Riding on the back of memorable experiences with Teresa

Tell us about yourself, your work at RIX and why you have chosen this lovely photo of yourself on a horse?

Winston Churchill once said that “No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle”. I could not agree more. There is a special sensation when I ride on a horse through the countryside of Spain. It gives me a sense of limitless energy and peace of mind.

This special feeling is also what we are trying to convey when we develop sales promotions with brands around the world. Instead of running the usual discount promotions, we encourage them to step up and offer their customer something different, that has a positive, lasting impact on their lives. Let’s be honest, it all starts and ends with lifestyle. People don’t just buy products anymore; they are looking for something that will enrich their lifestyle.

Talking about “lifestyle”, why do you think it is so impactful?

In the end we are talking about emotions, aspirations, and desires. Something we, as consumers love to look forward to, something that makes us break out of the ordinary routines.

This could be riding horses but think of something a bit more common like watching a special football match, traveling to your favorite city or having a nice dinner with your loved ones. We all love that kind of stuff. Only very slowly, we see that brands start to discover the opportunity of this magic space, where they can emotionally bond with their consumers.

This year you created a magic football moment with Rodilla Restaurants during the EURO. Tell us a bit about the promotion.

In March Rodilla approached us with the objective to create an appealing promotion during the EURO Football Championship in June. We all know that the service industry had been hit quite strongly over the last year, so we wanted to create something appealing and inspirational, leveraging the excitement during the EURO. This is how the idea was born to turn ‘Rodilla’ into ‘EUROdilla’.

Every time customers purchased a promotional menu, they had the chance to score a goal on a digital scratch card and could win exciting EURO relevant prizes like a Spanish national team shirt.

It is actually quite simple, if you want to run a successful promotion. First, the gamification component. People love to play games and be actively engaged. Secondly, link the promotion to an important event – I actually think brands do this far too little. Thirdly, add an extra “carrot”, a big prize, like a travel component with the possibility for the winner to travel to the country of the EURO champion. Just imagine how excited the winner must have been to be able to travel to Italy.

Talking numbers, how do promotions like this perform and why are they more effective than conventional discount campaigns?

Many brands keep offering plain discount campaigns to drive sales and make quick wins. They forget to place people´s interest at the center of their promotions. Our experience tells us that the effectiveness of reward campaigns is much more diverse and impactful, not just in terms of sales but to build lasting engagement and relationships with customers.

If we look at the Rodilla promotion, we could see that Social Media went off the roof, with more than 500’000 views of the video and hundreds of thousands of social media engagements. Needless to say, that also sales peaked during these weeks, especially when the Spanish National Team was playing. Similar results we have witnessed with most of our promotions.

Looking at the next 12 months, how would you use other events to create magic brand moments.

There are so many reasons to celebrate with your customers and thank them for their loyalty. Let’s take for example a campaign we have previously done with Zalando across Europe for Christmas. Every customer, who would spend beyond a certain threshold would receive a “Free Christmas Tree” sent home.  For Mother’s Day we worked with Nayomi in Saudi Arabia on a digital scratch card concept, where customer would receive a flower bouquet.

To be honest, there are numerous days and events that can be used to offer something exciting to your customers. How about World Tourism Day with a Free Flight. Or Valentine´s day with a special dinner. Really endless opportunities to create magic moments with your customers. I can only encourage all brands not to miss out on these extraordinary opportunities.

At RIX, we work with you to create rewards that transform your sales promotions into magic brand moments, empowering you to increase sales and market share in the short term, while boosting long-term brand equity.

Want to see how we can rid your brand of discounts? Get in touch.