It is 20 years since one injured runner organised a timed 5k run for 13 friends in South West London, on the condition that they stayed for coffee with him afterwards. From that morning, what we now know and love as Parkrun was born – free, timed, regular 5k events that have rocket-fuelled both exercise participation and community around the world.
Every Saturday morning, from the US to Denmark, Singapore to South Africa, Poland to Japan, more than nine million runners, walkers and volunteers embrace the fitness challenge and community togetherness that Parkrun combines.
At MBS, we love Parkrun. We love the impact it has had on so many individuals’ health, fitness and confidence, the volunteers it has inspired, the friendships it has fostered, its celebration of time outside, and its sense of purpose (we are a B Corp after all).
We also love organisations that understand their customers, and build deep, powerful relationships with them, especially when those relationships lead to positive change. Part of Parkrun’s success is the attachment runners feel to their ‘streaks’: they don’t stop at one run, or two, but continue on to 50 or 100, and, once they’ve hit a milestone, are rewarded with a commemorative t-shirt, which is celebrated by other runners, fuelling a virtuous cycle which benefits both the runner and Parkrun itself.
Parkrun’s 20 years has paralleled the growth of loyalty marketing, customer relationship management, and, increasingly, the data and analytics that underpin them. Research shows that 74% of consumers prefer to interact with a company if it has a strong rewards system, but, in 2024, said strong rewards systems are not simply about a free coffee once you’ve hit ten stamps on a loyalty card, but are, instead, focused on building genuine trust and connection. Matt Walburn, Marketing, Online and Customer Director at Superdrug, characterises this as ‘emotive loyalty’.
“Loyalty programmes aren’t new, any more than going for a run in the park was 20 years ago, but this deepening of trust and connection with the customer is garnering both positive business results and shaping customer behaviours for the better.”
Superdrug is just one of a number of companies transitioning to this marketing approach, stepping away from the ‘get points, get discounts’ rhetoric and towards rewards that will positively impact its customers’ lives. For example, VIP members (as Superdrug loyalty card holders are referred to) will be able to access free wellness and meditative content with mental health and sleep app Calm from January 2025, have previously been offered flu jabs and vaccinations at discounted prices, and can even receive discounted gym memberships with Hussle.
Matt explains to me: “We are trying to get that emotive loyalty going by getting across to our customers that we can offer wellness for them. We want them to see that we are aiming to help them as people alongside trying to drive our sales.”
And Superdrug has seen genuine results: “We’ve had the highest level of open rate we’ve seen recently, and part of that is because we’re not simply hammering promotions, but instead offering content driven communications to give both members and non-members something they can engage with and get value from”.
The key to these loyalty programmes – just like with Parkrun’s ‘streaks’ – is the encouragement to repeat positive behaviours. Similarly, EDF Energy is offering a Sunday Saver challenge which spurs on customers to save energy each week and earn up to 16 hours of free electricity every Sunday. It isn’t a one-off, it refreshes and renews every week, motivating customers to continue to save, to continue to stick with EDF Energy as their provider, and to continue to be mindful of their energy usage. In Great Britain, 86.5% of adults have made changes to their lifestyle to help the environment and 80% of consumers globally are willing to pay for sustainable goods, so this programme shows an alignment of outcomes between company and consumer, providing value for both.
This type of model is also becoming more prevalent in healthcare. Vitality has been disrupting the insurance space with what it calls the ‘social value model’, nudging customers to lead healthier lives and improve their health. The focus is on behaviour change, with members increasing exercise by 22% on average, reducing consumption of fatty foods by 27%, and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption by 11% after just a year of engaging with the Vitality Programme. Smoking is also an area where members have seen hugely positive results; 47% quit altogether at the end of a 12-week programme, while 10% of members affected have achieved remission of type 2 diabetes. Although healthier customers means lower premiums, these are also life-changing impacts that go beyond traditional marketing – it is the epitome of how having a positive impact on customers lives also makes good business sense.
Nuffield Health approaches this in a slightly different way. Its methods for changing its customers’ lives for the better are to increase the public’s voice and influence alongside the programmes it offers. In the last year, it has worked closely with government to showcase the importance of fitness for long-term health, while its Healthier Nation Index allowed the company’s message to be taken to the centre of government for a roundtable debate, aspiring to system-level change. Rather than targeting immediately tangible results, the value from this strategy comes from positioning itself as a trustworthy thought leader advocating for its customers.
Loyalty programmes aren’t new, any more than going for a run in the park was 20 years ago, but this deepening of trust and connection with the customer is garnering both positive business results and shaping customer behaviours for the better. Here at MBS, we love demonstrating that companies are able to improve their marketing engagement whilst also make a genuinely positive impact on their customers’ lives – and loyalty schemes focused on positive reaffirmation and encouraging repeat behaviours that turn into good habits are an important part of that jigsaw.
This isn’t a shift that is happening in simply one sector; it’s something that can be spotted everywhere, from language learning apps like Duolingo which has an ultra-successful streaks system, to disrupters like Vitality whose schemes are transforming customers’ health, and retailers like Superdrug who are going beyond discounts for their VIP members. Once the value of going to a certain company surpasses the purely monetary, and customers begin to see a genuinely positive impact on themselves and the world they live in, that’s where the real loyalty begins – and it looks as if plenty of brands are seeing that. Whether celebrating 20 years of Parkrun this year, or saving money on energy every weekend, this kind of marketing is the definition of a win-win.
