Paula: Welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty, an industry podcast for loyalty marketing professionals.
Paula: I’m your host, Paula Thomas, and if you work in loyalty marketing, join me every week to learn the latest ideas from loyalty specialists around the world.
Paula: So today, I am delighted to be recording quite a different version of Let’s Talk Loyalty.
Paula: As you know, I’m passionate about global voices of loyalty and across every different type of sector.
Paula: So, you know, we’ve talked about telco loyalty, we’ve talked about lots of different verticals.
Paula: But today, actually, we’re going back to a real core passion of mine, and some areas, actually, that I’ve spent a lot of time professionally in, and that’s the world of airline loyalty.
Paula: So I myself worked with British Airways for about five years out here in the Middle East, and particularly always loved watching the work of the Executive Club.
Paula: So today, I am absolutely thrilled that I am going to be chatting to Niall Rooney, who is the Manager for Loyalty at British Airways, and essentially is responsible for the Executive Club and all of the loyalty activity within British Airways.
Paula: So it’s going to be a super exciting conversation.
Paula: And as well as the listeners on Let’s Talk Loyalty, we’re actually going to be working with a partner website as well, which is simpleflying.com.
Paula: So if anyone hasn’t seen that website, it’s absolutely phenomenal.
Paula: If you’re interested in airline news, up-to-date information, and that again is a global website with a really fascinating insight into what’s happening day to day in this fabulously exciting industry.
Paula: So we’re going to get into a conversation about this.
Paula: So I’m going to start first of all by welcoming Niall Rooney to Let’s Talk Loyalty.
Niall: Good morning.
Niall: How are you?
Paula: It’s great to talk to you, Niall.
Paula: How are you doing?
Niall: Thanks.
Paula: Great, great.
Paula: Now, my listeners are going to think I’m biased first of all, Niall, because I had somebody else from Dublin last week on the show.
Paula: Pure coincidence.
Paula: And I will definitely say we’re trying to be very global.
Paula: And yet I still feel so happy when I have a fellow Irishman on the line.
Paula: So that’s brilliant.
Paula: So in terms of your credentials, actually, Niall, I know you’ve done, I think, about 12 years in the airline industry overall, with a number of different airlines, and seven years now with British Airways.
Paula: Am I right?
Niall: Yeah, that’s correct.
Niall: So I started, I suppose, born and raised in Dublin, as you know, and the accent will give it away.
Niall: But I then moved to France when I was 18 and lived there for six years, went to uni there, and then moved to the UK then, and started my career in airlines.
Niall: So worked in Ryanair for three and a half years, then moved up to Leeds, worked for Jet Two, then came back down south and I’ve been working for, started with BMI actually, and then when BMI was acquired, I moved over to BA and have been there since.
Paula: Amazing, amazing.
Paula: And yes, I mean, such diverse airlines to work for.
Paula: And again, from our home city, Ryanair is a very different style of airline.
Paula: I can’t imagine them ever doing anything in the loyalty space, but we’ll wait and see.
Paula: I know they’ve got various things going on, but British Airways, certainly when I worked with the airline, had the tagline of the world’s favorite airline.
Paula: I know that’s not used as part of the branding anymore, but certainly for me on a personal level, it’s still something that I really admire.
Paula: And I think the whole loyalty industry really dates back to airline loyalty because the stakes were so high.
Paula: So when we get into talking about this, I think, as you know, I tend to start with the loyalty statistic because I want listeners and that’s both on the aviation side and just within the loyalty industry.
Paula: I love to get a sense of what is it about loyalty that really impresses you, Niall?
Niall: Yeah, and I suppose it’s worth pointing that I’m quite new to the loyalty area.
Niall: So I started this role in March.
Niall: And previous to that, my background was commercial.
Niall: So I worked in sales and marketing in Ryanair initially, then moved on to ancillaries.
Niall: I was doing ancillaries for several years through a couple of airlines, and then moved into revenue management in BA, and then I moved over to the customer directorate, which is very different.
