, um, grocery groceries in South Africa. And, um, we. As part of that, you’ll earn a vitality status, which goes from blue to to bronze, to silver, gold, and then our top tier, which is diamond status.
And then as members, as our members work up the tiers, they get fantastic rewards. Um, and you know, a lot of people often say is, how can you give such massive, massive of rewards? Yeah. And again, that goes back to the shared value model. You know, we, we know that it’s, it’s hard to do these things, but as people become healthier, it’s, it, it leads to far less accidents on the road, less people going into hospital.
Obviously from an I insurer’s point of view, it helps us with this case. And then what we’re able to do is channel those massive rewards. Um, Excess funds back into these rewards. Um, and that’s how we are able to get, you know, give people 75% of parts. Yeah. Um, and 75% of healthy food and, um, free movies and things like that.
And that’s as a result of, um, this shared value model that we’ve created.
Amanda: Yeah. Amazing. Great. Well, thank you for explaining it in such clear and simple ways. So know your health, do the assessments, improve your health, and then ultimately, less claims. Ultimately, that creates excess funds that go into these incredibly generous rewards.
So as you say, everyone benefits. Wonderful. So you mentioned there the 75% off flights, so it’s such a huge number of 75% and I think, um, over time I’ve seen travel become a much bigger part of the benefit portfolio. Can you talk us through a little bit more about how, you know, how Vitaly travel works or how important it is for you and your customers?
Yeah,
Celeste: look, people love to travel. I’m the biggest, biggest, um, advocate of travel. But, you know, we saw this during Covid. Um, I think when our members couldn’t fly, um, couldn’t travel. You know, it’s such a, an important part of one’s lifestyle and just creating these unbeliev. Memorable experiences. Um, and we saw how important that it was to our members, um, when they didn’t have it.
Um, so we’ve spent a long time looking at the entire travel ecosystem. Um, we’ve developed just recently a brand new entire travel booking platform, um, called Vitality Travel, where you can book all your end to end travel. That’s from your flights accommodation. Um, car hire. Insurance, whatever you need for, um, travel and all your discounts are your personalized, um, dynamic discounts based on your good behaviors all pulled into this platform, um, in a very secure and seamless pla fashion.
But it wasn’t just about looking at that booking platform, we wanted to look at the entire ecosystem, you know? Literally, you know, get into the airport. So giving Uber discounts to once you arrive at the airport, you know, going through the security queues, um, at airports, um, are frustrating. So our bank, um, clients can now get fast access through our priority fast tracks.
As well as looking at the entire, um, experience once you’re in the airport lounges, um, which we’ve worked with our partners, south African Airways to reinvent and reinvigorate, um, that lounge experience. Um, so the best part of all of this is that, you know, you pay. For all of this with your healthy behaviors.
And so we always joke as you know, that yoga is really gonna get you to India, um, or to Mauritius also Australia. Love it. You know, that or that run is really gonna get you there. So yeah, very, very exciting times and this is just going to, um, evolve, um, as we get further and further into unpacking a lot of those exciting benefits for our.
Amanda: Says, lace up my running shoes. It’ll get me my flight to New York Mar, New York Marathon sometime later in new. Exactly.
Celeste: I
Amanda: love it. Or London Marathon. I just need to get the entry first. It should be great. Amazing. Yeah, you’re right. Everyone loves to travel and I think if we assess on this show how many people talk, For example, you mentioned Emirate Skywards.
You know how many people talk about frequent flyer program being their favorite loyalty program? I’m sure it comes out much more frequently than non non frequent flyer programs. Exactly. So over and above travel though, there’s so much else. We, we, as members of the program, can take away and so many other innovations in the vitality experience.
Can you talk us through some of those innovations? I mean, I’ve had the privilege as a, as a member to actually experience them, but, um, most of our international listeners won’t have, won’t have been able to do that. So please talk us through the innovations that you are particularly proud of.
Celeste: Sure. I think it has to be and go down to our Vitality Acts of Rewards program, which I think what started in, um, 2015, so been around for quite a while and we, we’ve seen such a massive amount of engagements.
I think we have over 750,000 people engaged just on acts of rewards. Um, and essentially what bat title Active Rewards is, is we’ve gamified the health and fitness. Um, and it’s an app based program, um, that essentially gives you a personalized weekly exercise goal. It then pulls through your data from your fitness device or from your gym workout, um, or any other fitness activity that you may have done.
