Customer loyalty often reaches its zenith on the playing field. Win or loose, rain or shine, the most avid sports fans will always root for their beloved teams. And now Storm fans have even more reasons to cheer their favorite rugby players. In an exciting first for Australian sports, the Melbourne Storm has just launched a new loyalty program that will offer numerous ways to earn points and collect rewards for fans of the team.
Lighting Rewards, an innovative new loyalty program, will rely on cutting edge technology to reward “Club” members with a generous array of ways to collect points and earn rewards. Overall, there will be about 50 ways members can earn points, which include buying stadium merchandise, watching team website video content, participating in social media, attending matches, and even arriving at the stadium for games 30 minutes early.
The points can then be redeemed for various team merchandise discounts, limited edition signed memorabilia, and even exclusive experiences that “money can’t buy” such as traveling with the team for away games. Other rewards will also be sent directly to fans after they exceed a certain level.
“The modern fan has a range of ways available to them to show support for their team,” said Melbourne Storm Marketing Director Mike Billing. “Our Lightning Rewards program aims to reward our supporter’s behavior whether that is on our website, via our social accounts, at the game or with our sponsor partners.”
Lighting Rewards is also an extremely high tech loyalty program. Not only will Club members be able to use their rewards card to gain entry to games, it will also act as a pre-paid team debit card. By using exclusive in-stadia swipe technology, members can load it with credit to purchase a host of food, beverages, and Storm apparel at AAMI Park.
“There is no other program like this in Australian sports that integrates smartcard technology to track spending at the stadium, that integrates sponsors as well as rewarding digital actions across social media and our own website,” Billing said.
Designed through numerous partnerships with various associations and technology companies including Badgeville, VIX Technology, Telstra, the National Rugby League, Janrain, and NCR, Lighting Rewards is seeking to engage customers on multiple levels.
“Vix SmartSite technology is building the platform for clubs and stadiums to create deeper relationships with their fans so they can better reward and cater for their needs,” said Vix Technology CEO Steve Gallagher. “We’re excited to be working with Melbourne Storm to drive the evolution of technology for fans to the next level.”
Billing expressed his excitement for the program and praised Lighting Rewards for its innovative rewards system, entrepreneurial merit, and ability to further drive enthusiastic customer engagement.
“We are able to reward people no matter where they are on the fan continuum, whether they are long-term members or casual fans,” Billing said. “We see this program as a business growth strategy for Melbourne Storm and believe it will benefit all of our business units in growing our fan base and help to make fans more and more avid.”