Niall: I suppose beforehand, it was all about generating revenue, and then the customer directorate was about spending it on the customer experience.
Niall: I managed ground experience.
Niall: A lot of that was to do with lounges, which are obviously a key attribute, which is appreciated by our loyal customers, because it’s not just those flying in premium cabins, but also those with gold and silver cards within BA.
Niall: So I suppose that I had to change my mindset a lot, and then I moved from ground experience into loyalty, which is still within the customer directorate, but it also has a huge commercial focus.
Niall: We won’t give the stats within BA, but you can imagine a large proportion of our customers are our members, and the revenue that comes from that proportion over indexes in comparison to the volume, because they tend to spend more, which is a key KPI virus, of course.
Paula: Yeah, absolutely.
Paula: And I love that, Niall, because at the end of the day, we are all in business, and again, nobody, we can’t obviously talk about detailed figures, but at the end of the day, I’ve always loved about loyalty, that it is about really having the right relationships with the right people and making sure that they feel that.
Paula: So yes, Ancillaries is very commercial, and we all love that in terms of earning, but actually let’s have that mindset of giving back and looking after them.
Paula: So, it’s probably a much nicer place to be for you on the airline side.
Paula: Is that how it feels?
Niall: Yeah, absolutely.
Niall: I mean, I’ll be perfectly honest, when I was in Ancillaries, the first thing I saw was, Oh, I can’t believe you give these things away to gold and silver card holders.
Niall: Do you know how much I could sell it for?
Niall: Now, obviously, I’m in the other camp, but you still have to demonstrate that return.
Niall: And as you say, it’s a business.
Niall: So if we want to, anything we give away in brackets is, or in quotes, is, we have to demonstrate a return on it.
Niall: And loyalty does do that.
Niall: It’s quite easy to demonstrate a correlation between the investment made and then the return that you receive.
Niall: But there is a requirement of belief there as well, that if you treat customer as well and if you give them benefits, et cetera, that they will be loyal.
Paula: Absolutely.
Paula: I’d love to ask Niall specifically about, I suppose, trends in loyalty.
Paula: So the kind of things that are happening again, you’ve got years of experience.
Paula: I’m sure there’s massive evolution over that period of time.
Paula: So what kind of trends are you seeing at the moment in airline loyalty?
Niall: Yeah, I suppose we did a piece of work recently with an innovation agency called HAPN, looking at some of the things we should be doing or something we should be moving towards.
Niall: And I suppose it’s quite well known within British Airways and with other airlines, what other airlines are doing.
Niall: It comes to front of mind.
Niall: What we did with the agency and the reason for going out to the agency was to look at what else is out there.
Niall: And what could we then pull into our programme or for future developments.
Niall: And I think there’s a few key trends and there’s a few people who I think are doing this really well.
Niall: And I’d say more of it’s outside of the airline industry rather than inside.
Niall: So I think one trend is simplicity.
Niall: The airline programmes have been around a long time and they have developed complexity over that time.
Niall: So it’s not particularly straightforward.
Niall: So I think we can learn from others.
Niall: Boots, for example, is very straightforward in terms of how you earn.
Niall: But that’s been around quite a while.
Niall: But I think simplicity is one of its strengths.
Niall: Not that I go there that often, but Sephora has a simple tier structure with three tiers.
Niall: I think the lifestyle integration is really good as well.
Niall: And I think this is where we have a real strength.
Niall: So it’s not just about your flying and your travels, but also integrating your lifestyle into it.
Niall: So the credit cards that we have in several different countries are very, very powerful.
Niall: The fact that in your daily life, you can earn avios, and that can then contribute to you coming back to BA is very, very powerful.
Niall: And also we have the e-store where you can earn avios.
Niall: So I spent 100 quid and gap at the weekend, and they had an offer of 20 avios per pound, which is incredible.
Niall: But almost 2,000 avios.
Niall: And I mean, that can be 10 pounds, 2 times 10 pounds if you knock it off a short haul flight.
Niall: So that’s really, really powerful.
Niall: It’s like 20 pounds back for 100 pounds that you’re going to spend anyway.