And then rewards you every single week with either an instant reward, which would be a coffee or a smoothie, um, or you could wait till rewards Wednesday. And there you, uh, we give you discovery miles, which is our rewards currency, which is more valuable than cash when you actually redeem it. And that you can spend on things like flights on, um, bigger shopping rewards.
Um, and that all accumulates, um, Really nicely in the Discovery Bank app. But I think what’s been so exciting about this program is because it’s now a weekly, um, incentive versus, you know, previously we would be incentivized in people monthly or maybe even once a year. Um, this ongoing activity, we’ve seen a massive increase in exercise and people are exercising almost 25%.
Wow. Um, and also attached to to that is we at a similar time, we, we launched our Apple Watch, um, program. We essentially, we give our vitality members free Apple watches. It’s an incredible experience. You activate, um, the benefits. You go into an I store, pick up your Apple Watch, you don’t have to pay a cent.
And how you pay it back is through your. So every week you exercise, you don’t need to pay a penalty, but should you not exercise, then you have to pay a penalty. Um, so we’ve seen people who really don’t want to pay that, that penalty. And that’s, we’ve seen a massive increase of over 34%, um, in physical activity, um, which is just really incredible members of how shifting people’s health
Amanda: behavior.
Okay, so you’ve said the vitality active rewards, you’ve seen a drive of plus 25% more exercise tracked, and then the Apple Watch benefits a 34% increase in behavior from the Apple Watch. They’re not wanting to pay penalty exercise more. They’re incredibly large numbers. I always said actually, when you launched, um, active rewards, you know, if you think about it, at the end of the day, the original.
Product that I would’ve had as a customer of discoveries was healthcare an insurance product. So, you know, but because of active rewards, we, everyone in the boardroom, wherever you were, would, would be checking their active rewards status and going onto a disco, going onto an insurance app every week. I mean that in itself.
Worth talking about the fact that you could drive engagement in a typically drive subject like insurance to get people to go into your real estate of an app on a weekly basis. So I can see why you’ve pulled that out as a innovation. But you did mention to me that your recently, you’ve recently relaunched active rewards.
So how has that, how has that gone to the next level?
Celeste: Oh, it’s really, really exciting. Um, we on Active Rewards three point. Um, next version and really just, um, take an experience to the next level. Um, much more personalized game boards. Um, so Amanda, yours compared to mine, will be completely different and we’ll see completely different game boards, but I think what is the same is just much more rewards.
Um, more rewards than ever richer game boards. Yeah. Um, And also the opportunity to get an instant reward. Um, so as soon as your goal, um, you reach your goal, you can get a, your coffee or smoothie. Um, you don’t need to wait for rewards Wednesday, but if you want to, um, you know, wait until re rewards Wednesday gives you an opportunity to play at the game board where you’ve got extra tiles on this game board and anything from your grocery or your pharmacy or your fuel span.
From the previous week, in addition to your normal exercise driving or spending, um, tiles that you’ll still see, um, And then also for like our overachievers, just, um, you know, we’ve got a lot of engaged people, so making sure it’s, it still remains exciting for them is giving rewards multipliers, so doubling, um, rewards, giving them a sneak peek or chance to lift a towel and see what’s underneath it.
Um, and then I think you’ll love this one, Amanda. This one’s definitely for you, for those, um, Of our highly engaged members running comrades or doing any big marathon and really needing a rest week, um, we’ll give them a little break, um, for one week so they can recoup. Um, and also then for those members that are.
Have reached a hundred goals in a row, um, or 200 or 300. We’ve got special limited edition center and shirts where they can, um, collect them from Sportsman’s Warehouse and really show off their, um, achievements, which is really, really, Exciting.
Amanda: Incredible. Incredible. Yeah. You and I have always had quite a laugh about how I used to say, but I’ve just run comrades and I and Ultra.
Please gimme a week off. I can’t exercise this week. Oh, lovely. That’s super, super exciting. So great. And yeah, it’d be great the personalized game boards, I mean, in our office whenever, um, Loyalty communications or engagements are released. We always compare to see, cuz we are all quite different to see how the, how it is different.
So we look forward to playing on that. Wonderful. Well, I think we’ve talked a lot about vitality and the rewards and how we get there and so forth, but I know, um, Also, again, as a client of yours, that’s so much has happened to you for you to switch not only from the healthcare insurance environment but into the banking environment and how the banking app is almost acting as a consolidation, you know, manifestation of all of this together.
