Reflexive marketing: the cultural circuit of loyalty programs

Abstract

The amount ofpersonal data now collected through contemporary marketing practices is indicative of the shifting landscape of contemporary capitalism. Loyalty programs can be seen as one exemplar ofthis, using the ‘add-ons’ of‘points’ and ‘miles’ to entice consumers into divulging a range ofpersonal information. These consumers are subject to surveillance practices that have digitally identified them as significant in the eyes of a corporation, yet they are also part of a feedback loop subject to ongoing analysis.Thispaper focusesonthis analysisasthe ‘cultural circuit’ ofloyalty programs— the ongoing process of meaning-making in this form of contemporary marketing—as exemplary of what Nigel Thrift calls “soft capitalism”(1997, 2005). Loyalty programs engage consumers in an ongoing ‘relationship’ with a corporation, yet it is one predicated on the collection and analysis of personal data in order to identify, maintain and increase profits from these consumer ‘relationships.’ This paper looks at ways of knowing, application and revision in the cultural circuit of loyalty program marketing as a form of reflexive marketing and raises concerns about consumer subjectivity in the context consumer culture that mediates much of contemporary experience. These technologies and practices continually adapt and adjust to strategically act toward consumers as a form of consumer surveillance based on an increasingly intensive and nuanced knowledge of their behaviours.