Getting to know Voyage Loyalty, The Loyalty Programme for Seafarers (#655)

Paula: Hello and welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV, a show for loyalty marketing professionals.

Paula: I’m Paula Thomas, the founder and CEO of Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV, where we feature insightful conversations with loyalty professionals from the world’s leading brands.

Paula: Today’s episode is hosted by Charlie Hills, Chief Strategy Officer of MandoConnect, a UK-based agency that uses smart data to create brilliant partnerships and rewards that really work.

Paula: Enjoy.

Charlie: Hello and welcome to this episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty.

Charlie: As Paula mentioned, I’m Charlie Hills, the Chief Strategy Officer for MandoConnect.

Charlie: In this episode, I’m absolutely delighted to interview Bridget Blaise-Shamai, a Senior Commercial Officer, and Rory Mackenzie, the Loyalty Programme Manager for Voyage Loyalty, the loyalty programme for V.Group.

Charlie: Voyage Loyalty is a fascinating loyalty programme.

Charlie: It creates a more engaging and invaluable employment experience for seafarers, bringing them respect for their hard work and dedication.

Charlie: Today we’re going to be learning all about Bridget and Rory’s favourite books and loyalty programmes, all about what loyalty for seafarers really looks like, and the highlights and key learnings from Voyage Loyalty itself.

Charlie: I really hope you enjoy our conversation today.

Charlie: So, hello, I’m absolutely delighted to record an episode with you both today.

Charlie: It’s such an interesting program and such a fascinating sector and an entirely different way of really applying loyalty marketing to sort of business challenges.

Charlie: So I think our guests are gonna love it today.

Charlie: So without further ado, really welcome to the podcast.

Bridget: Thank you.

Rory: Thanks, Charlie.

Rory: Great to be here.

Charlie: It’s gonna be nice.

Charlie: And it’s lovely having two guests with us as well today.

Charlie: So that’s a real treat.

Charlie: But before we get into the detail of the program, Paula and I always like to ask a sort of a broad question to get things up and running.

Charlie: So I’m gonna ask you, Rory, first, what’s your favorite book about life, leadership or loyalty?

Charlie: And if you want to bring that to life with why you like it, then our listeners would be really interested in that as well.

Charlie: So what do you like to read?

Rory: Yeah, it’s a good question.

Rory: It’s a challenging question to start with, Charlie.

Rory: But I have a copy of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Next to My Bed, which is a nice little resource to go to, to give yourself some perspective on life.

Rory: And then I also have just over my shoulder there, a poem by Rudyard Kipling.

Rory: If as well, again, another nice little role model kind of thing in a poem form.

Rory: So those are my two major resources in terms of-

Charlie: That is totally awesome.

Charlie: That is a really lovely highbrow intellectual podcast.

Charlie: I hope we can keep that theme up throughout the whole episode.

Charlie: That’s brilliant.

Charlie: So Bridget, that’s a really highbrow answer from Rory to get us started.

Charlie: What a brilliant, brilliant episode.

Charlie: And I hope we can keep that level up throughout the whole episode.

Charlie: I’m also hoping he pre warned you for your answer.

Charlie: What’s your favorite book?

Charlie: How do you follow that?

Charlie: What’s your favorite book about life, leadership or loyalty?

Bridget: Exactly.

Bridget: Following that terrific response from Rory.

Bridget: And I expect nothing less from him quite candidly.

Bridget: For me, it’s a timeless held view, it seems like.

Bridget: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

Bridget: And the reasons why are threefold.

Bridget: One, in life, it’s about the journey, not so much the destination.

Bridget: And as I think about that, as we apply it to loyalty, there’s so much about the experiences you have as you are pursuing the outcomes you desire by joining a loyalty program.

Bridget: It’s those, you know, individual experience along the way that really, really resonate with the customer.

Bridget: Secondly, really importantly, in life, what you need is really right in front of you.

Bridget: And again, my application, the loyalty space is this.

Bridget: Your best customer is the one you have.

Bridget: So in your pursuit of new ones every day, be mindful of those you already have.

Bridget: And lastly, and perhaps my favorite piece is, give space to your heart, always having a say.

Bridget: And why I think that’s important is that is really a resource for you on being creative and honest, which I think then leads to your fresh thinking, your innovation and things of that sort.

Bridget: So it’s really important each three of these takeaways that I have and to me the applications I have into loyalty programs and customer preference to a brand.

Charlie: That’s really nice kind of segue from the content of the book as well to the application in the program.

