WEBVTT

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We have this mission statement about
enriching the traveler journey--that

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could be a flight, could be a vacation,
or life.

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I'm joined by Richard from United
MileagePlus and Mark from BCG.

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Welcome both.

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Thank you.

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Hi. Thanks for being here.

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Richard, with Kinective Media,
you've sort of launched a really bold new

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step in retail media.

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Give us a sense of how that came about,
and what you think the biggest potential

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is for where it goes?

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Well, thanks for being here.

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Yeah.

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So this is our first-year anniversary.

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Well, first of all, we're not retail,
we're sort of commerce.

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And the reason why it's important is I
think there's three key things going to

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have scale of audience, which we do.

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We flew 174 million people last year.

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Quality of audience--they're real people,
not bots. They fly.

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And we've obviously got, you know,
very solid data around that.

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And then we have multiple screens during
the journey, right.

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So when you're being inspired for travel,
.com, the app,

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that interaction on the day of travel,
if you happen to be in a lounge,

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there's screens there,
the gate information display at the gate.

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And then the, the big one is, obviously,
in flight.

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That is the most addressable screen out
there.

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The average dwell times like three and a
half hours, and they're strapped in,

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and then obviously we can go off site.

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So when you're at home on an IP-enabled
device.

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So we've, we've . .
the year one was all about enabling the

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capabilities and joining all those dots
up.

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And then really sort of going forward,
it's really about sort of the scaling of partnerships.

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And there's, I guess, three key messages.

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One is Starlink,
which maybe we'll talk about.

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And that's a game changer in the sky.

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The wi-fi capability is just second to
none.

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And then there's sort of partnerships and
ecosystem because we're about enriching

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the traveler journey.

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So it's, yes,
it's about the flight because,

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interestingly, the average,
I think the average time to plan and book

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a vacation is 16 hours.

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It's a long time, right?

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Which when you think about it and we've
all done it, that's a lot of time.

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So how can we enrich?

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So yes, your plan, your flight,
but how can you enrich all the things

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around it--events and travel and hotels
and car rental activities, dining,

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all that kind of stuff.

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And then we also announced this week
around . . .

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we had a thesis that we could syndicate
the technology to other airlines.

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And we've announced the first one,
which is JetBlue.

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So we're going to deploy our underlying
technology to another airline.

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Wow.

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And do the same thing with them.

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So it's exciting.

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Yeah, we've had, we've done a lot,
I guess. Congratulations.

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Yeah,
it underscores everything that we just

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published in our latest report around
commerce media and retail media,

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and commerce media fueling the growth of
the entire sector and this new profit

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stream for all businesses.

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So I think the richness of the data you
have on travel intent,

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the captive audiences,
as you said you have,

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we're going to see more of that.

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And Richard, just explain, I mean,
you advise brands on sort of

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personalization engines.

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What is it about travel data and
particularly obviously the captive

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audience, as you've mentioned,
but what is it that makes that such a

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powerful asset?

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It is a journey, right?

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It starts with inspiration and dreaming
of that next travel experience and then

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getting there on the trip and even post
trip.

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And each of those steps offers an
experience to connect with customers,

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you know the customer in each of those
steps.

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And with your loyalty data,
you can continue that conversation.

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So I think travel is one of the most
engaged and immersive experiences out there.

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And that's why the power to have that
conversation is so valuable.

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MileagePlus is already an incredibly
powerful, sort of, loyalty ecosystem.

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How do you plan to build on the loyalty?

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My background is sort of data tech and
media.

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I'm not necessarily a loyalty specialist.

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And if you think about,
I think the challenge I've laid down to

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the team and, frankly,
the industry: Loyalty programs,

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whether you're a retailer or whether
you're an airline, if you think about it,

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haven't actually changed that much in
like 25, 30 years.

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What we've got more sophisticated about
is understanding the data and whether

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that's a nonmember or a member,
certainly from United,

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we understand that we built our what's
called an ID spine.

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So we really understand exactly members,
nonmembers and we've enriched there with

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the particle TransUnion for . . .
just to understand like lifestyle

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attributes, social demographic.

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So we're pretty solid on the data--that's
foundational.

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I mean, and this week in Cannes,
everyone's talking about AI and GenAI,

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it's nascent--

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we're not there yet. But you've got to,
I think we've got to build it on the

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basis of the data and that's foundational.

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And then, as I think I mentioned, we're,
we have this mission statement about

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enriching the traveler journey--

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that could be a flight,
could be a vacation, or life.

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So we're now talking about how, again,
through those partnerships around how you

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think about travel and all the associated
constituent parts of what will enable an

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awesome vacation, a business trip,
a weekend away, whatever that may be.

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And I think where AI comes in,
and we are testing this is I now when I

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go away, I use ChatGPT and I say: Well,
I'm going to Cape Town for seven nights.

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I want to do some hiking.

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I wanted to go to some great restaurants.

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I want to do some beach action and it
comes . . .

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and I want to stay in a nice hotel or you
know, do some vineyard stuff . . .

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full itinerary, like hour by hour.

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That's awesome.

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So it gives you the inspiration of things
to do without blowing 16 hours to try and

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think about that sort of stuff.

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But then the challenge is how do you
execute that?

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All right, so you get the itinerary,
great.

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And then you have to go off on the 17
things as listed to go and book that stuff.

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So we're now thinking about how we can
sort of bring that into our ecosystem to

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empower in one place.

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So then yes, book your flight.

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That's usually the first thing people do
is book the flight to said destination

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and then do the planning around it.

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And if we can enrich travelers' lives,
which will in turn long-winded answer

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your question,
is drive greater brand loyalty, right,

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and stick within our ecosystem,
that I think will be the game changer.

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The industry's there,
the tech's not really there,

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but we're training models around how we
sort of think about that.

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So that that's how we're thinking about
this next generation of loyalty, which is,

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I think, really, really exciting.

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You mentioned your partnership with
Spotify.

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What makes a great collaboration in this
space?

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All the partners now that we've
announced--Spotify and Vivid Seats,

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and literally yesterday,
and there'll be more is four pillars:

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technologically deep.

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So with Spotify, it's a full,
deep integration of their app in our seat

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back; data orientated, right--deep,
deep and rich data.

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So on both sides, you know,
we choosing our partners driven by we can

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see what they spend with our Chase credit
card relationship and therefore what

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partners, whether it's rideshares,
which you know, is it both, you know,

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where's the buyer?

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So we're very strategic and then
obviously for both partners commercially,

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there has to be incrementality, right?

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So not just a partner because we win or
just they win, both partners have to . . .

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both ships rise.

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And then there's a media piece.

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Now that we've got the media business
stood up, you know, how can they support,

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promote it, through our media channels?

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And that's important.

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And then lastly, the loyalty aspect.

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So, again,
a lot of companies now have their own

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loyalty programs, as do we.

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So how can we enhance again,
both sides to be more sticky.

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So,
I think we've started to change the game

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and our own thinking about which partners
and the reasons why,

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but it pretty much has to be those four
pillars--data, tech, media,

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and loyalty--which makes a meaningful
difference for both sides. And, clearly,

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our customers, right--

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that's the most important thing.

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Well,
thank you both very much for joining us

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here, Richard and Mark,
it's been a real pleasure.

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Thank you so much.

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Thank you.