Niall: So I think we do that really well.
Niall: Surprise and delight, we’re getting a lot better at.
Niall: We have, so we integrate with the crew, for example.
Niall: OK, so that they can welcome.
Niall: So they have the information about about members on board and they can welcome back, whether the gold card holders, silver card holders, etc.
Niall: I think someone who’s doing that really well outside is is Pret a Manger, where they often surprise and delight with a with a free coffee if you’re a regular.
Paula: So Niall, one of my favorite questions again, just from an education perspective for listeners, is really to get, you know, a key statistic in terms of what you love about loyalty or what’s going on in loyalty that you’ve learned.
Paula: So tell me, what is your favorite loyalty statistic?
Niall: Yes, so it’s a really good question.
Niall: And I have a lot to think about, I suppose, a lot of a lot of figures out there.
Niall: There is an idea works company do a report every year.
Niall: They do a few reports on ancillary revenue and loyalty, but they do an annual reward seat availability survey where they look at the the the as it says, the availability of reward seats.
Niall: And we’re very proud this year because the VA had the highest increase of reward availability.
Niall: It increased by 17.9 points to 80 percent, which is fantastic progress.
Niall: And it’s testament to all the work that’s been happening over the last couple of years.
Niall: Because everyone says that in all kinds of programs, it’s relatively easy to accumulate points and avios in our case.
Niall: But people want to be able to spend them.
Niall: And we’ve increased the ways that people can spend them.
Niall: So we’ve increased a lot of availability.
Niall: And it’s good that the report has shown that.
Niall: And again, that’s investment.
Niall: We have a great relationship with our Revenue Management Department.
Niall: Because they are true believers in loyalty.
Niall: They see when people fly with us continuously, and then they get the reward, the reward flights that they deserve, that they then come back for more.
Niall: And that’s really, really powerful.
Paula: Yeah.
Niall: And a lot of our focus in the short to medium term is increasing availability.
Niall: So at the and increasing the ways that you can pay for that you can pay for other products using Avios as well.
Niall: So for example, when we launched buy on board on short haul, we opened the opportunity for people to pay with Avios as well as with their credit card.
Niall: So it gives people it gives people options.
Niall: I mentioned earlier on a short haul flight you can you can for 1000 Avios, you can knock 10 pound off your flight.
Niall: Now that’s if you some of the purists out there are the hobbyists will know that that’s really good value.
Niall: And we have reward flight saver, which is a is a product which for usually around 35 pounds and 9000 Avios on a short haul flight.
Niall: You’re you’re you’re you’re able to get a short haul flight.
Niall: But we’ve increased the opportunities there.
Niall: So we’ve increased the amount of Avios, but brought the brought the price down to one pound.
Niall: Again, the purists would see that the best value per Avios is to take the 35 pound option.
Niall: But we’ve given the option to people because people have healthy balances and they’re happy to save 34 pound and pay one pound and pay a bit more Avios.
Niall: So so it’s basically putting putting options out there and to to to to allow people to use their use their Avios.
Paula: Wonderful.
Paula: And I love it’s actually music to my ears now because again, you know, in years gone by, it might have been, oh, yeah, no, we’ll give all of these rewards to people and they might never get the opportunity to use them.
Paula: But, you know, it’s fabulous to hear that that there is so much, you know, more availability so that if I have, you know, as you said, a healthy balance, there are loads of ways to use them.
Paula: So so good to hear the revenue management colleagues are on board and they’ve been completely bought into the whole industry.
Niall: And even touching on a previous role, you can now use your Avios to pay for pay for seating and baggage, which is which is fantastic.
Paula: Super.
Paula: Yeah.
Paula: And not all listeners might have heard the term Avios.
Paula: I can’t remember how long it’s been around.
Paula: But my understanding is Avios is the term used for the points currency, mainly because of the incredible number of airlines within the International Airline Group that British Airways is a part of.
Paula: Am I right?
Niall: Yes.
Niall: So Avios, excuse me for not explaining, it’s the currency which you collect when you book flights, when you buy products with BA.