Charlie: And we’re building quite a nice reading list for our audience.

Charlie: So that’s three recommendations to get you started just from this episode alone.

Charlie: So thank you both ever so much for sharing.

Charlie: I appreciate it.

Charlie: It’s a tough opening question.

Charlie: It leads quite nicely on to what’s a much easier question for those of us that work in loyalty, which is which is your favorite loyalty program?

Charlie: And Bridget, you’ve pulled out three really interesting things from the book there.

Charlie: Is there a program you think that brings some of those or all of those to life?

Charlie: Like, what’s your favorite loyalty program?

Bridget: Well, I’m going to be a little piggy here and I’m going to offer two.

Bridget: First, I have to recognize the award-winning American Airlines Advantage Program.

Bridget: They’ve done a great job for a really long time of how you take what is relevant to the customer with the core brand and earning and redeeming within that and then extending it through a whole network of partners that allow the customer to have a more routine habitual interaction with the brand.

Bridget: I think they’ve done a terrific job on how they recognize and reward customers that really is on track to appearing timeless and I love all of that.

Bridget: A second brand that I really admire for very different reasons is a large retailer in the United States, Nordstrom’s.

Bridget: And Nordstrom’s has a program called Nordstrom’s Note.

Bridget: And why I love this program so much is first, super, super straightforward to the customer on how they earn the incentive.

Bridget: Secondly, how they are able to use the incentive and what I like about it is the incentive itself completely ties the customer back into the core proposition of the retailer.

Bridget: So you realize the value essentially by buying more from them.

Bridget: And then they go out of their way to make sure you’re using the Nordstrom Note.

Bridget: So to me, these are just facets that are timeless as well that I really admire and respect in a loyalty program.

Charlie: Nice.

Charlie: So a really nice integration to the brand and the experience of the core proposition as part of the program.

Charlie: Again, a very nice answer.

Charlie: What about you, Rory?

Charlie: I know you’re based out in Manila.

Charlie: I’m intrigued to see whether you’re going to choose a global program, perhaps one from your local market.

Charlie: What’s your favorite?

Rory: It’s actually a very, very simple loyalty program, but one that I used frequently before I moved, unfortunately.

Rory: But there was a coffee shop in my old department complex and it was just a very simple loyalty system and it was fully integrated into the way that the baristas actually did their work as well.

Rory: So the currency that they were using was Pesos, so it’s the local currency.

Rory: So you know how much you’re earning.

Rory: They tell you how much that you’ve earned after each coffee that you bought and then they do all the administration for you as well.

Rory: And then as a nice little surprise and delight, then they tell you how much or when your next coffee is going to be available.

Rory: So it was just super simple.

Rory: I didn’t have to do any work, but it’s just fully integrated into the customer experience and makes you want to go back, which is the whole point of a loyalty scheme.

Rory: So yeah, I like the idea of like simple and sometimes it’s best.

Charlie: Nice.

Charlie: And coffee is such a great sector.

Charlie: I think I’ve had so many of our guests come on and talk about the coffee shop sector, the restaurant sector, QSR, informal eating out as such an area that’s seen such an explosion in programs.

Charlie: But they all started with that very simple, buy 10 coffees, get one free, buy six coffees, get one free mechanic that you’re talking about.

Charlie: And it’s really nice to see that they kept that at the heart of the propositions.

Charlie: So Rory, is that what inspired you to get into loyalty program marketing?

Charlie: Because I know this is a relatively new area.

Charlie: What’s your background and how have you ended up working in this space?

Rory: Yeah, yeah, thanks, Charlie.

Rory: No, so actually I trained as a naval architect.

Charlie: So a natural lead into loyalty marketing.

Rory: Yeah, totally related.

Rory: Yeah, no, I joined V.Group, our overall company V.Group as a global graduate, and I went around the world with V.Group and worked in lots of different roles.

Rory: And amongst those roles, I got the opportunity to work with seafarers and be exposed to kind of their life, their challenges, their kind of dedication and the work that they do for V.

Rory: And I ended up going more into the crewing side or the seafarer side of the business than the technical side of the business.

Rory: And then after a few years of working in various like project management roles, the opportunity for a joining Voyage Loyalty came up as the program manager.

Rory: And it just struck me as a really great opportunity to give something back to the seafarers, make their experience more valuable, and to also achieve quite a lot of the things that we’ve been struggling to do as a business in a really innovative and kind of exciting way as well.

Rory: So it’s been great so far.

Rory: I’ve really loved it.

Rory: It’s been a completely different job to what I’ve done so far.

