Qantas has united its airline and loyalty marketing under one chief marketing officer as part of a restructure of the team geared at better uniting the two sides of the business and improving marketing efficiency.

Expanding loyalty program partnerships, introducing a new environmental-oriented flying tier and providing more easily accessible seats and redeemable rewards have helped Qantas’ loyalty program retain earnings and member growth in the face the ongoing pandemic.

Qantas chief marketing officer and #1 on this year’s CMO50 list, Jo Boundy, is spreading her wings and joining the Commonwealth Bank as its new CMO.

Qantas has trialled the CommonPass digital health app with customers on an international repatriation flight from Frankfurt to Darwin. It follows a successful crew trial last month and comes as the national carrier prepares for COVID-safe international travel to resume from late October.

Consumer confidence is the biggest hurdle to the recovery of the travel industry, according to a panel of Australia's top travel sector chiefs.

Celebrating its centenary, Qantas has marked 100 years since it was founded as the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services in the Australian outback. It comes in a year when the iconic airline has been grounded because of the global coronavirus pandemic.

Qantas has dropped its Wallabies team sponsorship and is ending a number of arts and creative associations as it works to cope with the COVID-19 crisis fallout and to conserve cash.

Real-time customer data and an ability to rapidly rethink marketing have been key elements for marketers in the travel and tourism categories as they've looked to manage in the fast-moving COVID-19 crisis.

Qantas has confirmed to CMO that Jo Boundy will be moving from Qantas Loyalty, where she is currently executive manager, marketing and Qantas Group accommodation, to become executive manager, group brand and marketing, effectively the Qantas Group’s chief marketing officer position.

Submissions are now closed following the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC’s) draft report highlighting a number of concerns about customer loyalty programs, in particular the sharing of consumer data without consumer knowledge.

As many big players ramp up their loyalty program efforts, the ACCC has released a draft report highlighting a number of concerns about the programs, in particular the sharing of consumer data without consumer knowledge.

Qantas has reported a return to double-digital earnings across its frequent flyer program and seen a 24 per cent increase in flight redemptions since announcing a $25 million overhaul of the loyalty offering this year.

​​CMO50’s 2017 third place winner, Stephanie Tully​, has been promoted to the role of chief customer officer within Qantas.

Qantas will offer more than 1 million extra rewards seats, a new lifetime qualification and tiered Points Club for non-flying spenders as part of a $25 million investment into its Frequent Flyer loyalty program.

​Former BRICKX and Amaysim marketer, Andrew Balint, has been appointed as the CMO of rideshare platform, Ola, for Australia and New Zealand.

​Qantas has become Australia’s strongest brand, surging from third place last year and improving its brand strength index to 86.6. Telstra remains Australia’s most valuable brand, despite its brand value dropping 7.3 per cent, according to the latest brand value report by Brand Finance.

Marketing and strategy leaders at Arlo & Co, Tourism WA and Qantas along with several agency chiefs are among the top marketing and professionals viewed on LinkedIn this year.

Tourism Australia has completed a triumvirate of Hemsworths with the launch of the next phase of its $36 million Dundee campaign.

ALDI is Australia’s most trusted brand - for the second survey in a row, according to the latest Roy Morgan Net Trust Score Survey, while Facebook is the most distrusted media brand.

Digital transformation has to be the combination of continuous business improvement and driving customer value with talent and people management, Qantas’s digital and mechandising lead, Sheerien Salindera, says.

Tourism Australia is promoting Australia to the US traveller market as part of its ‘An Australian Adventure’ campaign and using Expedia’s technology platform in order to amplify awareness. It comes on the back of the success of the Dundee Super Bowl commercial and ad campaign.