Whitbread owned coffee chain Costa has appointed Lida to overhaul its loyalty scheme, the Costa Coffee Club, as part of plans to scale up the programme to serve international markets.
The M&C Saatchi-owned agency beat off three unnamed shops to the business, in a pitch managed by AAR that kicked off in April this year.
The agency will work across all Costa’s territories, including the UK, as well as international markets China, the United Arab Emirates and Poland. Despite its international presence, the Costa Coffee Club currently has only 2.7 million active members.
The appointment does not affect Costa’s relationship with Prophecy Unlimited – the Creston agency formed by the merger of The Real Adventure and EMO – which has handled the UK account since 2015.
Costa digital director Arslan Sharif said: “[Lida] demonstrated what we could expect from the next generation of loyalty. We were impressed with their understanding of retail loyalty programmes. In line with this, the team came prepared with solutions and possibilities to allow us to connect and engage with our customers in more effective ways.”
Lida chairman Matthew Heath added: “With the loyalty market undergoing its biggest change in recent years, Costa has been one of the first brands to embrace this change and look ahead to what this means for customer experience.”
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