Rory: And it still ticks some of the boxes of the kind of engineering itches, you know, there’s always a problem to solve.

Rory: We have to look at the data, we have to look into really understanding what the problem statement is.

Rory: And, you know, but then there’s other things that you get to do, like you get to be a bit more creative and have some more fun.

Rory: So, yeah, it’s been great so far.

Charlie: That’s great.

Charlie: As I said, when we first talked in our prep course, one of my favorite things about loyalty program management, people come to it from such interesting and diverse kind of roots and backgrounds.

Charlie: But you are actually the first naval architect trained person I think I’ve ever met in all my years.

Charlie: And I’m thrilled that we’ve got one of you into loyalty marketing.

Charlie: Maybe that should be our next question.

Charlie: One for the bingo card.

Charlie: Yeah, like where all the careers come from.

Charlie: Now, Bridget, I know you did not come into loyalty marketing through naval architecture.

Charlie: You have a far more sort of classic route in.

Charlie: Would you like to share that with our listeners and our watchers as well?

Charlie: I’m sure they’d be really interested to see, along with the cheeky, you know, segue through to all the other brilliant programs that you’ve worked on in your brilliant career.

Bridget: Thank you, Charlie.

Bridget: And yet again, I’m following Roy with a terrific answer in his background and his interests.

Bridget: So for me, yes, indeed, I have a very diverse background, but the one that’s most germane to the conversation and the question you’ve asked me is that I had really an amazing, amazing opportunity to lead the award-winning travel rewards program for American Airlines, the Advantage program.

Bridget: And what I loved about it was where I saw firsthand how brand can take a very thoughtful, very customer-centered proposition, and doing all the things right, you can really affect and create the desired outcomes, not only for the brand, in this case, American Airlines, but also for the partners as a part of the program, and most importantly, the customers themselves.

Bridget: And what I really enjoyed about it was seeing how you take that value proposition that you’ve come up with that matters to the customer and you’ve leveraged all the assets you have, notably around data and your organic marketing channels.

Bridget: And then you see how putting that in front of your customer and see how they take it up and you measure it, that the brand can’t affect their top line and or reduce the expense by simply providing the customer what they want versus what you have.

Bridget: So something I enjoyed thoroughly as a part of my background leading up to this terrific opportunity with Voyage Loyalty.

Charlie: Nice.

Charlie: What they want, not what you have.

Charlie: If only more programs took that as a core ethos, wouldn’t that be great?

Charlie: Yeah, I think that’s a lovely kind of soundbite.

Charlie: So listeners, take that away.

Charlie: What they want, not what you’ve got.

Charlie: You just want to throw them and give it to them.

Charlie: What about your program itself?

Charlie: How does that insight apply?

Charlie: Again, it’s a very unusual program.

Charlie: Bridget, please tell us, what’s the program called?

Charlie: How does it work?

Charlie: Who’s it for?

Charlie: What are the key tenants of it?

Bridget: Well, certainly.

Bridget: We branded it Voyage Loyalty, really keeping in line with the industry itself.

Bridget: The key tenants are this.

Bridget: We came in with a hypothesis that if we can incentivize certain behaviors slash outcomes of our seafarers partners, it could lead to a couple of really important outcomes for the company really in the industry.

Bridget: The first is, you know, retaining seafarers.

Bridget: What may not be well known is that there’s a lot of pressure in the industry globally on staffing seafarers.

Bridget: There’s increasingly a lot of alternatives to how they can earn a living.

Bridget: That is not out at sea.

Bridget: Sea is a demanding profession, and it’s a really important profession for how all of us live our lives.

Bridget: I think it’s important for our readers and listeners today that 90% of all that is consumed, as us around the globe, comes across water.

Bridget: I didn’t appreciate that prior to this.

Bridget: And it is our seafarers who go and leave their families for months at a time to make that happen for us.

Bridget: And a lot of things are in play as to why it’s been a bit more of a challenge on the staffing.

Bridget: So we are very motivated both as a company and as an industry on sorting this out.

Bridget: And so, you know, with that, you know, the more proficient, the more retention, the more proficient the individual is at their job, and just the more reliable operation itself will be at hand.

Bridget: So we branded it Voyage Loyalty, and within that, you can earn the loyalty currency that we’ve branded Sea Stars for a variety of either activities or outcomes that we appropriately market to our seafarers so that they are aware of them and can act accordingly to make them happen for themselves.

Bridget: And then of course, as they earn the currency, they are redeemable for a variety of products that again, we find through research are relevant to our seafarers.