So can you talk to us a little bit about that? Cuz it’s really. It’s really helping show how vitality is playing. The loyalty or the behavioral change agent is playing such a huge part in the core product proposition as well of what discovery is offering.
Celeste: Yeah, I mean, it’s really, really exciting is, you know, with us going into to the banking, um, sector, what it’s really been able to allow us to do is start to monetize, um, all your behavior change.
Um, and so we’ve created this really, really brilliant ecosystem now using the the discovery. Um, and it’s actually live now. You know, most, most, um, if, if you’re with Discovery Bank, you can experience all, um, your rewards, um, all your vitality, active rewards, all your travel, all in one space. Yeah. Um, we’ve made it much easier, much safer, much more secure, um, for you to earn and, um, spend discovery miles, which is our rewards currency.
But what’s even greater I think, is that, um, you know, if people don’t have a Discovery Bank app, they can, um, easily download it and get a, either get a banking suite where your, your vitality, your normal vitality rewards are, um, further enhanced. Depending on your, um, your spending and saving behavior, or if you’re any discovery client, you can actually get a zero fee.
Discovery account, um, so cost you nothing, but it’s still un um, unres an entire. World of active reward, discovery pay, where you can pay for gym visits and you can pay for, um, health, health payments, um, at doc, at our doctor networks, um, as well as, um, have access to, to their travel platform. So really going a long way, I think, in creating this happier, healthier society.
Um, and, you know, You know, ba, your banking behavior, I mean, we spoke about earlier on, about incentivize in, you know, yearly, monthly, weekly. You know, people are going onto their bank app every single day. So further enhancing and making people aware of their spending behavior, their health behavior, literally daily now, which is really, really an exciting space to.
Amanda: Definitely. I mean it’s, it’s addictive. So that’s in a positive way. It’s a good addiction.
Celeste: Yeah, it’s a good, good healthy
Amanda: addiction. Yeah, exactly. Very much so. So I mentioned earlier, Celeste, that I heard your ceo, Adrian Gore, talk of the results at the investor relations presentation that were for your 2022 results of the discovery results and.
I was fascinated. He was talking about a very positive plus 22% operating profit for the business. So that’s a huge congratulations to the business for achieving that. But what obviously attracted me the most was how he generously shared stats around how the vitality performance impacts. Into some of that, uh, business performance for discovery.
Now, you’ve, you’ve talked about it quite a lot in broader terms, but can you share some of those? I mean, is actually readily available on the investor relations presentation, but I was really fascinated by, I was hanging on every word when he was using the vitality performance to, as you say, the shared value model.
Celeste: Yeah, I mean really what Adrian, um, was, was, was talking about was really, you know, the proof points about just how these incentives are working to make people live. Longer, healthier lives, you know, and he always talks about, um, health span and, and really what that refers to. It’s not just about living longer.
You wanna live in good health. You know, you wanna, you want more years, but you want more healthy years. Yeah. Um, and really what it showed was how the program has given people back, many, many. Um, life years to spend with their families. Um, and what is so exciting is, I mean, we’ve seen, uh, just from our research is how vitality over the sort of last 25 years, this is research that we, we’ve, we’ve accumulated over time has led to a 13% reduction in death.
And that’s from any cause. Um, and that’s for members across all statuses. So it doesn’t matter. That’s just for you being on the vitality program. Wow. Um, and then also seeing, you know, it just increasing from no exercise days to one exercise, one more exercise, day per week, reduced, um, a member’s, uh, risk of death by 34%.
So just showing the impact of exercise on, on lifespan. Um, for example, a 30 year old man that is engaged improves his diet and exercise. He can add an extra six years of good health to his lifespan. So really showing with, um, actual figures of how our members are, um, living longer, healthier. Um, and then, you know, I spoke about, um, the pandemic.
Um, yeah. And that really, um, showed just how our most engaged Diamond Vitality members had an 81% lower risk of death from Covid compared to those that were non-members. Um, so having a real impact during a pandemic as. And then, yeah, just in terms of healthy food as well. Our members are purchasing almost 9% more healthy food when they have access to the healthy food be benefits.
Um, so these are really tangible ways, um, of how we are having an impact on people’s lives every day. Um, really, really excited and, um, interesting.
