On recent changes at Etihad Guest - On personalisation and experiences - On partnerships and building an ecosystem - On Conscious Choices - On competition - The million miles question - Magic Wand - Advice to younger self
GLO
00:00 Introduction & on recent changes at Etihad Guest
02:07 On personalisation and experiences
06:20 On partnerships and building an ecosystem
07:32 On Conscious Choices
08:41 On competition
11:28 The million miles question
12:07 Magic Wand
12:48 Advice to younger self
Transcript
00:00
GLO: Dear Mark, It’s a pleasure to talk to you at this year’s Arabian Travel Market. Global Loyalty Organisation is a partner and is hosting a loyalty panel. Abu Dhabi and Etihad are two of the largest presenters, with some of the most interesting stands at the fair. It’s a pleasure to have you and interview you on the latest developments at Etihad Guest.
Mark Potter, Managing Director, Etihad Guest: Great to be here, thank you.
00.51
GLO: Can you tell us a couple of words about yourself? There were some recent changes at the top of the Etihad. Probably, there were some implications for the Etihad Guest loyalty program. What is happening now? What is the focus? Any interesting campaigns?
Mark Potter, Managing Director, Etihad Guest: I’ve been at Etihad for nine years and now I’m Managing Director of Etihad Guest, the loyalty program of Etihad. We announced in February some pretty significant changes to the program, which allow us to put the member at the centre of their journey, elevate the ability for members to personalise their experience, create a more rewarding proposition for members and simplify the terms of how the earn and burn scenarios work. You noted that we had a new management team join towards the end of 2022 and 2023. Loyalty has always been a really important part of our business, and so that hasn’t changed. In fact, having us sit underneath a revenue division allowed us to drive some synergies around reward seats and availability of inventory, which has always been a challenge for loyalty programs. Having that consolidated view has meant that we’ve found some solutions and collaborated to ensure members get the experiences and access that they deserve for their loyalty.
02:07
GLO: That’s quite interesting. What you’re saying resonates quite a lot with the main theme for this year’s fair. It’s transitioning to experiential loyalty or lifestyle loyalty. GLO is, in fact, hosting a panel discussing experiential loyalty. What do you see on your side? Etihad Guest was always at the forefront of some of the innovations. You were one of the first programs to launch the Green Sustainable Campaign. How do you approach experiences and personalisation?
Mark Potter, Managing Director, Etihad Guest: Personalisation is at the core of our change because the members can select what benefits they would like as part of their journeys with Etihad. We’re very proud that Etihad Guest has probably been a market leader in innovation from a loyalty perspective. We launched the card-linking solution in 2020, meaning our lifestyle proposition was amplified almost instantly. And we’ll continue on that path. As I said, the personalisation element that goes live in June is also an element around extending our loyalty to our members. We will provide an experience that goes above and beyond and rewards them for their loyalty. You’ll also notice, through the coming six to 12 months, that we will also update our experiential assets. At Etihad, we’re lucky that we have a fantastic suite of benefits with our relationships with the Man City football group or with CSK in India, where we’re driving a member experience through that journey such as taking members to games or allowing them to use their currency to buy experiences will certainly become more prevalent across the program.
03:49
GLO: That’s really interesting because we see across the academic research and marketing research that more and more experiences are becoming at the forefront versus purchasing things for the consumers. How are you approaching partnerships or partnership ecosystems? I know a couple of years ago you signed a partnership with Air France. Do you continue to expand your partnership network? Are there in particular sectors like sport you mentioned or entertainment that you’re looking to expand?
Mark Potter, Managing Director, Etihad Guest: On the program side, we announced that Air France KLM joined the program. Given their network and size, that really opened up a strong earn and redemption proposition for our members. At ATM, we announced that JetBlue will be joining our program as well. They’ve been an airline partner for some years, but the TrueBlue and Etihad Guest programs will collaborate. So, there is definitely an appetite for expansion. Beyond that, Etihad and its portfolio of sponsorship assets allow us to have an entry point quite quickly. And we will continue to leverage those assets moving forward. But you’ll certainly notice that in the coming months, more airlines will be joining our ecosystem. We announced this week five new interline relationships. So there is appetite and desire to expand that to drive relevant and meaningful relationships for our members and customers who are flying.
05:16
GLO: In the previous answer, you mentioned personalisation. This is one of the key topics among the loyalty programs. How do you think the latest technologies are simplifying and delivering a unique personalisation experience? Are you employing any AI or big data analysis? Do you plan to? What’s your view on that?
Mark Potter, Managing Director, Etihad Guest: We have a suite of vendors that we work with. Comarch is our loyalty management system. And they’ve been instrumental in developing the personalisation that we’re going live with later this quarter. So the ability for members to customise and select benefits was in collaboration with Comarch. From an AI and big data perspective, big data is the new oil to a certain extent in the region. There is certainly appetite and desire to leverage that more. And I don’t think that’ll ever stop. And in fact, there’ll be more focus on that. As we build out the new proposition of the program, we’re developing new digital ecosystems. We’re looking for vendors to support us on that. AI and data utilisation will become prevalent and more important than before.
06:20
GLO: Very interesting. You mentioned increasing and expanding the partner ecosystem.
Etihad Guest is among the strongest brands in the Middle East and among the loyalty programs. How do you approach preserving the uniqueness of the brand while expanding the partnerships with Air France and JetBlue, allowing customers to transfer points or exchange points within the programs? How do you achieve a preference for your brand?