Charlie: Nice.

Charlie: And what kind of activities are those Rory?

Charlie: And what kind of things can they actually get?

Charlie: People are always really interested in the kind of the details of the program.

Charlie: So what sort of things do they need to do?

Charlie: And what sort of benefits and rewards can they then claim?

Rory: Yeah, so it’s interesting because we’re really lucky that we’re building on a platform, which is called Ship Shore.

Rory: And it’s essentially the ERP platform for V.Group.

Rory: It’s how we manage all the vessels and all of the seafarers have their details in there.

Rory: And then they have their own app, which they can basically manage their careers through.

Rory: And so the loyalty platform is within the app as well.

Rory: So it’s easy for them to get to and participate in the program through.

Rory: But essentially, all of our activities are related to how they interact with us.

Rory: So are they rejoining on time?

Rory: Are they completing their kind of professional development training?

Rory: So they develop in their own careers?

Rory: Are they managing our vessels efficiently, safely?

Rory: And then every time that they have an anniversary, then they’ll also get a reward as well.

Rory: And then we also partnered with our in-house catering company.

Rory: They provide the catering on board as well.

Rory: And so there’s things like stock management and inventory management.

Rory: So just, I mean, these are not like crazy things to think about.

Rory: They’re very basic, but they need to be done repeatedly and diligently.

Rory: And it’s a great method for us to get that done by incentivizing it and engaging those seafarers along the way as well.

Charlie: It’s such a cool application of loyalty principles to an entirely different set of business and audience challenges.

Charlie: I love the thought of it.

Charlie: I mean, it seems crazy, given what you’ve just said to ask this question, but what sets it apart in your mind from all the other programs that are out there?

Charlie: And what do you think other programs should learn from Voyage Loyalty and your sort of unique approach?

Bridget: Well, I’d love to answer this, Charlie.

Bridget: I would offer to you, given my background in this extensively, the one thing that I think sets us apart is the following.

Bridget: V is a well-established leader in the global maritime services industry, and it’s just consistent with the position they have taken to be the first to launch a program of this kind to seafarers.

Bridget: So, you know, terrific, you know, again, data point to V’s position in the marketplace.

Bridget: What distinguishes this program is some of it actually extends to family members, because as we’ve talked about, you know, our seafarers are separated from their families for an extended period of time, and with that, it’s really incumbent on us to ensure this program can do things that care for the family members as well.

Bridget: It also has active participation by ship owners.

Bridget: We have novel partnerships and more to come.

Bridget: It is truly, truly global.

Bridget: I mean, this is what I love about global maritime.

Bridget: It is, across this great planet we call Earth, and part of me, and it’s CEO supported.

Bridget: So those are the key points of distinction I would offer.

Bridget: Then things that we’ve learned is, it’s really what you can find to be true, true, true, true, true.

Bridget: If you have a loyalty scheme that’s based on travel, you have a consumer or based on retail, you have a consumer or QSRs.

Bridget: We’ve talked about, or if you even have a B2B scheme, here’s an application essentially from a business to an employee or a staff member.

Bridget: All these principles that you see, I can see so clear on a B2C, absolutely apply here on business to staff.

Bridget: As long as you create something that’s relevant and easy to participate in, and easy and straightforward to realize the value, and importantly, create a community inclusiveness and a sense of emotional connection, all of these things can happen regardless of the application of B2C, B2B or business to staff.

Bridget: So that’s what I really love to have learned in live action here with this program.

Charlie: Well, it can’t have been easy.

Charlie: I’m sure there’s been some real sort of highs and lows of developing it, launching it and then running it.

Charlie: I don’t know if you’ve got any you can share with our listeners along with any sort of top tips that you think they should take out if they’re considering doing something as wild as taking loyalty marketing and applying it in this way.

Bridget: Yes, certainly.

Bridget: So let me start and I’ll ask Rory to build upon it.

Bridget: You know, the highs have been the overwhelming success of how many eligible seafarers have chosen to participate.

Bridget: I think we’re well in excess of over 90% participating in this program and realizing value from this program.

Bridget: We’ve also seen some very early returns on impacting positively select outcomes and retention.

Bridget: So very pleased on the very high water marks that we have set.

Bridget: We are seeing that in the data.

Bridget: So very pleased.

Bridget: And on the lows, you know, I think not unique to this at all, Charlie.

Bridget: I suspect you may have heard it from others you’ve interviewed.

Bridget: You know, a lot of times, you have key enablers that may end up pacing your speed to market.

