Melbourne Storm has today launched Lightning Rewards – an exciting Australian first loyalty program that uses state-of-the-art technology designed to reward the Club’s members and fans for a wide range of actions that show support for the team.

Lightning Rewards will allow Storm members and fans to receive rewards by earning points through engaging with the Club, be that at the game when buying food, beverages or merchandise, consuming content on the website, engaging with Storm’s social media accounts or through sponsors of the program.

Rewards range from merchandise discounts to sponsor products, signed memorabilia and exclusive money can’t buy experiences – the ultimate being the chance to travel with the team on an away trip.

And best yet – the rewards earned will automatically be sent to members and fans once they reach a certain level.

The program is the first of its kind in Australian sport and was built in partnership with US company Badgeville, VIX Technology, Telstra, the National Rugby League, Janrain and NCR.

Storm members’ new smartcard enabled membership cards will double as a payment device at the stadium and with sponsors.

Not only will the cards allow entry into the ground, members will now be able to use their cards to load credit and purchase merchandise, food and beverages at AAMI Park, using specially designed in-stadia swipe technology. Lightning Rewards points will then be earned for purchases made by the member.

Melbourne Storm Marketing Director Mike Billing said, “The modern fan has a range of ways available to them to show support for their team. Our Lightning Rewards program aims to reward our supporter’s behaviour whether that is on our website, via our social accounts, at the game or with our sponsor partners.

“There is no other program like this in Australian sport that integrates smartcard technology to track spending at the stadium, integrates sponsors as well as rewarding digital actions across social media and our own website.”

Members will be able to manage their Lightning Rewards via a dedicated webpage at melbournestorm.com.au, with participants set to earn a ranking from an NRL rookie to Immortal, depending on how many points they earn. Fans can also sign up to Lightning Rewards online at melbournestorm.com.au.

“We are able to reward people no matter where they are on the fan continuum, whether they are long term members or casual fans. We see this program as a business growth strategy for Melbourne Storm and believe it will benefit all of our business units in growing our fan base and help to make fans more and more avid,” Billing said.

Vix Technology CEO, Steve Gallagher commented, “Vix SmartSite technology is building the platform for clubs and stadiums to create deeper relationships with their fans so they can better reward and cater for their needs. We’re excited to be working with Melbourne Storm to drive the evolution of technology for fans to the next level.”

Laura Lilyquist, Vice President of Marketing at Badgeville a gamification technology company said, “We at Badgeville are very excited to be partnering with Melbourne Storm and working with a brand that is at the forefront of gamification strategies in sport across the world. The Lighting Rewards program is highly innovative. It uses leading-edge Badgeville game mechanics such as ranks, challenges, rewards and leaderboards to engage fans."

In total, there are about 50 actions that members and fans can take that will see them earn Lightning Rewards points, some of which include:

Buying merchandise, food and beverages at the stadium

Being a member of Melbourne Storm

Consuming melbournestorm.com.au video and editorial content

Engaging with Melbourne Storm content on social media

Signing up to NRL Fantasy or Tipping

Linking social accounts to your profile; and

Attending matches and arriving 30 minutes early to the stadium.

Lightning Rewards partners

Badgeville Inc

Badgeville drives success through business gamification with its unique combination of products, platform and analytics offered as-a-service. Badgeville is the industry leader with hundreds of name brand global customers. Founded in 2010, Badgeville is based in Redwood City, CA and New York City. To learn more, follow @Badgeville or visit www.badgeville.com

Vix Technology

Vix Technology (Vix) is an Australia-based technology company that designs, supplies and operates mobility solutions for the public transit industry, including automated fare collection (AFC) systems, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and passenger information display systems (PIDS).

Vix has teamed up with Melbourne Storm to expand on their Smartsite product which is mainly used for remote mining sites in to a system which will see members of Melbourne Storm being issued with a Vix Smartcard which enables users to get all the benefits of a normal membership card, but also be able to use the device as a cashless transaction device at the stadium.