Yo!
I’m hurt and upset. TWO hotel chains have sent me notices in the recent past saying that they are going to discontinue my ‘Loyalty” account unless I rush out and buy some room nights. Is this first grade? You didn’t give me your eraser so I won’t be your friend any more? What kind of loyalty is based entirely on purchase? I mean, I’m totally loyal in my love of Lamborghini but I haven’t gotten around to buying one for a number of reasons. There are other brands I like and have bought a few times but the occasion to buy more from them hasn’t popped up. In the meanwhile, I’m happy to show my loyalty to these brands by saying nice things when other people flaunt them, sharing their content on social media and generally providing them with Word of Mouth publicity. While a person who likes your brand may not be purchasing it for any number of reasons – pricing, occasion, availability, fit – a person who hates your brand is definitely not going to buy your brand. Unless it’s the best option at that point in time. (Think flying an airline you hate because it’s half the price of the one you like). So it moves from being a brand choice to becoming a price choice. Anyways, for the hotel, to continue the ‘loyalty’ program costs them nothing – I cannot claim any ‘rewards’ because I’m not ‘earning’ points and their only investment in me so far is to provide a physical card which is a sunk cost. They send me the occasional mailer, but that costs them nothing too. In my experience, it may take years for brand desire to convert to purchase whether it is B2B or B2C, and unless the cost of servicing this lead is prohibitive one should continue. So why ‘fire’ a customer? I’ve tried to think of a rational reason, but I haven’t come up with one – do share if you know.In other news, this week we have a story about a celebrity endorsement that is a good fit - Exide Life Insurance and their association with Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The campaign has helped them to accelerate awareness in a short span of time and create a lot of excitement around the brand. Read more here.
Celebrity endorsement does work in India, but like everything else it takes effort – it isn’t as simple as say, Emami’s Fair & Handsome endorsing Kabali, a movie with a noticeably dark and handsome hero who explicitly says in the movie that this is why the heroine falls in love with him! I can just see Rajnikanth looking at the endorsement cheque and saying “magizhchi” (happiness) a keyword in the movie, and laughing a sarcastic laugh (the subtitles in the movie take the trouble to characterize each laugh).
I’m in Chennai this week so pardon the Kabali references. I participated in the inauguration of SQS India BFSI (formerly known as Thinksoft) new facility and was impressed to see that provision has been made for disabled access. India is slowly but surely making progress in this direction. Now off to the Board meeting!
Have a great week. And do not worry – I will not stop sending you this newsletter just because you haven’t made a purchase in the last 12 months 
Your cue to say “magizhchi” and laugh a satisfied laugh!
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