Bridget: And we’re no different.

Bridget: You know, we’ve got certain constraints within the company where there’s more demand to supply.

Bridget: And sometimes we just would like to go faster and we aren’t able to.

Bridget: And then we sort through that by doing other things for the seafarers in the meantime, whether or not subject to those constraints.

Bridget: But that would be the one one thing I would point out is kind of sort of below.

Rory: Yeah.

Charlie: Well, I think flexibility is so key, isn’t it?

Charlie: And loyalty programs of this nature, especially, I imagine, touch so many parts of the business that it’s not as simple as, oh, we’ll just do it and make it happen.

Charlie: What about you, Rory?

Charlie: What would you add to that as your sort of journeys of the highs and lows since launching the program?

Rory: Yeah, I mean, it’s fair to say the lows haven’t been so low because we’ve been under the kind of guidance and stewardship of Bridget, you know, who’s kept things again in perspective and brought such a, you know, valuable experience from a career so far.

Rory: So, you know, that’s been, it’s not been too low.

Rory: But the highs have, I think, have been just seeing the community of Seafarers come together in a way that I’ve never seen.

Rory: Whilst I’ve been at V.Group and, you know, we’ve invested in bringing that community to life through, you know, a social media page on Facebook.

Rory: And, and it’s just fantastic to see how they’ve been engaging and really, and really taking the bull by the horns.

Rory: And I think it, you know, it’s just been a lot of fun to see that.

Charlie: And we’re going to cut some of those images into the episode, actually.

Charlie: So do keep an eye out for them, everyone, because there are some fantastic shots that Seafarers have shared and the program in action as part of it.

Charlie: And it does, it really brings it to life, doesn’t it?

Charlie: The kind of the joy of what you’re doing.

Charlie: And then you see on their faces, you’re like, wow, there they are.

Charlie: They’re really using it.

Charlie: And I think that’s one of the trends we’ve seen actually in the whole industry, actually, that’s bringing the program to life and that community and that activation.

Charlie: Bridget, what are the sort of trends have you seen in the loyalty industry that you must be thinking about for this program?

Charlie: What are the big things standing out to you at the moment?

Paula: What do consumers really expect from loyalty programs?

Paula: Before today’s show, I want to highlight customer loyalty predictions 2025 and beyond.

Paula: A practical road map from Comark for loyalty professionals like you, looking to build lasting customer relationships worldwide.

Paula: Based on a study across 15 countries and 4 continents, it reveals key trends shaping the near future of loyalty, including AI and sustainability.

Paula: To learn more and download this free report, visit comark.com.

Bridget: So, I would like to start with that which I find are more timeless than trends, and that is, you can’t cheat the need to always be relevant, be clear, be simple with the value proposition.

Bridget: It’s got to be easy to participate, easy to realize the value, and measurement, measurement, measurement.

Bridget: You need to be wherever the customer wants to consume their content, so on the channel, and then you can never ever give up on being emotionally connected to your customers.

Bridget: So, that is a foundation for all brands and wanting to be successful, but really to kind of maintain and be relevant and being viable ongoing on trends, and there’s a couple that I’m excited about to keep watching, are this.

Bridget: First, what I’m finding is there is an unprecedented demand, Charlie, for premium experiences.

Bridget: I mean, just we’re in a whole different era in my experiences on what consumers are wanting, demanding, and where the loyalty schemes have to sort themselves out, or how they’re going to amplify that.

Bridget: How is the loyalty scheme a part of that, where the customer seems prepared to pay in cold hard cash?

Bridget: How is the loyalty scheme maintaining its relevance and elevating the brand’s proposition to the customers in this whole new era that I find exciting to observe and participate in?

Bridget: Then the second thing we talked about at the outset, why I’m so excited about The Alchemist, about that which is most valued and important to you is right in front of you.

Bridget: That customer that you have today, what about that next-generation within that customer, that cross-generational?

Bridget: How is it that you can take customer you have today and within the family, ensure that you’re relevant and that you are the top choice for the children and other family members accordingly?

Bridget: That I’m super excited about as a trend within the space.

Bridget: That’s the customer piece of it.

Bridget: What I’m also seeing internally in trends, very excited about, first and foremost, seeing that loyalty programs themselves are being elevated within the company in terms of profile and priority.

Bridget: That to me is just super, super, super exciting.

Bridget: I am pro-loyalty program assets.

Bridget: I think they have so much value to endlessly provide to a brand, to partners and customers, and really glad to see this elevation.

Bridget: Secondly, data analytics are only getting better, you know, powered by AI, powered by large language models.

