Mike Hele, Manager, Membership Programs for the San Diego Padres, told Loyalty 360 that the team’s relatively new loyalty membership program known simply as "Padres Membership" pays homage to a traditional golf club “membership” since that year-round engagement is the model and ultimate goal.
The program launched in September of 2012 as part of the Padres’ 2013 Renewal Collateral. The first year of Membership was designed to be an education and the collateral served as a deeper explanation.
“Our company went all-in on this initiative by changing all verbiage to reflect this rollout (Season Ticket-Holders became Members and Season Ticket Sales became Membership Development, etc.),” Hele said.
The O’Malley/Seidler Ownership group purchased the Padres in August of 2012.
“Since our program launched in September of 2012 we needed an immediate sign off from the new ownership group,” Hele explained. “The Owners and Senior Leadership team have been fully behind the program and are often highly visible at the events (often giving the Welcome Message at our events).”
Hele said the loyalty program was designed specifically with the customer in mind.
“The design of the program is meant to be empowering (self-selection) with the goal of creating a significant value add,” he said. “So while data is critical to us, it is the customer experience that is paramount. What new data we learn from the program we then put back into action to make the program even more meaningful. We want to bring more value to the season ticket purchase. We wanted to reposition the value of season tickets and create a year-round customized experience that extends beyond the baseball season.”
Ultimately, Hele said the Padres looked toward Europe for its loyalty program model.
“We did a lot of market research as to what loyalty programs exist in the U.S. for sports teams,” he explained. “And we found European soccer was our real model. No one in America is really doing loyalty like we wanted to. The idea around it was that it would be a community program and have access to events in San Diego year-round. That European soccer model resonated with what we want to build here in San Diego. We customized the program with baseball and non-baseball events and created four different membership buckets.”
Hele described the four different membership buckets: Fanatic, Family, Social, and Business:
The Membership tiers are dictated by season ticket commitment: 81 Games = Platinum, 41 Games = Gold, 21 Games = Blue. The higher the tier, the more access you have to events and benefits.
“The program was designed to incentivize not only the upfront purchase, but moving up the ladder from blue to gold and gold to blue,” Hele explained. “What we saw in 2013 was a fairly dramatic shift in customer buying patterns. For years, the Padres (and the industry as a whole) were slipping with Full season purchasers with more and more customers preferring the flexibility of a smaller plan or a la carte purchases from the secondary market. In 2013, we saw over a 50% YOY increase in Full Season (Platinum) sales for new buyers.”
Hele said the program can turn data into strategic planning. He said an example of that would be the team’s Dining and Lifestyle program.
“Last year we looked to align with local restaurants and bars to provide a standing discount for our Members,” he said. “Now that we have the information on where our Members live, we can re-focus our 2014 efforts on providing targeted restaurants and bar offers. We now know that our Family Members primarily live in East County, so our pipeline is heavy with family themed restaurants and museums in that region. Our Social Members live on the coasts and we know their primary non-Padres hobby is craft beer tasting; so we build our pipeline heavily with pubs in Pacific Beach, La Jolla, and Encinitas.”
Hele said the program events are by design and spaced throughout the year.
“We’re doing a better job of asking the question: What do you do beyond the Padres?” he explained. “We’re getting more of a profile of our customers and demographics. We’re doing focus groups and surveys, and we want to provide meaningful benefits.”
Hele said he wants Members to experience San Diego.
“We want to evolve to more than just a baseball program,” he said. “The year-round concept was initially one of the biggest differences. Even with the domestic teams that had robust loyalty programs, their engagement was typically in-park and in-season only. Our program was designed to have meaningful events and experiences in times of the year that are traditionally dark periods in our sport (i.e. holiday party on the field, theme park event in early winter, football tailgate/watch parties in fall).”
The City of San Diego is an integral part of the program.
“Our angle has been to position Membership as a uniquely San Diego program where your association with the Padres grants you access to the best of San Diego,” Hele said. “Part of our marketing narrative is that Membership is more than the Padres and more than baseball, but it is a celebration of San Diego. By design many of our off-site events were built to resonate with locals (Sea World, Del Mar Racetrack, Ballast Point Brewery, Sycuan Golf Course, etc.). We also added a discount program where Members can receive an exclusive discount year round simply by showing their member card. Similarly, we made a point to partner with iconic and beloved local institutions (Hodad’s burgers, Churchill’s Pub, etc.). That said, Padres baseball is still at the core of the program and I have the impression that will be even more of an area of focus for messaging for 2014.”