I Am A Believer

I am a Believer. The shift towards communities of interests and belonging is reshaping loyalty programs, enabling people to actually participate more in the brands they believe in. Three threads are converging: communities of interest, token-gated access to exclusive content, and digital collectibles.

People are seeking out digital groups where they can explore their interests, such as Reddit, Discord, and Twitch. Brands are exploring new goods and experiences for customers, leading to new revenues and potentially for the customer as well. Participation is the next level of customer relationship beyond loyalty.

Brands will soon need to engage their communities or build a new one to grow their customer base. The next generation of brands will be built as communities first and then turned into brands that benefit from the proactive participation of the community. The technology is a tool to drive engagement and facilitate ownership, but it's the community approach to loyalty that's most important for the customer.

In the marketing funnel, we expect to see more brands creating products specifically because of online communities who articulate an unmet need. Brands like Bacardi are connecting fans with artists through NFT projects, playing the role of a record label and facilitating participation between artists and their audiences. The community approach to loyalty can be applied to different degrees, depending on the nature of the brand and its products or services.

The most important thing is to remember that the technology is not the most interesting thing for the customer, but the community approach to loyalty is..