December 31, 2008 ; 15 years ago ( 2008-12-31 ) (Second Version)
57-695: February 1, 2008 ; 16 years ago ( 2008-02-01 ) (Second Version) Pepsi Stuff was a major loyalty program launched by PepsiCo , first in North America on March 28, 1996 and then around the world, featuring premiums — such as T-shirts, hats, denim and leather jackets, bags, and mountain bikes — that could be purchased with Pepsi Points through the Pepsi Stuff Catalog or online. Customers could acquire points from specially marked Pepsi packages and fountain cups. Additional points were sold both by Pepsi and by consumers,
114-490: A Pepsi Stuff promotion in partnership with Amazon MP3. Customers can exchange points offered on 4 billion Pepsi bottles for, among other prizes, MP3 downloads from Warner, EMI, and Sony BMG (though not Universal). Rockstar Games ' 2008 title Grand Theft Auto IV connects to Amazon MP3. Players can register on the Rockstar Games Social Club web site to receive e-mail outside the game containing
171-413: A Super Bowl ad in 1996. In that ad, Pepsi advertised a Harrier jump jet as a prize that can be redeemed for 7,000,000 points. John Leonard realized that if he obtained 15 points, and bought the rest of the points, the jet would be cheaper than what it would cost to buy. So Leonard mailed it to Pepsi but the company refused to give him a Harrier jet. A lawsuit was filed in an attempt by a party to obtain
228-471: A Super Bowl spot starring Justin Timberlake and featuring Andy Samberg from Saturday Night Live . The promotion ended on December 31, 2008. The program relaunched in 2015 as Pepsi Pass , with different ways consumers could earn points: Either through the program's app downloaded through iTunes or Google Play (for 500 points), finding codes under caps (for 1,000 points), or entering the code from
285-465: A barcode or magstripe to more easily allow for scanning, although some are chip cards or proximity cards . U.S. supermarkets often issue two copies of the card: one credit-card sized and one that fits on a keychain, in addition to providing access to the card via a mobile app, website. As of 2024, most programs in the United States offer a digital version of the loyalty card, accessed via
342-400: A 10% discount off most merchandise. There is also a free tier which does not offer such discounts but does allow members to collect virtual "stamps" (i.e. loyalty points). Depending on the program, rewards may take the form of: In addition to rewards, loyalty cards were may also be used identify consumers for benefits and other services, e.g.: Programs with cashback features give customers
399-411: A free ad-based service offering access to selected playlists and stations, with skip limits and shuffle playback. Music Prime , a service offering unlimited streaming of a limited music catalog, has been available to Amazon Video subscribers at no additional cost in several countries since mid-2014. Music Unlimited , a full-catalog streaming service, has been available as an additional tier or as
456-471: A given customer's favorite brand of beer, or whether they are a vegetarian. As of the mid-2020s, loyalty program trends include: Loyalty programs are a means of implementing a type of what economists call a two-part tariff . Co-operative Membership: the Co-op Group offers a 2% (previously 5%) refund to members on Co-op branded products with 2% also going to the cardholder's nominated charity. This
513-727: A jet for 7 million purchased points. The suit, Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc. , 88 F. Supp 2d 116 (S.D.N.Y. 1996) was dismissed and he did not get the jet. In the years after the initial Pepsi Stuff promotion, both Pepsi and Coca-Cola have introduced other promotions in a similar vein to the original campaign. Some promotions involved a variety of merchandise, while others involved specific products, such as Cash or MP3s. Pepsi's 2002–2003 iTunes campaign fizzled when only 500 cap codes were redeemed. Also in 2006, Pepsi introduced Pepsi Access in Canada to compete with iCoke, although that campaign ended in 2007. In 2005, The Coca-Cola Company launched iCoke ,
570-462: A license to make Cloud Player available." Technology website Ars Technica noted that this is "seemingly logical" since users are uploading and playing back their own music, so the licenses users acquired from the original purchase apply to the Cloud Player in the same way they apply to transferring and playing music from an external hard drive or digital audio player. Techdirt commented that
627-459: A link to buy marked songs from Amazon MP3. Myspace has sold music from Amazon MP3 as part of its MySpace Music feature since September 2008. On June 24, 2021, Amazon announced its acquisition of Art19, a major podcast hosting and monetization platform. Initial reaction to Amazon MP3 was generally positive. The unofficial Apple Weblog praised the lack of DRM especially given that track prices were cheaper than iTunes Plus songs at launch, but
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#1732780960488684-497: A loyalty program (even with a fake or anonymous card) funds activities that violate privacy. Consumers have also expressed concern about the integration of RFID technology into loyalty-card systems. One may view loyalty and credit-card reward-plans as modern-day examples of kickbacks . Employees who need to buy something (such as an airline flight or a hotel room) for a business trip , but who have discretion to decide which airline or hotel chain to use, have an incentive to choose
