Parenting mag loyalty program offers cash back on online purchases

That scrunching sound comes as magazines squeeze more tightly the integration between print, online, social networking and marketing (see the post below); another example in the U.S. is a decision by 2nd place Parenting magazine (Bonniers), reported in MediaWeek.

The magazine is offering a new loyalty program whereby registered readers get rebates or discounts on purchases with leading online retailers. Not at all coincidentally, Parenting will then use the buying data to sell online advertising.

The program, called Parenting Privileges and managed by loyalty marketing firm Affinity Solutions, gives Parenting subscribers money back when they spend with certain online retailers. Subscribers sign up at parentingprivileges.com, and from there can visit a range of online retailers including ToysRUs.com, Target.com and Diapers.com.

When they connect to the retailers via the site, subscribers can receive a percentage of the purchase of certain items. The reward comes in the form of a Visa Prepaid Card, which works like a debit card, Bonnier explains. The rewards typically run from 5 percent to 7 percent, according to the site, but can go as high as 28 percent, in the case of movie tickets from AMC. As an added enticement to sign up, subscribers are offered the chance to win a week’s vacation in the Barbados if they register by July 15.

The new loyalty program more or less supercedes the Mom Connection, a conventional online research panel and is distinguished from it by the ability to automatically harvest buying pattern information.

“Our advertisers will gain valuable insight into the products and services that matter most to moms,” said Greg Schumann, vp, group publisher of Bonnier’s Parenting Group.