Days Fans Get Rewards For Loyalty Via Online Quiz

Days of Our Lives is rewarding longtime fans for their devotion with a new viewer loyalty program under which consumers can earn points to redeem for Sony products and series merchandise.

The Daily Rewards program, which rolled out last week, was created to boost viewer frequency via awards incentives. Sony Corp.’s interactive customer relationship division, My Sony, manages the program. Daily Rewards is a first for a scripted TV show, Don Wilcox, director of marketing, Sony Pictures Digital, Culver City, CA, said.

Under the program, viewers log on to Daily Rewards at NBC.com/days or Daysofourlives.com and answer a question from the day’s episode to earn My Sony points. Viewers earn 1,000 points upon sign-up. Enrollment is free. The loyalty program is part of the series’ celebration of its 40th anniversary this year.

Consumers who correctly answer the online questions each day will receive 100 points, 200 points on Wednesdays. Viewers can score points that can be used to redeem electronics, CDs, DVDs and Days of Our Lives merchandise using a combination of points and money.

The program was designed to reward the show’s fleet of loyal fans while enticing a whole new audience, mostly the 18-34 demographic, Ken Corday, the show’s executive producer, said in a statement.

In the days when fan clubs are fading fast, the loyalty program gives the show a fresh take to extend the brand and thank loyal viewers, Days of Our Lives spokesperson Andrea McKinnon said.

“Rewarding fans is the ultimate,” McKinnon said. “This gives us a modern, easy way to say, ‘hey, we know you are out there.’ This is another way to officially get our brand out there through word of mouth. We know if someone has fun with this they will direct [others].”

Daily Rewards follows the first-ever online viewer loyalty program Sony Pictures Television and My Sony launched for Wheel of Fortune with the Wheel Watchers Club in March 2003. Nearly 5 million people are My Sony members.

“Soap fans are so loyal already,” Wilcox said “When the show ends, they want a place to continue [the experience]. This is another way to extend that brand. It’s a way to reward that loyalty even more. It seemed like a natural fit.”

As part of the membership, My Sony sends out weekly e-mails to members. And for every time members click on items in the newsletter, they will earn 10 additional points, Wilcox said.

This year, My Sony partnered with GSN (formerly the Game Show Network) to launch a loyalty program where consumer earn points for Sony and GSN merchandise (PROMO P&I Feb. 2).