Niall: But also, as I mentioned before, you use the credit card, you make purchases through the e-store.
Niall: That’s how you can earn Avios.
Niall: And then you can burn Avios, obviously through our reward flights.
Niall: And as I said, with our buy on board product on short haul and also through for ancillary products now, baggage and seating.
Paula: Absolutely.
Paula: And I did a little bit of work with Avios in Ireland.
Paula: I think I mentioned as well, Niall, and that was probably three or four years ago, when Aer Lingus became part of the International Airline Group.
Paula: So again, fabulous to see that that brand is really getting much more recognition.
Paula: And even what I loved at the time was, you know, all of the other airlines around the world.
Paula: So, you know, you mentioned Japan.
Paula: I know Iberia.
Paula: And again, you’ll know better than me.
Paula: There’s so many airlines that Avios are available to redeem seats on as well as British Airways itself.
Niall: Yeah.
Niall: So there’s obviously the airlines within our group.
Niall: So it’s a common currency across that.
Niall: So you can earn Avios across the other carriers when you book directly with them.
Niall: But also you earn Avios and tier points as well for your stages if you book with our One World partners.
Niall: And then there’s opportunities to redeem with them as well.
Niall: So the breadth is really astounding.
Paula: Yeah.
Paula: I mean, in terms of global power and impact, I mean, the Executive Club must be one of the biggest in the world.
Paula: Yes.
Niall: Again, we don’t divulge the stats, but the volumes are…
Niall: Yeah.
Niall: I suppose when you’re in a big company like this, you do see volumes and and whether it be passenger volumes, scale.
Niall: And with that comes complexity as well.
Niall: We’ve got a complex operation.
Niall: We’ve got members all over the world.
Niall: It’s not just about the benefits that are attributed to that when they fly, but there’s also an operation here.
Niall: We’ve got fulfillment.
Niall: We’ve got obviously customers getting in contact.
Niall: We’re dealing with several jurisdictions.
Niall: Laws can change from one to another.
Niall: So it’s a complex operation.
Paula: Absolutely.
Paula: And again, I remember the mindset again in my own British Airways days is that it’s a currency.
Paula: It’s like a bank balance.
Paula: And that’s how you have to protect your customers’ assets.
Paula: So certainly, as I can imagine, the logistics around delivering that on a global scale.
Niall: Oh, absolutely.
Niall: And as you say, it is a currency.
Niall: And that then opens up to areas such as fraud, for example, which obviously we have a department internally who deals with that.
Niall: But it’s just it’s valuable.
Niall: It’s very, very valuable.
Niall: So it can be used in several different ways.
Paula: Absolutely.
Paula: So I love that statistic then Niall, in terms of the increase focused on redemption.
Paula: It gives me a lot of joy to hear that the industry and the whole airline has bought into all of that.
Paula: So tell us then what else is happening in the executive club at the moment?
Niall: Yeah, I suppose on the short to medium term, there’s a lot happening in the redemption space.
Niall: I mean, that’s a key focus area.
Niall: That’s what customers say that they want is they’re able to earn avias.
Niall: They want to be able to burn in more and more ways.
Niall: And we’ve made great progress in that space recently.
Niall: We’ve got a in the longer term, I suppose it’s not necessarily as exciting, but there’s a lot of a lot of technology and is going on platform.
Niall: So there’s a loyalty platform for the across the group.
Niall: Across IAG group, which is is being developed.
Niall: And that will open the gate then for for other products that will be able to be able to launch across carrier.
Niall: Then in terms of the benefits that customers and members appreciate, there’s a lot going on in the lounge space.
Niall: So that touches on my previous role, which was a lot of focus on lounge development.
Niall: So last week, or just this weekend, actually, we opened a brand new lounge in Geneva.
Paula: Lovely.
Niall: And that, they take quite a while to, between analyzing a requirement for a lounge and actually opening the front door can take 18, 20 months.
Niall: So I started that process, but it was great to see that it delivered.
Niall: This week, as you can imagine, Geneva is a huge route for us.
