Eighteen-year old rewards provider Utix became a publicly held company earlier this month, and plans to make its initial stock offering by mid-October.
According to Utix CEO Tony Roth, experience is its own reward. Formerly known as Corporate Sports Incentives and renamed in June, Massachusetts-based Utix sells “experience” rewards to companies for distribution to customers and employees. These include golf lessons, ski passes, spa treatments and movie passes.
No dollar value is imprinted on the gift cards distributed by the company, Roth said, since the emphasis is on the reward itself. The single-use, prepaid experience cards are redeemable through the Discover network at more than 2,400 golf courses, 205 ski resorts, 1,100 day spas, and 6,000 movie theatres totaling 50,000 screens in the U.S. (recipients get a booklet listing locations). Such rewards may be a round of golf, a night at the movies or a one-hour Swedish massage.
Recipients redeemed over 52,000 Utix rewards at U.S. golf courses during the 2003 season, Roth said.
In another recently announced program, Yahoo has teamed with Disney/Pixar for a reward program that delivers movie tickets for a family to see soon-to-be-released The Incredibles. In exchange for a subscription to Yahoo’s new services, Utix expects to move 250,000 movie tickets in November and December.
This month, the company announced its expansion into the retail market, with the sales of its Giftix cards at 7,000 retail outlets, including Kroger, Winn Dixie, Rite Aid, 7-11, Longs Drug and Giant Eagle.
Roth joined the company in 2002 with the mission of making its services more scaleable. He plans to add other experience categories, including racing and culinary school courses and bowling, at the rate of two per year, to drive the company to its goal of $100 million in reward cards by 2007.