#421 : David’s Bridal - The World's First "Crowdsourced " Loyalty Program ( Short Summary Show)

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 episode is hosted by Tom Peace, Managing Director of The Loyalty People, a strategic consultancy with a laser focus on loyalty, CRM and customer engagement.

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Tom: Hi, I’m Tom Peace, Managing Director of The Loyalty People and Presenter of Let’s Talk A Little Loyalty. Welcome to this week’s short summary show. In this week’s episode of Let’s Talk A Little Loyalty, I’ll be reviewing the original podcast hosted by Paula Thomas, where she’s joined by Kelly Cook, EVP, Chief Marketing and IT Officer for David’s Bridal.

David’s Bridal is a US-based retailer that specializes in wedding gowns, prom gowns, and formal wear, and offers an extraordinary collection of beautiful outfits for all of life’s magical moments. Operating over 300 store locations in various countries, as well as online. In 2020, David’s Bridal stores created an industry first with the launch of their Diamond Loyalty Program designed to leverage the buying power of the bride’s family and friends to help the happy couple earn a honeymoon of their dreams. David’s Bridal have created a program where brides can earn diamond points on spend and partner offers. There are lots of ways to use your points, and most appealingly Brides can also win a free honeymoon, and David’s Bridal give away around 200 honeymoons a year.

This creates a huge appeal and amazing marketing opportunities for the brand. What’s really innovative is that spend from guests can also be accumulated towards the bride’s loyalty rewards. So all your bridesmaids, ushers and guests can support the happy couple simply by buying their wedding outfit from David’s Bridal.

A very clever initiative. Kelly talks about how David’s Bridal is more than just for wedding and other occasions such as proms, graduation and special occasions all are catered for so there’s a strong longevity from the loyalty program.

From a business point of view, the proposition is also well supported by partners offering points, rewards for interactions from members. So brands like Sandals and Shutterfly enjoy the opportunity to win new custom in a very cost effective way. Partners are very important in a program like this that has limited frequency, so the partners provide additional value and the opportunity to interact multiple times with the program. Kelly also talks through how important emotional connections are in this scenario.

Everyone feels a very strong connection with a friend or family member’s wedding day, and this drives a very strong desire to participate and help the happy couple with their big day. This is also true of the bride who will invest a huge amount of time and research in making their big day perfect.

David’s Bridal supports this with their 24/7 365 YouTube channel, providing help and advice for every bride. This channel also allows members to contribute with their own content, which is an always an amazing way for members to interact with the brand and drive emotional engagement. I remember being fascinated by this podcast when I first heard it, since my initial reaction was that wedding attire shouldn’t really be a high frequency purchase.

However, this is a very clever program that taps into the highly positive emotional connections people have with a friend or family member’s wedding day, as well as the cost of a wedding. I would highly recommend listening to the main show, which can be found at www.letstalkloyalty.com, and first add on the 15th of June, 2022. Episode number 235. Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed my summary Show all the best, and speak to you soon. Tom.

Paula: This show is sponsored by The Wise Marketer. The world’s most popular source of loyalty marketing news, insights, and research. The Wise Marketer also offers loyalty marketing training through its Loyalty Academy, which is already certified. Over 500 executives in 38 countries as certified loyalty marketing professionals.

For more information, check out thewisemarketer.com and loyaltyacademy.org.

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