Sep 02, 2025 / By Vanessa Horwell
5 Min Read
How a research-focused program helped a travel loyalty company build pipeline, improve strategic decision-making and generate visibility and awareness.
Background
Arrivia powers white-label travel rewards platforms for marquee financial services and travel companies like American Express, Marriott Vacation Club and USAA, alongside many other national and global brands. After a series of acquisitions and a full rebrand in 2020, the company needed to reintroduce itself to the market, not by revisiting the past, but by reinforcing its legacy while repositioning as a modern loyalty technology leader. It had a long history and deep industry experience, giving it credibility. But that wasn't enough. It needed to go beyond visibility. Arrivia needed differentiation, precision targeting and credible data-driven proof to validate its story and value—proof that could sharpen messaging, accelerate sales and open doors to new markets and opportunities.
The challenge: Supporting a strategy in motion
Following its rebrand, arrivia was entering a fragmented marketplace. Travel rewards were siloed, often as a complement to a core offering or included as an afterthought. A credit union, for instance, might offer members a one-off hotel discount via a third-party site, missing the chance to generate revenue through direct booking and failing to create sustained customer engagement.
Arrivia set out to change that. Its strategy focused on expanding across verticals—cruise, hospitality, financial services, membership organizations—using its technology and vendor relationships to create a unified, intuitive rewards experience.
But to execute, arrivia needed a comprehensive, 360-degree view of the landscape: what travelers wanted from loyalty programs, where providers were falling short and how expectations differed across industries. It also needed credible insights to support new product launches (such as AI trip planning), highlight unmet demand and inform partner education.
The THINKINK approach
Enter THINKINK. We expanded beyond our role as a PR partner and launched a research program, building surveys, extracting insights and turning original data into effective guidance that shaped how arrivia spoke, sold and scaled toward its goals.
We went beyond managing the moving parts; we orchestrated them. From wrangling vendors to monitoring deployment and conducting thorough analysis, we owned the process end to end. Behind the scenes, we engineered lead-capture systems and stitched in smart nurture flows, making sure every asset could pull its weight, fill the right funnels and generate the right interest throughout each target company’s organization. And when the data dropped, we turned it into fuel: bold, fully designed reports, punchy blog posts, thumb-stopping infographics, LinkedIn campaigns that converted, PR that earned attention and attention-grabbing sales enablement and event collateral.
Our defining initiative? The Travel Loyalty Outlook series, which began in 2022 by surveying consumers and industry decision-makers to expose gaps between traveler expectations and provider offerings. The reports became cornerstone assets, helping arrivia and its partners align on what mattered most in loyalty: flexible travel options, better pricing and elegant experiences.
After launching the first Travel Loyalty Outlook study in late 2022, THINKINK went deeper with a consumer survey on an arrivia-powered platform, zeroing in on 1,300 financial services travel rewards program members to uncover what actually drove engagement in a post-Covid market. Cruise quickly emerged as a standout opportunity. As one of the few loyalty platforms offering a robust cruise portfolio, arrivia needed data to validate demand and educate partners unfamiliar with cruise as a rewards category. With little market research available, THINKINK led two studies—one with arrivia users, one via an external panel. The takeaway: travelers were interested, but most programs weren’t meeting the moment. That insight helped arrivia position cruise as a true differentiator for loyalty programs.
THINKINK also used research to assess the market in support of new product launches. When arrivia prepared to roll out an AI-driven trip planner, THINKINK delivered timely research to support the launch. The data showed strong consumer intent, especially among Gen Z and millennial travelers, to use AI for itinerary building. This insight helped shape messaging, build media interest and support arrivia’s positioning as a technology-forward loyalty brand. It also demonstrated THINKINK’s ability to create meaningful narratives through smaller-scale initiatives, speaking to our flexibility and ability to accommodate client budgets.
Finally, our research supported arrivia’s move into new verticals. We conducted a study measuring how travel rewards influence behavior in consumer retail loyalty programs—a potentially lucrative sector for arrivia to explore. The findings were clear: travel perks significantly boosted engagement and brand preference, especially in key sectors where a natural alignment between the retail product and travel existed. THININK not only leveraged the data findings, but our thoughtful analysis of how retail brands could structure their travel rewards gave arrivia’s sales team hard proof to support partner conversations.
The impact: Building credibility and driving pipeline
By turning insight into action, THINKINK helped arrivia translate research into real-world impact. The 2024 Travel Loyalty Outlook alone generated over 250 content downloads and over 200 new contacts. The press release for one of the consumer cruise surveys reached over 200 million readers and earned 350+ media pickups, while the retail rewards study was featured in Forbes, attracting nearly 250,000 article views.
That impact went deeper than views. Arrivia’s sales team used the research to guide prospect discussions and product teams used it to prioritize features. In one notable example, insights from the retail loyalty study directly contributed to a new client win—proof that content can do more than build awareness; it can close deals.
In partnership with THINKINK, arrivia transformed research into a growth and PR engine. By combining data with campaign-ready content and nurture infrastructure, the company used the insights to inform strategy, generate leads, shape market perception and fuel its momentum.
For B2B companies that want research to deliver ROI, arrivia offers a clear example of what’s possible when insights and execution come together.
Move beyond guesswork with PRESCIENT, our research services division. Book a complimentary consultation to discuss what informed insights could look like for your business.