Amanda: Very powerful results. I mean, thank you for sharing such quantifiable results with us. So, um, that 81% lower risk of death for your diamond members during the pandemic, I mean, that’s absolutely incredible.
That’s incredible. And then you talked about, you used the word engagement a lot. A lot. Um, so, uh, male being engaged and I had. Think then that they weren’t engaged to be married, engaged with the program?
Celeste: No, sorry.
Amanda: Um, but engaged with your program because I think as loyalty professionals, we talk about engage or engagement loosely.
Mm-hmm. And I think you are sharing that engagement is act, you know, using the program, playing on in the active rewards, actually just engaging with what you have to offer. Yes. Yeah. And you can bring back plus six. Of lifespan. I mean, I dunno, any other program out there who can claim such such results.
Actually it’d be great. It’d be a lovely debate to have. So I’m really grateful, Celeste, for you sharing So generously those results. Thank you. It will be very well received by the Let’s Talk loyalty listeners. So I think what the, one of the biggest questions I’d like to ask you, because I think it shines through the fact that your c E O.
Spoke, Adrian spoke at the investor relations presentation, so if I say gushing, it sounds a bit strange, but he was so keen to share that these statistics of how vitality is at the core of the discovery success. So I, I’m therefore assuming there’s a big cultural support model between the two. But I, we need to hear that from you.
I’m just making an assumption.
Celeste: No, it’s 100% true. Um, we are such a passionate bench. Um, it’s, it’s a really high performance culture. Um, very highly innovative as, as you can imagine. But at the same time, I think really, really supportive. And, you know, I spoke about our core purpose of making people healthier, and that really, really does manifest through our entire organization.
Um, we’re a very diverse, um, and inclusive workforce, so we actively try and promote, um, and enable, I think that’s more important, um, that our employees live those healthier lives for themself. So we’ve created a number of different initiatives and incentives for our staff, um, from providing them with access to the vitality program, as well as, um, we’ve got a number of facilities, like a gym, a, a roof, um, running track, um, discounted food and well healthy food.
Um, I think you can get a rep for about 10 grand, um, on the campus, which. You know, we really do live and breathe on their core purpose and that value because I think ultimately, you know, getting our our employees to, to, to be healthier for them to be able to create that dynamic, um, engagement for our customers needs to show up and start with them.
Um, so we really, really do live out our core purpose internally as.
Amanda: Yeah. Amazing. I mean, I would love it a, a roof running track after a stressful meeting. Gonna run a few laps. Yeah. Celeste, I could absolutely talk to you for hours, but uh, we are going to have to, um, we’re gonna have to stop talking cuz otherwise we’ll run over.
Uh, let’s talk a little time slot, but before I do cut this very, very fascinating discussion to a close, is there anything else I haven’t touched on that you would love to say to the audience or anything? I’ve.
Celeste: No, I think maybe just to, to end, um, you know, sometimes we, we do get, um, people say that it’s complex and, um, vitality is hard.
But I think, you know, there is effort required, um, to work through the program. We do make sure that it manifests in a very simple, personalized way, whether it’s on the website or the app. Um, But, you know, to, to get people to change their behavior is, is not an easy um, notion. And I think the incentives definitely help.
But, you know, as we see with, you know, people making those small, small changes and how they become big ha habits. Which really leads to these long-term health gains. Um, and lands are changing people’s lives for the better. I mean, we’ve got unbelievable amounts of, of stories and um, member stories of how they really have made a fundamental difference.
Um, and then I guess, you know, just to sum up, there’s really is no better reward, um, than your health, you know, so. Absolutely. Absolutely. Um, Really, really exciting times and making a fundamental difference, um, to people and, and it starts with us making very, very small
Amanda: changes. I think Celeste, what I’m loving about listening to you, so just your last comment then, obviously it hits really hard when you say to someone, you know, there’s no other reward other than actually improving your health, your reward to yourself.
Um, and you, I, I don’t think as an average human, we understand that until you lose part of that health, until there’s a risk to any part about health. So actually hearing you explain. How the program has helped individuals either, you know, protect themselves in the global pandemic or in other aspects, is in itself a very powerful mechanism.
And I think the more you can share that, the more powerful it is. And I’m really so, so grateful for you doing so today. So from Let’s Talk Loyalty, Celeste, thank you very much. Thanks for joining us.
Celeste: Thanks, Amanda. It’s been great.
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