Launched in the South Island in 2014, New World Clubcard lifted the performance of the existing Fly Buys programme adding ticketed discounts instore, a dedicated communications programme, currency choice (Airpoints or Fly Buys), and a branded identity.

Fast forward to Phase 2 of Clubcard – the North Island launch, and the introduction in the South Island of highly personalised deal eDMs driven from data insights.

As the North Island launch date approached, there was a lot of noise in the loyalty market. Farmers and Life Pharmacy revamped, Airpoints and Fly Buys ‘uncoupled’ causing consumer confusion, Z launched Fly Buys Pumped, and most significantly, probably the most lavish loyalty launch since FlyBuys, the Countdown Onecard/AASmartfuel programme with four partners with major advertising budgets (AASmartfuel, Countdown, BP, Caltex).

In business, timing is everything and this led to the strategic decision to bring the launch forward. With limited budgets compared to its competitors, New World had confidence that their proposition of leveraging a 1-1 campaign putting cards into the hands of the best customers, was right. In the South Island, the focus on personalised deals had delivered valuable relevant offers.

And this decision seems to have paid off with the launch meeting all and exceeding some of its targets.