Mark Potter, Managing Director, Etihad Guest : I think it’s all about making sure the program has unique features that drive stickiness and association. My view is that the program’s currency should be liberated so that everybody can use it for as many things as possible because that kind of accrual transaction is almost the beginning of the funnel, allowing members to redeem them gives them more reason to continue to come back and engage. And if you pocket in little experiential elements through them, the stickiness will grow. I think the program, at its core, is about driving a relevant proposition for members. If partners give you that access, then I think that the brand and the equity in the brand will remain because you’re sticking to the brand that gives you access.
07:32
GLO: One of the main purposes of Global Loyalty Organization is to foster partnerships among the ecosystem. And we truly believe that loyalty is just a channel. It’s just a way to increase the customer satisfaction. And there has to be freedom to exchange and to transfer the points. Returning to one of your early initiatives, the green and sustainable choices for the Etihad guests. Were there any recent developments? Were there any new campaigns on that front? Is sustainability and those choices still available in the program? Do you think about expanding the options?
Mark Potter, Managing Director, Etihad Guest: The ability to earn badges through the Conscious Choices program is still there. Admittedly, as a program, we’ve been focused on our next phase from the relaunch point of view. So the ability for members to still engage in that platform is there, and we’re still seeing engagement. The gamification ability through that platform is very strong as well. However, we’re critically focused on hitting our end of this quarter’s prelaunch. Then, we will continue to look at ways to amplify other parts of the program.
08:41
GLO: Mark, last year, Etihad won the Business Travelers Award for the Middle East. Congratulations on that award. This year, the ceremony will be held tonight. So we don’t know the results yet, but fingers crossed. How is Etihad planning to keep the leadership in such a competitive space and a region where we see many new airlines emerging, especially in neighbouring Saudi Arabia? Etihad Guest is one of the oldest and most well-regarded programs. But the competition is there, and investments are quite big. How do you plan to face it?
Mark Potter, Managing Director, Etihad Guest: I can’t speak for the airline, but our announcement of changes to the program in February shows that we’re constantly looking at ways to amplify and improve the proposition for our members. We also have a legacy of being at the forefront of innovation from a program perspective. And so I’m not as concerned as maybe it may sound in the market, given that competition is always good, in my view. We’ve got great neighbours across the UAE and other markets in the GCC who are doing great things. We will constantly try to move the dial and push the envelope to remain leaders. So, having more players in the game is okay for us. I think it just really pushes us to drive a proposition that members expect and deserve. Competition is always good.
10:07
GLO: 2024 was a good year for airlines, for the region and travel. We see a tremendous pickup in interest. Some of the revenge travel is still coming back post-COVID. But the speed of the increase or comeback is slowing down. What challenges do you think the region and the industry might face on the airline tourism and loyalty front in 2024 and maybe 2025? And how do you think you can address that?
Mark Potter, Managing Director, Etihad Guest: We’re laser-focused on our strategy.We have a strategy towards 2030. The program is part of that strategy. And so we’ll continue to push to ensure that the proposition we’re presenting allows us to maintain the demand we’re seeing. You will see, again, we have competitors coming in. We’ve got great airlines around us. And I think collectively, there’s a job for us to do to keep customers aware of the great proposition we have in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and other markets. And the program, you’ll see as well, is part of that narrative. So, the ability to transact and earn miles at malls, theme parks, and digital stores within the UAE and other GCC allows us to amplify our propositions further. So I’m not too concerned. I think there is certainly an opportunity for us to continue to grow. We will grow. And we are growing as we speak. I think the future is bright.
11:28
GLO: It is a tradition at a Global Loyalty Organisation to ask three personal questions at the end of the interview. The first one is: If you had one million points and could spend them however you wanted, how would you spend them?
Mark Potter, Managing Director, Etihad Guest: This is not a rehearsed one. I’ll tell you the answer. We announced in February that you can now use your miles to buy the Residence, the three-suite luxury product that we’ve got on the A380. The ability to use a million miles would mean that I could fly that with my wife to London and return, which would be a really nice experience. I haven’t yet done that. I’ve seen it many times, but I would use it that way.
12:07
GLO: Okay. Thank you so much. Anyone of us would take it. If you had a magic wand and you could invent any loyalty feature or technology or feature for your program, what would that be?
Mark Potter, Managing Director, Etihad Guest: We discussed card linking before. If I could access almost SKU-level information, that would allow us to tailor the proposition or a personalised offer to the member. Of course, we need members’ approval to do that, and we don’t want to go too far in that space. But the key thing would be, if I can service and understand what you’re buying within the merchant ecosystem, the offer can be much more tailored for you. We could build a one-to-one offer system as opposed to almost a segment-based offer system.
12:48
GLO: You’ve been in the industry for some time. You’re working for one of the world’s leading airlines and loyalty programs. If you had to give one advice to the young Mark, just starting in the industry 15 or 20 years ago, what would that advice be?
Mark Potter, Managing Director, Etihad Guest: Know your member. I think we sometimes create propositions based on what we think should be happening or the corporate need. However, we need to find a happy medium between corporate requirements and the members’ needs. I think the learning would be to use the data as much as possible. Have one-to-one relationships and communication with members. Get advisory boards to give you feedback. And then obviously take it forward rather than making decisions perhaps on a whim or based on a commercial objective. Certainly, it’s part of the changes we announced in February going live next quarter. There was a lot of work to do to try to understand. Is this what the member wants? Are we giving what the member deserves as part of their loyalty? And so those advisory boards gave us access to that information. And I think if I had my time again ten years ago perhaps, we would have spent a little bit more time understanding who the member was and what their needs were.
13:55
GLO: Thank you so much for your insights and advice. We hope to catch up with you again later this year at the World Aviation Festival or at other events.
Mark Potter, Managing Director, Etihad Guest: Thanks a lot.
Source: GLO
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