Kelly Hlavinka

The concern about the cost of gas per gallon is off the charts. Customers are hungry, for sure, to get back a sense of control.

So kudos to ExxonMobil for offering a much needed relief valve in the form of a 15-cent discount on fuel, tied to the use of ExxonMobil's proprietary, convenient device Speedpass. (A gadget the size of a AA battery that attaches to a keychain, Speedpass,has been around since 1997; customers register a major credit card or an ExxonMobil card and tap the device at any of thousands of gas pumps for a quick fill-up. See our 2003 story “Magic Wand: It's a Speedpass world—we just live in it” for some history.)

It's also heartening to see the company offer benefits to Speedpass customers with not just the ExxonMobil card but all credit and debit cards, too.

I wonder, though, how this discount will stack up — and if it will set ExxonMobil apart.

Is this discount promotion a good thing? Well, Speedpass had a lot of...

Unexpected sources of program creativity

I always have to suppress a big gulp of apprehension when I hear The Question.

It comes all too often, from marketers and loyalty practitioners eager to spark up their programs: “What’s the best example of creativity in loyalty in my industry?” They’re looking for innovative strategies that that they can adapt to differentiate their own programs.

After a hesitant pause, I have to be honest with my response. The answer is usually, “There’s just not that much creativity out there in your vertical.”

It pains me to give such a disappointing answer, but that speaks to the larger issue of why I’m getting that question in the first place. Clearly, practitioners want to keep their programs fresh and evolving. They’re looking for creativity and imagination. But unfortunately, I see too many searching inside the box for out-of-the-box solutions. Why are practitioners so obsessed with only comparing themselves to...

What company isn’t experimenting with the vast playground of social media platforms to cultivate word-of-mouth? The truth is that we all are trying out these new toys. And, it’s natural to have concerns about how social media can most productively work for engaging your best customers.

That’s what makes six of the initiatives announced in the last 60 days so notable. These aren’t fleeting, experimental promotions. Instead, they seem to have staying power. Let’s review them based on COLLOQUY readers’ most frequently cited worries about social media efforts:

1. "Communicating via social media is beneath the status of my brand." When companies like The Ritz-Carlton and American Express are fully in the social media game, it’s time to rethink this misgiving. For example, in late June, The Ritz-Carlton became the first luxury hotel chain to use a social media platform to deliver exclusive concierge services to their repeat guests. Using Foursquare as their platform...

People are talking.  Well, at least the COLLOQUY team is talking about the Breaking News item that Huggies is providing a unique choice to new parents. 

Instead of just the traditional online coupon to drive more diapers off the shelf, Huggies is offering parents a 2-for-1 choice.  More precisely – that is a choice between a $3.00 or $1.50 incentive.  The “catch” is simple and pleasant – just tell 3 friends about the Huggies deal.  They also offer customers the choice of how to spread the news to other fellow parents:  via social networking sites like Facebook, via instant messaging or via a good old-fashioned email.  You can check it out yourself.

In an environment where customers are having less product & service referral conversations (that’s right; read about one of the Word-of-Mouth...