CHE Proximity

Client: Velocity Frequent Flyer
Product: Frequent Flyer Program of Virgin Australia
Title: The Earnbassadors
Media: Social Media
Country: Australia
Date Of Campaign: October 2018 - Onwards

Background: The problem with frequent flyer programs is they’re designed for the rich and famous. If you spend more you earn more Points, if you’re famous with a big following you’ll fly for free. Velocity however, offers hundreds of different ways members can earn Points, but only members who knew the program inside-and-out were taking full advantage of it, often going to ridiculous and irrational lengths to earn Points and maintain Status. How could we get more people to behave like Velocity’s Points-obsessed members, and show anyone can earn enough Velocity Points by simply understanding the program?

Idea: But how could Velocity talk to its less-engaged members so they’d actually listen?We noticed many of our members talked about the program on forums, blogs and social media.This sparked an idea… Why don’t we leverage the Points-hackers enthusiasm for Points, and get them to tell other Velocity members how earn Points? And we would reward them with the one thing they want more of – Points. Introducing, the Earnbassadors - the people Velocity paid in Points to promote the program on Facebook or Instagram. We launched with a ‘Call to Earns’ video, sent via eDM to millions of Velocity members and promoted the video through paid social. This drove people to the campaign landing page with Velocity’s “Code of Earning” – a series of program benefits members could promote to be an Earnbassador. Members immediately started posting on social media how to use Points to save on fuel, how to transfer points to Velocity, even Point-earning hacks we didn’t know existed. We wanted real members – not influencers, so creativity trumped reach. The more creative they were, the more Points we awarded, regardless of how many followers they had.The range of creativity was immense – we had puppeteers, a Velocity-branded Santa, memes, shaved heads, tutorial videos, skydivers, scuba-divers, mural makers, and more.To anticipate the content, we built an AI bot called Earnie to measure the amount of traffic and reach. Earnie then plugged into Facebook and Instagram monitoring the conversation.Using addressable paid-media, the best content was turned into ads to target less-engaged members. This content was reposted across Velocity’s Instagram and Facebook, website, and owned channels.Earnbassadors transformed the frequent flyer category. Members who don’t spend big, fly often, or have millions of followers can enjoy the program’s benefits and experience travelling.

Results: For the 6-week campaign period, we set measurable objectives:1. 150+ pieces of UGC2. +25% in mentions and sentiment3. Launch Velocity’s Instagram and achieve 500+ followers4. 500K incremental earned reach And continue to smash all targets:1. 150+ pieces of content within 48hrs. The campaign has maintained momentum with 4,272 pieces of content (as of 10.1.19)2. +390% in positive sentiment3. 500+ followers within 48hrs (as of 10.1.19 Velocity has 3,220+ followers)4. 7.2M+ in earned cumulative reach From a business-perspective #Earnbassadors fundamentally enhanced the program by creating a new way to earn Points, launched their Instagram presence, and opened social-media user-generated content as new method to promote Velocity. The campaign created real-life feel-good stories. Earnbassador Julie can fly her daughter Josie to a New York art exhibition for individuals with Down Syndrome. Earnbassador Sarah was able to visit her friend recovering from chemotherapy in Adelaide. Even more members travelled the world on Points. Most importantly it illustrated that Velocity is the airline-loyalty program for the everyday Aussie.