Bridget: And so that really then gives very curious people a set of tools like never before.

Bridget: And what then happens is that the business people are better enabled to market more one-to-one or one-to-many versus what has been kind of a standard for a long time, which is one-to-all.

Bridget: So that I’m super excited about as a trend.

Bridget: And then the third thing that I’m observing is some brands recognize they have to re-platform.

Bridget: And that’s no small decision within any company that you say, okay, what I have today isn’t working, it works okay, but it’s not reflective of where the trends are going.

Bridget: So I’m seeing brands re-platform really centered around experiences to ensure that while the customer still wants to participate with this brand’s core product, they’re seeking out more from the brand that’s maybe tangential or maybe incongruent to the brand, but they have expectation of the brand to deliver these experiences to them.

Bridget: So, you know, for example, maybe you’re a part of a retail program and the customer’s like, well, hey, actually, I’m going to throw out the first pitch at a notable baseball game in the United States and I want to realize that opportunity through my relationship with you.

Bridget: So make it happen.

Bridget: So that, I think, is something I’m excited about to observe and see where it goes.

Bridget: But I do want to put a plug in for something, you know, I haven’t seen.

Bridget: And ideally, what we can see is this.

Bridget: We are spoiled rotten by a lot of really tech-centered brands.

Bridget: And in this case, I want to highlight something Netflix says that I love as a consumer of Netflix.

Bridget: Any time I start something streaming on Netflix, so let’s just say I started on my television, and then I don’t finish it, maybe a few days later, I find myself on an airplane.

Bridget: And I have a bit of time.

Bridget: I’m going to get my iPad out and my tablet, and I’m just going to pick up from where I left off and watch some more.

Bridget: And I still don’t finish it.

Bridget: And my next opportunity to do so, maybe I’m in the back of an Uber or a cab.

Bridget: So I pick up my mobile.

Bridget: In each instance, Netflix knows where I left off.

Bridget: And how about that for a brand to create that type of an experience for customers in terms of whenever the customer is having a conversation with the brand, that the brand’s never confused by where the customer left off, allowing both the customer and the brand to build upon versus starting over and repeating.

Bridget: So hopeful that becomes a trend by some of these loyalty schemes where I think it’s just an enormous creator of value for all involved in this one.

Charlie: I think that’s a really nice bar to set, actually.

Charlie: And it’s lovely the way you’ve taken loyalty marketing, applied it to seafaring.

Charlie: That’s actually taking kind of entertainment and comms principles and applying it to loyalty marketing.

Charlie: And I think we all need to think like that, don’t we?

Charlie: We all need to look out of our sector and go, what are the best of the best doing in this space?

Charlie: And how do I apply it?

Charlie: It sets the bar ever higher.

Charlie: And I look forward to seeing the representation of that in Voyage Loyalty next year, because I’m sure that’s a really easy thing to do.

Charlie: It’s a real challenge, isn’t it?

Charlie: And yeah, I think we’re all facing the opportunities and the challenges of technology.

Charlie: As that applies back to your program, and I’m probably a question for you, Rory.

Charlie: You know, we know that Voyage Loyalty has launched.

Charlie: We know it’s really key for your company.

Charlie: And it sounds like you’re addressing a lot of sort of different business, consumer and potentially operational challenges as well.

Charlie: How important does the business feel the program is?

Charlie: You know, how’s that side of things going, the internal stakeholders, as well as the sort of business and the seafaring and consumer side of things?

Rory: Yeah, I mean, I think it’s a very novel concept for a lot of people.

Rory: And I think that has upsides and downsides, you know.

Rory: We’re given definitely a bit of leeway and definitely everyone thinks it’s a great idea and they want it to succeed, right?

Rory: So we have a lot of positive support.

Rory: I can tell you this, the easiest thing I’ve ever worked on when I’m trying to convince the internal stakeholders to get their backing.

Rory: So that’s great.

Rory: But of course, it does require some explaining.

Rory: But I think a lot of people do see the big picture.

Rory: And, you know, just adding on to the fact that, you know, 90% of our goods come via the sea and the seafarers are responsible for that.

Rory: 60% of the cost of running a vessel is the crew themselves, right?

Rory: And their wages and the benefits that they have.

Rory: And you don’t really want to be messing around with that.

Rory: The more that you can retain the best people for that price, the better that your vessel is going to operate.

Rory: And the more that our ship owners and our customers are going to please their customers as well, right?

Rory: So everyone sees the big picture.

