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By Christopher Sealey, Senior Vice President and Creative Director, OneOf
The last time I saw GRAMMY-Award-winning artist Diplo was in 2001. We were both up-and-coming DJs on the New York City party scene, gossiping on early Internet forums (Hollerboard, IYKYK!) and frequenting Turntable Lab, the East Village music nerd meeting spot. Since then, Diplo and I have collectively earned more than $50 million dollars from deejaying thousands of events across the globe, and produced 13 chart-topping hits between us.
A simple Google search will reveal which one of us is responsible for 99.9% of this success. (Hint: it’s not me).
The other thing Diplo and I have earned is millions in travel rewards from Delta Airlines. Some of these rewards – the free flights, the complimentary upgrades – anchor our loyalty to the brand. But some of these rewards, like drink vouchers or airport lounge passes, go unused and underappreciated. They are a waste of time and money for the airline, and a liability on the company’s books.
Unsurprisingly, Diplo is a lot more creative with his expiring Delta rewards than I am, last week sending his personal assistant to give away more than 250 unused drink vouchers to passengers at Los Angeles International Airport, and creating a viral social media moment.
My Delta drink vouchers? I’ve never actually redeemed one. A few even expired during a recent trip to Los Angeles with my six-year-old son (he can only go through so many Shirley Temples in one sitting). I would have loved an airport lounge guest pass, though. Having to pay $30 for my kid to join me for a pre-flight granola bar made me resentful towards Delta, a company I’ve been loyal to for decades and spent tens of thousands of dollars with.
Such is the engagement gap in consumer rewards, where the average American belongs to 18 brand loyalty programs and cares about less than half of them. There are plenty of passengers on Delta who like to get lifted before takeoff, and I’d happily have traded them free liquor for free lounge access – making us happier customers. How can it be that in 2023, the only way to exchange rewards with peers is to have a personal assistant, a camera phone, and millions of Instagram followers?
Enter Web3 – a disruptive Internet technology that has struggled to find everyday problems to solve. If the blockchain architecture that powers Web3 is robust enough to support global exchanges of digital currencies and collectibles, why can’t we use it to exchange a simple drink ticket for a lounge pass?
Since 2017, OneOf has modeled our Web3 loyalty and marketplace software around questions like these. Frequent flyers are an opinionated bunch. We have our favorite airlines, our favorite routes, our favorite seats, our favorite snacks, and we’re happiest when the journey is comfortable, convenient, and customized. Yet, beyond redeeming airline reward miles on selected flights and hoping for seat upgrades that we don’t control, we have very little agency – no matter how much we fly.
Off-the-radar concierge services generate millions by helping the world’s top executives arbitrage travel rewards, credit card rewards and all sorts of other benefits. Why isn’t this value optimization above board, and available to everyone?
If Delta tokenized its SkyMiles program – putting frequent flyer benefits on the blockchain for easy tracking and trading between members – the airline could transform its consumer base into a robust peer-to-peer community where Delta loyalists can design their own rewards programs and engage more deeply with the brand.
Transaction fees on benefits trading can drive new revenue streams, secondary marketplace data (recorded on the blockchain in a privacy-centric fashion) offers new consumer insights and gamification opportunities, and giving customers a Web3 identity makes them easier to reach in an Internet future where people are leaving big tech platforms and advertising ROI is waning.
So what about Diplo? He probably earns enough to skip the rewards and fly Delta anyway. The rest of us? In exchange for our brand loyalty we demand value, we demand personalization, and we demand privacy. What we’re really demanding is the power of Web3.
The Web3 arms race is here, and Fortune 500 companies across the globe are looking to future-proof their consumer engagement. Brands need to make sure they aren’t last to board this flight. (I’ve got some extra drink tickets if you need them.)
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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