Virgin Australia has launched an interesting promotion for their Velocity program. They are giving members the chance to win packs of Velocity points if they promote the benefits of the Velocity program the best through their social media networks.
They’ve released the following video to explain further:
https://www.facebook.com/VelocityFrequentFlyer/videos/2070187569669301/
They also give the following steps to participate in the competition from now until November 30:
Earn: You could earn Points for telling the world – via social media – how awesome Velocity Points are. Ensure your profile or post is public so we can see it!
Promote: Simply promote a Velocity benefit and we could reward you with Velocity Points
Create: Create a GIF, a video, a work of art. Take a photo, write a poem. Whatever it is, just make sure it promotes Velocity.
Tag: Tag @velocityfrequentflyer and use #earnbassador on social media so we can find you. If we like what you’ve done, we could top up your Points balance.
The prizes are decent:
- 20 x 1,000 Velocity Points
- 30 x 2,000 Velocity Points
- 40 x 3,000 Velocity Points
- 40 x 5,000 Velocity Points
- 10 x 20,000 Velocity Points
- 10 x 40,000 Velocity Points
- 10 x 50,000 Velocity Points
- 5 x 100,000 Velocity Points
My big issue with this promotion
I’ll admit this is smart, cost-effective marketing by Velocity.
The general public is more likely to believe a Velocity benefit if they see a friend sharing their own personal travel story on social media than if Velocity just sends out yet another email. And the prize of all those points has a minimal cost to Velocity.
But Velocity has just announced huge devaluations to the program and I expect this is damage control to try and cover up all the negative publicity they’re receiving online, with some positive publicity.
There have already been some really negative changes to the Velocity program over the last few years including:
- The introduction of hefty surcharges on all redemptions on Etihad metal
- They no longer release any premium award seats on their services from Australia to Los Angeles in advance
And then just this month they have also announced the following devaluations from January 1 next year:
- The unique points transfer with Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer will change from 1.35:1 to 1.55:1, meaning that while you can currently transfer 10,000 Velocity points to become ~7,407 KrisFlyer miles, from next year you would only receive ~6,450 KrisFlyer miles for that same 10,000 Velocity points
- There will be new carrier-imposed surcharges for all Velocity redemptions on Virgin Australia metal, as well as some Delta redemptions
Bottom line
I’m torn as to whether to even participate in this competition. I do think Velocity points are easy to earn, and in the past I have redeemed them for some incredible flights, including Etihad’s A380 First Class Apartment, which was an unforgettable experience.
And of course I would love to win some points.
But at the same time I no longer think Velocity is a compelling program with these continual devaluations. I’ll write a ‘best uses of Velocity points’ post soon given how much the goal posts of the program are changing but, for example, I used to value a Velocity point at around 1.2c (US) whereas I now would only value a Velocity point at around 1c (US) because of the devaluations.
It also seems a bit dishonest to promote the benefits of the program to friends and family by showing how I have used those points in the past, when those points are no longer as valuable as they used to be.
Are you participating in this promotion? Do you think Velocity is still a compelling program?
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