Rory: And even though we’re early days, I do have a lot of faith that in the next couple of years, it’s going to be a really fundamental part of the overall product.

Charlie: That’s fantastic.

Charlie: Lovely to see loyalty at the kind of the forefront like that.

Charlie: And you’ve talked a lot about success metrics and engagement metrics.

Charlie: How do you actually measure the success of a program like this?

Charlie: What sort of KPIs are you looking at?

Rory: Yeah.

Rory: So Bridget mentioned the primarily one, or the primary one for our first year was registration, right?

Rory: And an uptake and that’s been fantastic.

Rory: It’s, as Bridget mentioned, it’s over 90 percent, which has actually exceeded the target that we had, far exceeded my expectations, which is awesome.

Rory: Then we have redemption rate as well, I think is the next most important one.

Rory: And then we can also look at which of the activities are being completed as well.

Rory: And that also then directs us to how we inform the seafarers about which activities are there to be performed or completed, how much they can get out of it by completing these activities.

Rory: So and then in addition to that, like monthly active users as well and participation in our social media groups as well.

Charlie: So a really broad sort of range of behavioural metrics there and impact metrics, which is really nice to see.

Charlie: What about communicating with those seafarers?

Charlie: So in the course of the interview, we’ve talked a little bit about social media.

Charlie: Obviously, there’s an app.

Charlie: How do you actually kind of get people on board?

Charlie: How do you talk to them internally about the programme?

Rory: So we have, well, we’re not sure of channels.

Rory: That’s one of the benefits of doing an internal programme, right?

Rory: So we have, as you mentioned, we’ve got social media, which is trying to create a different space to what exists already, which is primarily email.

Rory: Then we also have SMS and we have app notifications as well.

Rory: We can send different types of messages through those.

Rory: Then we also have officers’ conferences where the seafarers come to do skills development.

Rory: We have family events that we participate in.

Rory: The seafarers come via the office, so there’s posters.

Rory: We’re communicating with the vessels themselves and the captains on board so that the captains can relay the message to their staff on board to say, hey, you should participate in this program.

Rory: So like I say, we’re not short of channels.

Rory: We’re actually really spoiled for channels.

Rory: And that’s definitely one of the reasons that we’ve got a really good engagement rate.

Rory: That’s so cool.

Charlie: I bet there aren’t many programs in the world that can go, oh yes, I’ve got the sea captains telling everyone about my program and engaging people.

Charlie: And I’m now imagining ship announcements and walking the corridors of power.

Charlie: And that’s fantastic.

Charlie: What about you, Bridget, when you think about your updates in the Loyalty?

Charlie: I’m sure you’re not getting those from the sea captains.

Charlie: I’m sure that’s more you sharing information with them.

Charlie: But where do you get your updates on the loyalty industry?

Charlie: And what sort of sources do you think our listeners should be looking at?

Charlie: Obviously, as well as Loyalty TV and the podcast.

Bridget: What places do you like?

Bridget: So I take a very broad approach on just about anything I invest in to learn.

Bridget: And loyalty programs are no different.

Bridget: And so the one thing I want to just say about an admiration I have about American Airlines and what happened in 1981 that I don’t know if we really stop and reflect on as much is American created the Advantage program and then within that, an industry on top of an industry.

Bridget: And then within that came all kinds of players, right?

Bridget: You know, other companies like hotels and cars and banks all created their own rewards program jobs.

Bridget: And then we saw, you know, journalists and bloggers jobs.

Bridget: We’ve got technology consultancies, many, many, many types of sectors themselves got involved in loyalty, including media like loyalty TV.

Bridget: So because of that, I take a very, very broad approach on how I keep current.

Bridget: So I think about, you know, what are the suppliers out there themselves sharing?

Bridget: So I am a big geek for listening to earnings calls to see how they’re calling these things out.

Bridget: So any sort of conferences that they might be participating in.

Bridget: I also look for what are loyalty tech providers saying?

Bridget: You know, there’s no shortage of people publishing white papers.

Bridget: So they’re out there for the taking, and that’s on us to go and find them and consume them.

Bridget: And then consultancies are also a rich reservoir of up-to-date information too.

Bridget: So my encouragement to anybody, given what happened on one day many decades ago, an airline said, let’s create this program, and then voila, we see it here today many years later, on a podcast that’s also now rendered on a television screen talking about something that goes on at sea, from business to seafarers.

Bridget: I would encourage everyone, take a broad view.

Bridget: Don’t be narrow in your consumption of updates and trends, because there’s applications.

