V.I.P. – Membership has its Privileges
There was a time when you could barely turn on the TV without American Express reminding you that “Membership has its privileges.” This is something we thought about nine months ago when my team started Virgin’s V.I.P. program. We wanted to create a program that really had its privileges.
Inspiration from the slogan is where the credit card similarities end, however. When our team sat down to brainstorm Virgin’s V.I.P. program our goal was to create a loyalty program like no other. We looked at other retailers’ customer loyalty deals and were surprised at how many of them revolve around the same inspiration we’d initially had – credit cards. It seemed most retailers link all their good customer benefits to buying something on their store credit card. We wanted something better; we wanted to go way beyond that. We wanted something that would cater to our most loyal customers and give them something they really wanted, that they couldn’t get anywhere else No “Buy 10 Get 1 Free” or “Free Underwear with your Purchase” gimmicks, just really cool Virgin-esque rewards. Today we are celebrating the success of our program not just because of all the cool things we’ve given away, but because in nine short months, out of just seven stores, Virgin’s VIP Loyalty program has grown to over 110,000 members!
Of course it’s the cool things we’ve given away that has most of our customers pumped up, but for us at Virgin it’s the fact that 110,000 people have signed up to be Loyal fans of Virgin Entertainment. In return V.I.P. members have scored $5,000 shopping sprees at Armani, trips to Australia, trips to London, signed guitars from Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert and Pat Green, exclusive passes to Jimmy Kimmel Live, tickets to Broadway’s sold out hit “Wicked”, Sony Digital Video Camcorder packages and we’ve even sent two V.I.P. members to the impossible-to-get-into American Idol Finale taping. Our V.I.P. members have been selected to meet Jay-Z, hung out in the green room with James Blunt, met Sir Paul McCartney, Pam Anderson, Snoop Dogg, and countless other celebrities — and we’re just starting!
We’re always on the lookout for cool new rewards to give away to our V.I.P. members, so keep your eye on the V.I.P. Winners page, and drop me a line if you can think of any cool ideas for what you’d like to win!
Cheers,
Dee
Virgin Megastore Replaces Tower Records in The Hollywood Bowl
For those of you following the music retail industry, it should be no surprise that The Hollywood Bowl had a little extra space after Tower Records closed its doors. If you’ve ever been to The Hollywood Bowl, you will know why we couldn’t resist opening a store to take its place – not only is it the site of The Beatles’ first live recording, Frank Sinatra, The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Nine Inch Nails, and The Flaming Lips have all given famous performances there as well. With an iconic store on Sunset and a Flagship store at Hollywood and Highland, all that remained for Virgin was to open a store right in the heart of live music. The store couldn’t have opened at a better time than mid-summer, and with fireworks displays planned for the 4th, this should be a great week for fans of The Hollywood Bowl. Drop me a note if you make it by the new store and tell me what you think!
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