741-448: A mobile app to present their loyalty account number, although criticized for being unfriendly to people without smartphones including many elderly people, benefits the merchant in a number of ways. It lets them present special offers to the customer (or even push them via push notifications ), tailor customer experience to the individual consumer, and understand customer behavior better, including their purchasing amounts and patterns. At
798-499: A mobile app, and often customers can scan a QR or bar code from the app at the physical point of sale. Some programs now offer digital cards only or only exceptionally, such as Marks and Spencer 's "Sparks" program in the UK launched in 2020 which no longer issues physical cards except upon special request. American Airlines no longer sends membership kits to new members of its frequent flyer program. Encouraging or forcing customers to use
855-472: A physical point of sale, presenting a physical or digital card is not necessary at many U.S. merchants, if the customer enters the phone number associated with the account on a terminal or tells it to a cashier who enters it into the register. When purchasing online, customers usually must log in to the account on the merchant's website. However, when purchasing airline tickets from online travel agencies, customers can usually enter their airline loyalty number into
912-493: A portion of the money that they have spent with a business (usually a defined percent which may be higher than usual during promotions). The "cash back" is rarely actually cash money, but rather takes the form of a transfer of the "cashback" amount to the customer's bank account. Examples in the U.S. include Rakuten Rewards , a coalition reward program, and many banks that give their clients cash back for using their debit cards to pay for various products and services. Depending on
969-525: A separate app for Mac OS X and Windows, called the Amazon Music Downloader, which is no longer available. The downloader was purely for downloading purchased tracks, it did not offer music playback capabilities. In November 2018, it was announced that Amazon Music will be available on Android TV. In August 2019, Amazon Music got its first smartwatch app available on selected Garmin smartwatches. On February 1, 2008, Pepsi introduced
1026-664: A single-location business to large chains or membership in a coalition loyalty program. Industries include: The market approach has shifted from product-centric to a customer-centric one due to a highly competitive market and a wide array of services offered to customers, therefore, it's important that marketing strategies prioritize growing a sustainable business and increasing customer satisfaction. Almost all major U.S. casino chains also have loyalty cards, which offer members tier credits, reward credits, comps , and other perks based on card members' " theo " from gambling, various demographic data, and spend patterns on various purchases at
1083-801: A standalone subscription since late 2016; though, in India, there is only one tier of Amazon Music available, known as the Amazon Prime Music , and is provided to all the existing Prime members at no additional cost and gives access to the full catalog, including podcasts. The availability of Amazon Music Services is as follows: Amazon Music's streaming music catalog is accessible from the Amazon.com web player using HTML DRM extensions or from player apps for multiple platforms including macOS, iOS, Windows, Android, FireOS, Alexa devices, and some automobiles and smart TVs. Amazon's purchasable music catalog
1140-502: A very similar program to Pepsi Stuff in which consumers collect points printed on packages in Canada. On February 28, 2006—nearly ten years after the first Pepsi Stuff promotion began—The Coca-Cola Company responded with the launch of its first U.S. loyalty program and biggest promotion ever, My Coke Rewards , a premium program that is managed through four-billion unique codes that consumers can enter online to redeem over $ 50 million worth of premiums. On February 1, 2008, Pepsi relaunched
1197-542: A web interface. Originally bundled with Amazon Cloud Drive was the music streaming application called Cloud Player which allowed users to play their music stored in the Cloud Drive from any computer or Android device with Internet access. This was discontinued. Amazon Music for PC was launched in May 2013 as a downloadable Windows application for playing music outside a web browser. The MacOS version of Amazon Music
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#17327809604881254-543: Is 29.1 million songs. In January 2008, Amazon announced plans to roll Amazon MP3 out "internationally". Amazon limits international access by checking users' credit card issued country. The first international version was launched December 3, 2008 in the United Kingdom. German, Austrian, French, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, Canadian, and Indian versions of the store followed. In addition to digital purchases, Amazon Music also serves streaming music. Music Free ,
