Re-igniting Virgin Australia’s loyalty: Aligning Velocity into an omni-channel customer-first, growth engine.

Overview

Following Bain & Company’s acquisition of Virgin Australia, the Velocity Frequent Flyer (VFF) program faced a pivotal challenge: re-engaging lapsed members and reigniting excitement among loyal customers after a two-year hiatus in flying. Confidence was low, points inactivity had set in, and awareness of non-flight rewards was limited. I was engaged for a four-month, end-to-end initiative to help transform VFF into a future-ready loyalty program — one that reconnected with members through data-driven insights, omni-channel experiences, and a renewed brand story that placed the customer firmly at its heart.

Approach

To deliver meaningful and measurable change, I embedded within a hybrid agile team spanning Strategy, CRM, Digital, and Creative — collaborating closely with the Virgin Australia Member Engagement team. Over a series of rapid two-week sprint cycles, I helped address two core goals: reactivating high-value automations and redefining the digital customer lifecycle through a seamless omni-channel strategy.

I began by taking a strategic step back — analysing consumer trends, competitive positioning, and internal data to uncover deeper insights into loyalty behaviour post-COVID. The discovery phase revealed that customers sought recognition, personalisation, and cohesive experiences across every touchpoint. These findings informed the development of a unified brand and communications strategy aligned with the Virgin master brand, leveraging the heightened awareness from the airline’s relaunch.

Delivery spanned four key pillars:

  • Brand Strategy – Clarifying the customer value proposition and ensuring consistency across all messaging & channels.

  • Digital & Data Transformation – Harnessing the CDP and tech stack to enable personalisation and automation.

  • Journey Frameworks – Mapping new journeys for both reactivation and acquisition audiences.

  • Automated CRM Program – Delivering high-impact eDM and SMS journeys that drove measurable engagement and revenue uplift.

Results

Across the 4-month engagement, Velocity achieved renewed momentum across key engagement and conversion metrics, surpassing its initial OKR targets. The CRM program outperformed original benchmarks, driving significant reactivation of dormant members and sparking new sign-ups. Most importantly, I helped cement a living, agile customer framework — enabling the VFF team to continuously optimise member experiences through test-and-learn cycles and maintain marketing alignment with broader business growth objectives.

As a direct result of this work, Virgin Australia achieved:

  • A 400,000 increase in active earners — pushing them towards 11 million members.

  • 40% uplift in total customer billings across the measurable period.

  • 10% uplift in average order value (AOV) — the highest achieved since pre-covid.