Avios appoints Soul as below-the-line agency partner

Avios, the travel rewards business, has appointed Soul as a below-the-line agency partner and sole CRM agency after a competitive pitch process involving eight other agencies.

Dina Yacob, Head of CRM at Avios said, “We are very excited to partner with Soul as we strive to create the best possible experience for our customers. Our focus is to drive personal and relevant conversations and creating rewarding, valuable and long lasting relationships. Despite strong competition, Soul was the agency best placed to help us deliver on that vision.”

As a key partner in helping Avios reach its goal of becoming the leading global travel rewards business by 2020, Soul will undertake CRM, direct marketing and below-the-line brand work globally. Soul will begin with a strategic review, redefining Avios’ marketing planning and customer life cycle. The partnership will transform how Avios speaks to customers, using a combination of smart technology and AI to analyse customer data and create meaningful content and interactions.

Soul will work closely with Avios’ global brand partners to develop templates for Avios currency communications and ensure that campaigns are integrated across those partners to aid cohesion, impact and improve the customer experience.

Katy Dunn, Customer Director at Avios said, “Soul demonstrated that it understands not only Avios, but our customers. This, combined with its strategic thinking, intuitive use of technology, and outstanding creative output made it the obvious partner in helping us achieve our global vision.”

Mike Cullis, CEO of Soul said: “As CRM agency partner, our role will be to take the Avios brand essence of ‘time well spent’ and make this personal and valuable for every customer. It’s about applying our 1:1 communications mantra to the brand on a day to day basis so it’s meaningful and helpful rather than just CRM noise that bombards so many people nowadays.”

The win is on the back of other recent successes for Soul; including retained commitments from SSE and broadband player Relish and an expansion into larger offices in Farringdon.