1311-571: Is accessible from the Amazon.com web site by searching for an artist or title name, or via a store embedded in many, but not all, of the player apps. To download purchased music, Amazon offers either the Amazon Music player (which runs on Windows 7 or later and Mac OS X 10.9 and later) or a zip file of MP3s downloaded from Amazon's web player. Amazon Music previously offered additional applications, such as one for Blackberry and one for Palm. These are no longer offered. Amazon also previously offered
1368-516: Is billed in addition to, and available without an Amazon Prime account. The service later expanded to users in the United Kingdom, Germany and Austria on November 14, 2016. Much commentary on Amazon Music at launch focused on its legality, since Amazon launched the service without the approval of the record labels. Amazon's official statement was "Cloud Player is an application that lets customers manage and play their own music. It's like any number of existing media management applications. We do not need
1425-440: Is no data to indicate which specific customer purchased a given MP3 file. This observation reflected Amazon's policy at the time. By 2011, however, the policy had changed and certain explicitly labeled tracks embed "Record Company Required Metadata" including, among other information, unique identifiers: Embedded in the metadata of each purchased MP3 from [Universal Music Group] are a random number Amazon assigns to your order,
1482-501: Is often a QR code . Some prominent examples are Austrian based mobile-pocket established in 2009, the US-based Punchd (discontinued from June 2013, ), which became part of Google in 2011. and an Australian-based loyalty card application called Stamp Me which incorporates iBeacon technology. Others, like Loopy Loyalty (HK), Loyalli (UK), Perka (US), and Whisqr Loyalty (CA), have offered similar programs. Passbook by Apple
1539-406: Is only available in Co-op Group stores. It replaced the dividend benefit previously used. Other Co-op chains continue with the dividend scheme, e.g. Midcounties Co-operative. Many of these accept other Co-operative loyalty cards but generally without the same benefits. For instance Midcounties Co-operative accept Co-operative Group cards but there is no charity donation or cardholder refund. Flybuys
1596-416: Is that they generate data, which bring more repeat business and therefore increase sales. Application forms for cards usually entail agreements by the store concerning customer privacy, typically non-disclosure (by the store) of non-aggregate data about customers. The store uses aggregate data internally (and sometimes externally) as part of its marketing research . Over time the data can reveal, for example,
1653-422: Is the first attempt to standardize the format of mobile loyalty cards. With the introduction of host card emulation (HCE) and near field communication (NFC) technology for mobile applications, traditional contactless smart cards for prepaid and loyalty programs are emulated in a smartphone. Google Wallet adopted these technologies for mobile off-line payment applications. The major advantage of off-line over
1710-507: Is the largest loyalty program in both Australia and New Zealand . Loyalty programs have been described as a form of centralized virtual currency , one with unidirectional cash flow, since reward points can be exchanged into a good or service but not into cash. Evidence for the effectiveness of loyalty programs is controversial. Many companies are unsure whether and how to use customer loyalty programs profitably. Many programs (regardless of location, size, or industry) are run without
1767-490: The Amazon store name, the purchase date and time, codes that identify the album and song (the UPC and ISRC), Amazon's digital signature, and an identifier that can be used to determine whether the audio has been modified. In addition, Amazon inserts the first part of the email address associated with your Amazon.com account Music downloaded during the temporary promotional time period of trial membership will be blocked from access if
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1824-890: The Pepsi website (for 100 points). The prizes were gift cards, electronics, and other items. The program relaunched on January 22, 2018, reused the old Pepsi Stuff name, and ended on February 28, 2019. Like all programs using the name, points could be earned by finding codes on caps and packaging. But this time, the program partnered with the NFL to add NFL merchandise as part of the possible prizes users could get, in addition to premiums and drawings for concert tickets. Users could also download retro posters with their points as well. Products had codes worth different point values; single bottles generally had one point while can 12-packs had two and 24-packs had four. Codes from Pepsi NFL Kickoff 12-packs were worth four points. Items available for redemption through
1881-440: The United States do not offer any real value to their customers. Furthermore, commercial use of customers' personal data – collected as part of loyalty programs – has the potential for abuse; it is highly likely that consumer purchases are tracked and used for marketing research to increase the efficiency of marketing and advertising, which is one of the purposes of offering the loyalty card. For some customers, participating in
1938-461: The agency website and the agency will pass it onto the airline. Programs that feature points grant customers a certain number of points for each purchase, in the US often per $ 1 or $ 10 increment of spend. Once they have enough points, clients can redeem them for either: Programs with tiers define levels (such as silver, gold, and platinum levels) that customers are upgraded to when they spend enough with
