Virgin Mobile is bumping up the Velocity Frequent Flyer points customers can earn on its network as part of a burst of activity planned before Christmas to more closely align it with the Virgin group parent brand.
All post-paid customers can now earn three Frequent Flyer points for every dollar spent with Virgin Mobile.
Virgin Mobile will also launch a mobile-led campaign before the end of the year to demonstrate the benefits of being with the Virgin network, will be mobile-led and “social by design” to encourage consumers to share the content, according to Nicole Bardsley, director of Virgin Mobile brand and communications. No other details were available ahead of the launch.
The campaign, created by Havas Worldwide, Starcom MediaVest and One Green Bean, is the next phase of Virgin Mobile's “We look after our own” positioning introduced earlier this year and designed to focus on retaining existing customers. Part of the strategy aims to use the other businesses within the Virgin family to reward customers, increase spend per customer and reduce churn.
Virgin says consumers that have a relationship with more than one part of the Virgin group of businesses, are more loyal and spend more with the brand, so it wants to encourage uptake of more than one service.
Bardsley told AdNews: “Smartphone penetration is higher than it's ever been and [churn] is an issue for everyone. Where Virgin Mobile is uniquely placed to look after our own customers is by opening up the benefits within the Virgin family … and put a bigger emphasis on the Virgin [brand] and the Virgin family of businesses that we can give them exclusive benefits with. The ethos of 'looking after our own', is not just Virgin Mobile customer but a closer alignment with the Virgin family.”
For example mobile customers will receive a $50 mobile credit when they join the Virgin Wines club or sign up to a credit card or insurance with Virgin Money.
The campaign will follow an experiential tour Virgin Mobile kicked off this month in partnership with Ben & Jerry's Open Air cinema events. The 'flicks for phones' activity offers Virgin Mobile customers free VIP tickets to the cinema events across Australia in return for recycling old handsets in Virgin stores, ticking off CRM and CSR in one co-branded activity.
The sponsorship marks a shift in the way the Virgin brand has used sponsorship activity, according to Bardsley, who says in the past sponsorship has been about raising brand awareness. Now it's about rewarding customers with an experience.
In Australia the Virgin brand operates a number of businesses. Virgin Active Gyms, Virgin Wines club, airlines Virgin Atlantic and Australia, Virgin Money as well as the mobile phone network.
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