Niall: And also there’s a lot of members around that route.
Niall: It’s a very high frequency route.
Niall: And it’s also a lovely mixture of business and leisure.
Niall: So it’s obviously an important financial hub, or linking to important financial hubs, but also the ski season there.
Niall: That’s when people like to redeem their avios.
Niall: And of course, after a long week on the slopes, they like to go in for a drink.
Niall: And the week before last, we opened a new lounge in Johannesburg as well.
Niall: And that’s absolutely fantastic.
Niall: Again, it’s another great route.
Niall: BA’s been flying there for years.
Niall: It’s a real historical link.
Niall: And they tend to be night flights.
Niall: So people like to go into the lounge, have a bite to eat, and then either have a bit more to eat on board or go to sleep because it’s an overnight flight.
Niall: And there’s a really, really good offering down there.
Paula: Fantastic.
Niall: So yeah, there’s a good bit of strategic stuff that’s going on as well.
Niall: Looking at the benefits that we have per tiers in the future, but it’s relatively early stages, and it’s not necessarily something we can go into a great amount of detail.
Niall: There’s a lot happening in the product areas.
Niall: So as I say, the lounges, but also on the ground in terms of meet and greet for some of our gold card holders, making sure that we’re optimized in terms of the check-in spaces.
Niall: We’ve changed the way we do group boarding recently as well to make it much more straightforward, and to make sure that the most loyal customers are getting the priority that they deserve and they expect.
Paula: Brilliant, brilliant.
Paula: And you’ve certainly mentioned two of my favorite countries there, Niall.
Paula: So Switzerland and South Africa, my goodness, you know, it’s all so glamorous.
Paula: We love it.
Paula: Brilliant, brilliant.
Paula: And to your point about obviously, you know, there is obviously so much always going on with a loyalty program of the scale that you manage.
Paula: So, you know, I’d love like in 12 months time to think that we could come back and sit down again and have a similar conversation and look at all of the latest executive club developments, just because I can imagine the sheer breadth of what you’re working on.
Paula: So super exciting to stay in touch with that long term, hopefully.
Niall: Absolutely.
Niall: It could be like a little end of year review we could have.
Paula: There you go.
Paula: We’re just we’re just talk loyalty all the time.
Paula: Brilliant.
Paula: And I’d love to just talk about a few other areas, Niall.
Paula: What do you think, I suppose, are the unique selling points?
Paula: I loved what you said again earlier about going out and looking at other industries, for example.
Paula: And the airline industry, by its very nature, is super competitive.
Paula: So clearly a lot of focus goes on, you know, how could the executive club be, you know, a unique loyalty program that people really want to be a member of?
Paula: So tell us a bit about your USPs.
Niall: Yeah, I think the size of the program and that married up with the size of our network really gives a lot of depth to members, which they may not necessarily get with other carriers.
Niall: And the opportunities that come with that are in terms of the ability to earn ABIOS and also earn their tier points, because they can do so much of their flying with us, not to be complacent, because it’s extremely competitive.
Niall: So we keep a constant eye on the competition to make sure that we’re delivering.
Niall: So I think that depth gives people the opportunity to earn both status and ABIOS, but also gives great opportunities in terms of spending as well.
Niall: So we get a lot of people who, week in, week out, they’re flying with us on business.
Niall: And then their family holiday comes, and you’re telling your partner and kids, you’re able to show, this is the holiday we’re getting.
Niall: You know the way you don’t see me every couple of weeks because I’m traveling, but here’s some of the benefit that you can share with the family.
Niall: So the depth there really helps with that.
Niall: And the benefits of the program are very rich.
Niall: You know, if you get to silver status, for example, which requires 600 tier points, you have access to our business class lounges whenever you fly, regardless of what cabin you’re flying in.
Niall: So that regular loyalty is really rewarded.
Niall: And then if you get to gold status, which is 1500 tier points, which is a big jump from silver.
Niall: Don’t get me wrong.
Paula: That’s why it’s called gold.
Niall: And we have in Heathrow, we have what we call the first lounge, which is reserved exclusively for gold card holders.