1995-472: The appropriate metrics or target parameters. Some companies complain that loyalty programs discount goods to people who are buying goods anyway. Moreover, the expense of participating in these programs rarely generates a good return on investment. The Forte Consultancy Group regards loyalty programs as bribes . In the case of infrequent spenders, loyalty fees provide a means of subsidizing discounts. A 2015 study found that most supermarket loyalty cards in
2052-503: The casino, within the casino network, and with the casino's partners. Examples of such programs include Caesars Rewards (formerly called Total Rewards ) and MGM Resorts International 's Mlife. As of 2011 , some independent coffee shops in Boston, Toronto and London has set up experimental "disloyalty card" programs, which rewarded customers for visiting a variety of coffee shops. Loyalty programs' most important benefit to merchants
2109-619: The countries in which the music can be sold. On September 17, 2019, Amazon Music announced the launch of Amazon Music HD, a new tier of lossless quality music with more than 50 million songs in High Definition (16bit/44.1 kHz), and millions of songs in Ultra High Definition (24(bit)/44(kHz), 24/48, 24/96, 24/192), the highest-quality streaming audio available. Amazon is now among Tidal and Qobuz who offer lossless music for audiophiles. The HD streaming service
2166-554: The four major music labels ( EMI , Universal , Warner , and Sony BMG ), as well as many independents. All tracks were originally sold in 256 kilobits-per-second variable bitrate MP3 format without per-customer watermarking or DRM; however, some tracks are now watermarked. The service was launched in the United States as a public beta on September 25, 2007, and the final version followed in January 2008. Amazon MP3
2223-459: The latter mainly enabled by eBay . The first Pepsi Stuff promotion ended on October 31, 1996. It was relaunched 12 years later on February 1, 2008, ended on December 31, 2008, and was relaunched as Pepsi Pass in August 2015. Pepsi Stuff was relaunched on January 22, 2018 with retro editions of Pepsi, and ended on February 28, 2019. The premium-based loyalty program of PepsiCo called Pepsi Stuff
2280-722: The line "Pepsi Stuff.com, Powered by Yahoo!" Pepsi Stuff was one of the first major consumer promotions to feature a dedicated interactive Web site. Celebrities like Andre Agassi , David Beckham , Beyoncé , Cindy Crawford , Jimmy Fallon , Jeff Gordon , Derek Jeter , John Lee Hooker , Shaquille O'Neal , Deion Sanders , Shakira , Britney Spears , and the Spice Girls appeared in TV, print, and Internet advertising promoting Pepsi Stuff. PepsiCo produced over 200 million catalogs each year, billions of Pepsi points, and an extensive line of free merchandise. PepsiCo advertised Pepsi Stuff in
2337-577: The membership isn't continued. The Amazon Music player (formerly branded Cloud Player) is integrated with the digital music Prime and Unlimited streaming services, as well as the music store for purchases (on most platforms). The players allow users to store and play their music from a web browser, mobile apps, and desktop applications, Sonos (United States only), Bose (United States only) and other platforms such as certain smart TVs. Amazon Music Player accounts get 250 tracks of free storage; however, music purchased through Amazon MP3 store does not count towards
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2394-505: The merchant(s), usually over a certain period of time such as a year. For example, Sephora gives 1 point for $ 1 spent. Once customers earn a specific number of points, they can enter a new level with higher discounts and exclusive products. In subscription-based programs, customers pay a fee to enjoy the program's benefits, for example Barnes and Noble bookstores charge members about 40 U.S. dollars per year (as of mid-2024) for its "Premium Membership and Rewards" program, which gives members
2451-434: The online system is that the user's smartphone does not have to be online, and the transaction is fast. In addition, multiple emulated cards can be stored in a smartphone to support multi-merchant loyalty programs. Consequently, the user does not need to carry many physical cards anymore. Today, such loyalty programs cover most types of commerce, each having varying features and rewards schemes, and range from programs of
2508-415: The operator of a particular program setting up an account for a customer of a business associated with the scheme, and then issue to the customer a loyalty card (variously called rewards card , points card , advantage card, club card, or some other name) which may be a plastic or paper card, visually similar to a credit card , that identifies the cardholder as a participant in the program. Cards may have
2565-443: The payment method that provides the most cash-back , credit-card rewards or loyalty points instead of minimizing costs for their employer. Amazon MP3 Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3 ) is a music streaming platform and digital music store operated by Amazon . As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers. It was the first music store to sell music without digital rights management (DRM) from
