Relationship Marketing

MARK 2028 Assignment #4 Relationship Marketing GBC 2020-21
Assignment #4: Relationship Marketing (5%)
Background:
To complete this assignment, read about relationship marketing in Chapter 11 (p. 145 – 156) of the
Handbook and refer to the appendix for more tips (p, 188-190).
Use your new research skills to source information describing a Financial Services loyalty program (e.g.
credit card or other financial product). This assignment is designed to give you experience in searching
out competitive information and applying relationship marketing tools.
The Assignment:
Assume you are the marketing manager assigned to recommend a loyalty program. While thinking
about your target customer and your company’s strength (or weakness) with respect to relationship
marketing, research competitive loyalty programs in the market place. Your objective is to retain your
most profitable current customers AND attract new profitable customers. The program you
recommend must differentiate your product offering (marketing perspective) while provide a good
return on marketing investment (finance perspective).
Using both insight and intuition, recommend a program that a financial institution or a commercial
branch could implement to build loyalty among their most profitable customers. Since this is a
relationship marketing project, also consider what communication processes are needed to ensure
your account managers are successfully building strong relationships with their customers.
Remember, not all customers are profitable. Your loyalty program should reward loyal profitable
customers and attract profitable new customers for your program to payout. Consider how to
evaluate and target the most profitable customers. Considering that loyalty points on the books are
liabilities, part of your relationship marketing program must incent members to redeem their points.
TIP: Research successful Loyalty programs such as Loyalty Marketing’s AirMiles, Shopper’s Drug Mart’s
Optimum program and BNS Scene Visa can provide inspiration.
This is an individual assignment. You can work in groups to discuss ideas and pool resources during
your research phase, however, the recommendations must be unique and in your own words. Outline
your sources of data and avoid plagiarizing at all costs. Late submissions will be penalized because
time is of the essence! BTW, your customers are being bombarded by your competition, so its
imperative that you protect your base and act quickly. Consider the new reality of the WW Pandemic
and its impact on your Canadian target.
Keep your analysis and recommendation short and to the point, limited to 3 pages, 12 point type,
double spaced. The recommendations will be evaluated based on the quality of your research, the
clarity of your writing and the creativity of your proposal. Your recommendation should be at least 2
pages but limited to 3 pages.