I wanted to share the exciting news that we have just published a new report called "Using Data to Create Value for All Customers: A Case Study of Bank of America's BankAmeriDeals Program." As many of you know, I have been following the merchant-funded rewards (MFR) space for some time now. The scale of BankAmeriDeals, Bank of America’s online and mobile cash back deals program, makes it one of the flagship implementations of MFR initiatives. I was very keen to understand what it takes to implement such a program at a large bank, what can be achieved, and what lessons can be learned. The objective of this case study was to explore these issues, specifically:

• The genesis of the program: rationale, guiding principles, and vendor selection
• Value proposition
• Technical solution
• Project timeline and program rollout
• Project team and governance
• Results and operational metrics
• Running the program within “business as usual”
• Plans for the future

If you are familiar with MFR programs, you might be wondering why the title talks about "all customers." It's true, many MFR programs focus mainly on the bank's cardholders and often even on a specific portfolio of cards, such as debit. However, Bank of America from the outset wanted to build something that would be beneficial to all of its customers, both consumers and merchants. Furthermore, the program is available for nearly all cards and to all customers with access to online or mobile banking. These are just a couple of insights from this case study and there are plenty more. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Bank of America for making this case study possible; its executives were generous with their time and insights. We would also like to acknowledge and thank Cardlytics for its contribution. Celent's existing clients can access the report here. If you are interested but are not yet a client, please contact info@celent.com.