2622-401: The program, this time in partnership with Amazon MP3 and with a dedicated website that provides a "shopping" experience modeled on the Amazon website. Amazon's partnership extended to Amazon's website, where the option to pay for certain designated items with Pepsi Points instead of traditional payment methods was available. Pepsi again relied on celebrities to advertise the promotion, including
2679-424: The program, ways that consumers may access their loyalty account (account number, promotions, other information) may include: There has been a move away from traditional magnetic card, stamp, or punchcard based schemes to online and mobile online loyalty programs. While these schemes vary, the common element is a push toward eradication of a traditional card, in favour of an electronic equivalent. The choice of medium
2736-506: The promotion ranged in value from 5 points (MP3 song download) to 175 points (Vintage Pepsi logo hoodie sweatshirt). Customers could also redeem points for entry in various sweepstakes. In February 2010, Pepsi launched a similar rewards system in New Zealand on 1.5 litre bottles. Codes on the inside of the labels allowed consumers to purchase MP3s on Bandit.fm . It still is around today and 20 ounce bottles are worth one point along with
2793-485: The reviewer considered the user experience better in iTunes than on the Amazon web site. Om Malik of Gigaom also praised the lack of DRM and the high bitrate but disliked the need to install another application to download albums. Overall, the reviewer said "…I think it makes sense for everyone to browse the Amazon store before hitting the 'buy' button on iTunes." A 2007 study by Eliot Van Buskirk of Wired News ' s "Listening Post" blog investigated whether Amazon MP3
2850-587: The storage limit. Once the music is stored in Amazon Music, a user can choose to download it to one of the Android, iOS, or desktop devices using Amazon Music application. Music is uploaded via the Amazon Music player for PC and Mac. Previously, Amazon offered the Amazon MP3 Uploader, which was an Adobe AIR application. Amazon Music allows 10 devices (computer, browser, mobile, etc.) to be authorized. Customers can deauthorize their old devices via
2907-451: The taller 16 ounce cans individually. Loyalty program A loyalty program or a rewards program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of one or more businesses associated with the program. Loyalty programs may be either: Single-brand programs, such as Starbucks ) In 2020 McKinsey spoke of loyalty program "ecosystems". A loyalty program typically involves
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#17327809604882964-453: Was watermarking tracks with personal data . Van Buskirk quoted an Amazon spokesperson as saying, "Amazon does not apply watermarks. Files are generally provided to us from the labels and some labels use watermarks to identify the retailer who sold the tracks (there is no information on the tracks that identifies the customer)." The study concluded that although tracks may be watermarked to indicate that they were purchased on Amazon MP3, there
3021-534: Was expanded to include Mountain Dew and other drinks, and into many international markets. It ended on October 31, 1996. In response to the campaign, The Coca-Cola Company accelerated and extended its discount pricing programs. A five-month promotion was launched August 1, 2000 by PepsiCo and Yahoo!. Yahoo! powered the web presence of the Pepsi Points premium program, and a new logo was placed on Pepsi products with
3078-446: Was later made available to all unlimited customers for free on May 17, 2021. At launch, Amazon offered "over 2 million songs from over 180,000 artists and over 20,000 labels, including EMI and Universal Music Group ", to customers located in the United States only. In December 2007 Warner Bros. Music Group announced that it would offer its catalog on Amazon MP3 and in January 2008, Sony BMG followed suit. The current catalog
3135-721: Was launched in the United Kingdom on December 3, 2008, in Germany on April 1, 2009, and in France on June 10, 2009. The German edition has been available in Austria and Switzerland since December 3, 2009. The Amazon MP3 store was launched in Japan on November 10, 2010. The Spanish and Italian editions were launched on October 4, 2012. The edition in Mexico was announced on November 7, 2018. Licensing agreements with recording companies restrict
3192-464: Was launched in the United States on March 28, 1996. Points were distributed on four billion packages and billions of cups and millions of consumers participated. According to some sources, the first Pepsi Stuff campaign significantly outperformed The Coca-Cola Company 's much-anticipated Atlanta Olympics Summer with growth three times larger than Coca-Cola's and two points of share gained by Pepsi. The Pepsi Stuff campaign ran throughout North America and
3249-476: Was released in October 2013. On December 8, 2015, Amazon Music Prime became available on Denon® Electronics HEOS by Denon wireless sound systems, adding a new streaming outlet for music and entertainment enthusiasts. On October 12, 2016, Amazon Music Unlimited was released in the United States. Music Unlimited is a full-catalog unlimited streaming service, available as a monthly or annual subscription. It
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