Niall: And to access that, we have the first wing, which is a dedicated check-in and security area for gold card holders.
Niall: And it leads directly into the lounge in T5.
Niall: And that’s an amazing time saver for gold card holders.
Niall: Some really value…
Niall: Well, of course, most people value their time, but they really value their time.
Niall: And that really gives them an opportunity to go straight through and not have to waste time walking around the terminal.
Niall: So the product there is really excellent.
Niall: And then I suppose when they’re then going to the boarding gate, your loyalty is rewarded in terms of the priority you have when boarding the aircraft.
Niall: And again, that is a slick operation that we have.
Niall: It could be more consistent.
Niall: We can get our hands around it in Heathrow, and sometimes down route, it’s not necessary.
Niall: You don’t have the space for it.
Niall: So it’s not as easy to deliver.
Niall: But a huge amount of work is being done to make it as consistent as possible.
Niall: So they’re really, really, I think in terms of the program, it’s very rich.
Niall: And then in terms of the product you then have access to, which make up your whole Executive Club experience, I think it’s a rich program.
Paula: Brilliant.
Paula: And one, just on a practical note, Niall, do you still issue physical plastic cards to all your members?
Paula: Or is it all digital?
Paula: Or what way are you approaching that?
Niall: Yes, we deliver cards and bag tags to gold, silver and bronze card holders.
Niall: We are looking at it.
Niall: We haven’t released anything yet, but we are looking at it to see if we, because you can just use your app, for example, and your executive club status is on your boarding pass, whether that be a physical boarding pass or on your phone.
Niall: So it is something we are reviewing, but no news on that yet.
Paula: OK, great.
Paula: I want to watch and for our next conversation.
Paula: Great.
Paula: So just the last couple of questions then, I suppose.
Paula: Just the overall emotional piece.
Paula: I loved what you talked about there in terms of the family.
Paula: And I can only imagine people who fly so extensively to bring the family on a holiday as a reward.
Paula: And for everyone to enjoy that together is lovely.
Paula: And one of the things that pretty much everyone that we’ve talked to on the show has said is, loyalty is moving beyond transactions.
Paula: And with the best will in the world, any points currency is purely a transaction.
Paula: That’s the reality.
Paula: So it really sounds like there’s a lot of focus on what are the emotional benefits of being a member with the executive club.
Paula: So is that fair to say?
Paula: Are you focused on the emotional side as well?
Niall: Oh, absolutely.
Niall: And I suppose I was even taken aback by how status has a link to people’s emotion.
Niall: People are very proud of the, and rightly so, but I was surprised to what extent people are so proud of the status that they achieve.
Niall: We recognize it’s not easy.
Niall: We want people to be loyal.
Niall: And when they do that, when they achieve that, they’re very proud to show their card, display their card, whether it’s on their app or it’s on their bag tag, etc.
Niall: And their expectations go with that, which is absolutely right.
Niall: They’re loyal customers.
Niall: They know our products sometimes better than ourselves.
Niall: And, yeah, they have a real emotional link.
Niall: Again, the program’s been around 24 years, so a lot of people have been…
Niall: That can represent a big part of people’s careers.
Niall: And I touched on families there as well.
Niall: Some people, if you come from one country and, I don’t know, your parents come from another, it’s part of your identity.
Niall: You’re growing up traveling.
Niall: And a lot of that happens on VEA, thankfully.
Niall: And that’s part of their identity.
Niall: We have children who are silver card holders, gold card holders.
Niall: It’s absolutely incredible.
Niall: And it’s important that we make sure that they’re valued as part of that, because they’re going to be traveling once they get to a later stage in life.
Niall: They’re going to be traveling as well.
Niall: And they have more options than ever.
Niall: So if we can plant the seeds of that kind of positiveness early on, it goes a long way.
Paula: And there’s very few industries, clearly, that can really drive lifelong loyalty the way an airline can.
Paula: And I had never thought about children as silver card holders.
Paula: I can imagine the amount of thinking that that separately requires in terms of just general segmentation and an approach and mindset to really take care of their very unique needs.
