How This Australian Loyalty Program Made Shoppers 'Give a Flybuys'
As Australia’s most popular loyalty program, Flybuys have been advertised heavily over the years. In fact, one of the brand’s most notable promotions was when British acting legend, Dawn French took to the streets of Australia to encourage locals to sign up to the service back in 2012.
As consumers change, so do communications and to mark this, CHE Proximity celebrated the new dawn of Flybuys with the ‘Give a Flybuys’ campaign featuring plenty of grit and even more Aussie attitude. This new campaign is fun, has a very catchy song and pivots the brand in a new direction.
LBB’s Natasha Patel caught up with Flybuys’ senior marketing manager Jarrod Flood and CHE Proximity’s deputy chief creative officer Glen Dickson to hear about being savvy while you shop and the brand’s transformation.
LBB> What was the initial brief for this project and how did you approach it?
Glen> The brief was a simple one. Australia’s favourite loyalty points program needed a new way to communicate with a changing audience. It had become a bit dated and tired in the way it presented itself. Rosemary [Martin, chief customer officer], Jarrod and the team were brave enough to take on a total rebuild with us.
LBB> Where did the desire to transform the brand come from and why was now the right time?
Jarrod> The launch of our Velocity partnership in October 2016 was the last time Flybuys was truly above the line. Loyalty and the retail landscape have become increasingly more complicated since then. While our regular consumer pulse checks continue to show great brand awareness, we had begun noticing a decrease in engagement with the Flybuys program and we identified that was fundamentally a relevancy challenge rather than a heritage or trust based one.
LBB> This campaign is so different from the Dawn French one, would you say it’s a reflection of consumers now vs then?
Jarrod> ‘Give a Flybuys’ (GAF) was heavily steeped in research, and when speaking with our members, they told us that household expenditure and being careful with money has become more of a concern than ever. We didn’t want that to stop them from going about their lives and being themselves, because being savvy shouldn’t be seen as cheap. It’s something to be proud of.
LBB> What was the thought process when creating the ‘Give a Flybuys’ and ‘IGAF’ taglines?
Glen> Being savvy when you shop is an attitude. There’s a real pride and satisfaction that comes with getting a better deal for you and your family. We wanted to put that sentiment into words to create a memorable, long-term platform for the brand.
LBB> How did you go about scripting this, there's so many different exciting scenes!
Glen> Each of the characters represents a type of Flybuys shopper, based on data and research. There are five personas in total. Once those five core characters were in place, we started to build out their stories, and thread them together lyrically.
Sanjay De Silva, the director, was brilliant through the casting process. We wanted to use people who were truly representative of Australian society – people you don’t always see on the screen in commercials. We were lucky to have progressive clients who saw things the same way.
LBB> The music in the campaign is great, how did you land on the final tune?
Glen> There was a style of music we wanted – and a style we didn’t. We didn’t want to create just another advertising, hip hop parody, all perfectly rhyming and predictable. So we looked a bit further for inspiration. A lot of people have picked up on a distinct UK feel to the track, which is definitely there. The guys at El Plasticos did an amazing job.
LBB> Is this gritty campaign the direction Flybuys will be going in in the future?
Jarrod> GAF is an attitude, inspired by Flybuys’ biggest fans. It’s more than a campaign, it’s a platform that will motivate everything we do as a brand going forward. It’s an attitude change, that if you ‘Give a Flybuys’ you’ll take more every day and give no apologies. More vacays. More pressies. More money off at the shops.
LBB> From a marketing perspective, what were the biggest challenges with overhauling communications? Was there a fear that loyal customers wouldn't follow the changes?
Jarrod> The brand platform was heavily steeped in research and we used that to optimise our approach. We found some clear and distinct groups that use the program and delved deeper into the how and why they use the Flybuys program. Changing this perception was crucial and we had to create something that highlighted that change. Members needed to identify with our cast in the campaign as everyday people; in places they knew and places where they shop.