Bridget: If this podcast doesn’t really underscore this, then we have missed the mark on the application of something that you didn’t think was possible, absolutely rendering the types of human behavior and outcomes that we had desired through a loyalty scheme.

Bridget: So I would encourage broad consumption of content to keep current.

Charlie: That’s fantastic and a really lovely kind of thing.

Charlie: I take very much the same approach, actually.

Charlie: I think you need to look within loyalty, but you also need to look without loyalty.

Charlie: You need to look at what’s happening in marketing and technology and consumer behavior and trends.

Charlie: I think that’s so key, because a brilliant idea can come from anywhere.

Bridget: That’s right.

Charlie: Have you seen any particularly brilliant ideas or innovations or anything you particularly admire recently that you think our listeners should go and check out?

Rory: Yeah, I’m not sure.

Rory: I’m not sure about that one.

Rory: I mean, it happens.

Rory: I can’t really put my finger on anything there, Charlie, to be honest with you.

Rory: It’s one of those random things that happens at any time of the day.

Rory: So, yeah, I probably can’t answer that one for you, Charlie.

Charlie: No, that’s fine.

Charlie: It’s one of those things where you put people on the spot and you’re like, Oh, can you think of anything?

Charlie: And I can guarantee you, as soon as we start recording, you’re going to go like, Oh, here’s the perfect answer and the thing I could have seen.

Charlie: So, no, I think we all share that.

Charlie: Is there anything else at this point that you think we should share with our listeners?

Charlie: Anything particular about the program or your audience or how you run it or any way you’d like to direct them to go and check it out?

Charlie: Or is there anything to follow up in that space as we move to the close of our recording?

Rory: Yeah.

Rory: Well, I think just to say, we’ve now taken this program global.

Rory: So I’ve listened to Let’s Talk Loyalty and you’ve got so many fantastic brands who are here and speaking and listening.

Rory: And if there are any of the brands and people who represent those brands who are interested in seafarers as consumers, then we’re very open to speaking about potential partnerships or ways that we can advertise your products or services.

Charlie: Fantastic.

Charlie: So if you want the sea captains to be talking about you globally to brilliant global seafarer audiences, do please get in touch.

Charlie: I think that’s a lovely call to action to end up on things.

Charlie: And I’m sure people are going to come out of this episode with questions, not the least of which is, wow, how on earth does that program work or how on earth, what is a seafarer?

Charlie: How should people get in touch with the pair of you?

Charlie: What’s the best way for them to do that?

Charlie: I’ll ask Rory the question first and then move on to you, Bridget.

Rory: Well, you can connect with me on LinkedIn.

Rory: It’s my goal this year to be much better on LinkedIn, so I’m going to be there.

Rory: So you can connect with me on LinkedIn.

Charlie: And we’ll make sure we put your bio in the notes.

Charlie: How about you, Bridget?

Bridget: Yeah, the same as well.

Bridget: I’m a bit more involved in LinkedIn than Rory.

Bridget: And it’s just easy, easy one place to go and find the contact information.

Bridget: But I do want to say one thing about this as we close out.

Bridget: I think given what we as people and how we consume and that we’ve all gotten spoiled, rotten on sitting on a couch, laptop and hand or mobile device and hit a couple of clicks, and something could be at our doorstep in hours, maybe a day or two, it’s really enabled by seafarers.

Bridget: So my encouragement is hug a seafarer and say thank you.

Charlie: Find one first through the program and then hug them, I think would be great.

Charlie: Yeah, I think that’s lovely advice.

Charlie: I had no idea so much of what we consume has come by ship.

Charlie: So that’s absolutely phenomenal.

Charlie: I feel like I’ve learned a life insight as well as a loyalty insight.

Charlie: Rory, I am going to go and check out those poems as well, because you’ve reminded me how much I used to love IF.

Charlie: And I’m thinking, oh gosh, if I can have a quote now to end the episode, that would be perfect.

Charlie: But I’m going to have to go and look it up, because unfortunately, I don’t know Rudyard Kipling inside out.

Charlie: So all that’s left for me to say is thank you both so much and congratulations on applying loyalty marketing to such an interesting sector.

Charlie: And thank you so much for sharing with all our listeners all about Voyage Loyalty.

Charlie: It’s been a really, really fascinating episode.

Charlie: So I think that’s all that’s left is for me to say goodbye.

Charlie: And thank you from Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV.

Bridget: Thank you and thanks on our end too.

Rory: Yeah, it’s been a pleasure.

Rory: Thank you.

Paula: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty.

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