Flybuys becomes first local loyalty program to tap Unlockd's rewards app

Flybuy’s decision to reward loyalty program members with points for viewing advertising, surveys and videos on their phones is about getting better engagement with customers via a device sitting at the heart of their everyday lives.

Flybuys has become the first loyalty program provider to join forces with Unlockd on its new Earn Wall, a feature within the vendor’s Rewards app that allows users to complete activities such as viewing videos and taking surveys, in addition to viewing ads when they unlock their phone. In return, users can collect up to 4000 bonus flybuys points every month.

“Our members are in complete control of their rewards and earning potential, and can opt-in to as many activities as they wish,” Coles GM of loyalty, insights and flybuys, Alex Chruszcz, told CMO. “They can then redeem the bonus points they collect on our rewards, including money off their shopping, travel and other great flybuys rewards.”  

As one of Australia’s largest loyalty programs, Chruszcz said it had constantly looking for new and more innovative ways to create greater value for members. The team saw Unlockd as a unique opportunity to achieve that. The pair launched the partnership in August 2017.  

“The Unlock Rewards Android app rewards our members for the time they spend on their mobile phones, which is an everyday activity for most of us,” Chruszcz continued. “We’ve already seen a high-level of engagement, and the feedback from members has been very positive about having another way to collect bonus points.”    

Unlockd’s mobile platform allows consumers to convert time spent viewing ads on their devices into rewards, such as discounts off their mobile phone bill, free additional data or entertainment content. Its CEO, Jane Martino, said the flybuys partnership had helped solidify the company’s evolution into a broader rewards-based platform.  

Australia-based Unlockd already works with a number of streaming and telco providers in multiple markets globally, and partnered with the likes of News UK, Twitter, Yahoo, Facebook Audience Network, McDonalds, British Airways and Doritos. It also recently raised US$23 million in funding to help expand its presence in Asia.  

“We’ve always had a vision to provide value to customers, whether that be in mobile credit or data, entertainment content, loyalty points or other verticals of ‘value’ consumers would like more of in return for seeing content, ads and offers when unlocking their phones,” she said.  

“We knew Australia would be a strong market to launch our Unlockd Loyalty offering, given a huge 84 per cent of Australians are enrolled in at least one loyalty program and flybuys is one of the largest.”  

The challenge for most, however, is active engagement. Martino point to a 2016 US Frost and Sullivan survey, which estimated there were 3.8 billion loyalty memberships, equal to over 10 memberships for every US resident. Yet only 46 per cent were estimated to be active.  

Unlockd is focused on keeping loyalty members engaged and rewarding them for that engagement, she said.  

“As a new alternative to making a purchase in-store, loyalty members can now use their free time and attention to accrue points,” Martino said. “It’s all done on their preferred device – one that we all use constantly use and take with us everywhere.  

“So now loyalty programs can be even more rewarding, and not always rely on us spending more, which many of us cannot always afford to do.”  

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