Bosses dismissed 'rubbish' Clubcard

Former Tesco chief Sir Terry Leahy has revealed that the Clubcard loyalty scheme very nearly did not even get off the ground, after his bosses initially rejected the programme as a load of rubbish.
Speaking at the Marketing Society’s annual conference this week, the man widely credited with turning the supermarket into the powerhouse it is today used the Clubcard example to urge marketers to “be brave”.
Leahy bemoaned the fact that marketing as a profession had lost much of its confidence and was more averse to the risk-taking needed to innovate.
He added: “Marketing people have to be braver and take more risks. You might get fired, but you’ve got to take risks. Marketers have to find their way back to true marketing, beginning with the customer and their fast-changing lives. For Clubcard, we got more data, bided our time and went back again.”
Leahy also returned to his well-worn theme that big data is not a new phenomenon, claiming the Clubcard scheme – launched back in 1995 – was “the first example of big data, which is the buzzword of today”.
However, in what is likely to re-open the debate about who actually came up with original idea, Leahy went on to claim: “I pinched the idea of Clubcard from the Co-op, where I started my career.”
The origins of the scheme – cited as one of the key elements of transforming the retailer’s entire operation – have been the subject of much debate over the years, with many people, particularly former staff at Tesco’s agency, Evans Hunt Scott (now Havas EHS), laying claim to being heavily involved.
According to the official version of events, Leahy, who was Tesco marketing director at the time, asked his team to investigate the potential of loyalty cards in 1993. Led by marketing manager Grant Harrison, the team researched programmes across the world and developed a proposal. In 1994, Harrison attended a conference where Clive Humby, co-founder of DunnHumby, was speaking, and approached him to help with the project. Following trials in 14 stores, the programme was eventually rolled out in 1995.

Bosses dismissed ‘rubbish’ Clubcard

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