Niall: Yes.
Niall: Oh, yeah, yeah.
Niall: And they grow up with high expectations, so we need to continuously deliver on that.
Paula: To live up to that.
Paula: Brilliant.
Paula: Brilliant.
Paula: So the last one then from my side, Niall, is really to get a sense of how you stay up to date with what’s going on in what is perhaps one of the fastest moving industries.
Paula: Actually, that’s always what I loved about working with BA, just how much fun it was.
Paula: But that does mean change and there’s a lot going on.
Paula: So how do you stay up to date and educated, particularly given that you’re only, I think, now, you said six months in the loyalty industry?
Niall: Yeah, so I started in March, so I’m fairly new to loyalty.
Niall: And I suppose I consider myself relatively general, a generalist in terms of management.
Niall: I’ve gone from a few different things.
Niall: So I don’t know if I’ll ever be an expert on loyalty.
Niall: That’s going to take a while.
Niall: But there’s obviously a lot out there.
Niall: There’s a lot of podcasts, there’s a lot of literature, there’s a lot of forums, etc.
Niall: I’d say really what I depend on here is the people in my team, because they’re experts in loyalty.
Niall: There’s varying levels of experience, so some have been in BA quite a while, some have come very recently, but from other sectors, and from loyalty in other sectors as well.
Niall: So I really, really depend on them, and what I hope to bring to the table is then a structure in terms of getting things done, etc.
Niall: But just like in my last job was around lounges, I had to learn about upholsteries and cushions and different materials and building processes.
Niall: Here, it’s about some of the underlying stuff is similar to other roles in terms of you’ve got IT challenges, you need to work out how to get projects delivered.
Niall: That’s the same across, but there’s a definite nuance here, and that really involves talking to people, looking at the forums, looking at the insights.
Niall: We’ve got very, very rich insights in terms of the customer analytics that we have.
Niall: And because it’s been around for years as well, we’ve got great depth and data.
Niall: We can see how people have changed over time.
Niall: So the internal analysis is important.
Niall: And as I said recently, we reached out to an innovation agency to get some of that external thinking as well.
Niall: Because I suppose if you can be guilty sometimes of looking internally, whether that be within the company, but also within the industry, that really helped to go outside.
Paula: Yeah, and I love that.
Paula: And again, it’s a great mindset to know that the company is so committed to loyalty, that you’re going out and taking the time and investing in bringing those insights into the business.
Paula: So yeah, I think there’s a lesson for us all.
Paula: And as a consultant, obviously, my job is literally to make sure that I’m, you know, eyes open and listening to what’s going on.
Paula: So I’ll definitely check out the innovation guys.
Paula: So that’s all I wanted to cover from my side, Niall.
Paula: Was there anything else that you wanted to mention from the Executive Club?
Niall: No, I think we covered off a lot there.
Niall: So, yeah, that’s pretty comprehensive.
Paula: Super conversation.
Paula: Amazing.
Paula: So, yeah, I guess in closing then Niall, for me, I guess, you know, first of all, thank you so much for your time.
Paula: I know there’s a huge amount going on and you’re up early this morning to get this recording done with me.
Paula: So I really appreciate that.
Paula: And separately, I also want to just acknowledge Aaron Rice, actually, who, as you know, is the founder of Simple Flying.
Paula: So, again, a lot of people listening to this podcast are really excited about British Airways Executive Club and everything to do with airline.
Paula: So I just wanted to thank Aaron.
Paula: So, yeah, that’s it from me.
Paula: And just want to say thanks a million for talking to Let’s Talk Loyalty.
Niall: Thank you very much.
Paula: Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty.
Paula: If you’d like me to send you the latest show each week, simply sign up for the show newsletter on letstalkloyalty.com, and I’ll send you the latest episode to your inbox every Thursday.
Paula: Or just head to your favorite podcast platform.
Paula: Find Let’s Talk Loyalty and subscribe.
Paula: Of course, I’d love your feedback and reviews, and thanks again for supporting the show.
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