Tigerair's Infrequent Flyers Club rewards not flying — 500k members, Spikes Media GP

Tigerair Australia, a low-cost carrier, faced a structural oddity: its customers flew rarely, so points-and-status loyalty programs designed for frequent flyers meant almost nothing to them. Its head of communications said plainly that for most Australians the merits of a frequent flyer program were pretty meaningless because flying was too expensive.

McCann Melbourne's answer, launched in April 2014, was the Infrequent Flyers Club — a loyalty club for people who do not fly often. Members chose their own status-card color, from '70s brown to 'triple emerald sapphire ivory', printed the card at home, and got no lounge because, as Tigerair put it, 'you have one at home'. The first 5,000 members each received an AU$100 flight voucher.

The club was, deliberately, a recognition machine more than a rewards program, and it quietly did the real work of a CRM: every member opted into Tigerair's deal updates. Within about seven months it passed 500,000 members, and a second phase in November 2014 added a 90-second cinema spot about a chicken who longs to fly, plus a downloadable airline-food menu members could cook at home.

At Spikes Asia 2015 the campaign won the Media Grand Prix, and trade reports credited its irreverent honesty with getting Australians talking and signing up — proof that a low-cost brand could treat its real customer with more wit and relevance than a standard miles program.