About us
History
Affinity Solutions was established in 1995 after recognising the need for a consultancy service that could provide informed, independent advice on affinity marketing issues.
The evolution of affinity
Over time the definition of affinity has
evolved. Whereas affinity marketing was once reserved for charities
and trade unions and exclusively serviced by the suppliers of
financial services, it is now far broader.
Although the financial services industry is still dominant,
organisations within other industry sectors are awakening to the
opportunities and benefits of distributing their products and services
through affinity partnerships. Examples of these include Powergen, BT
and RAC.
From the other side, organisations with strong client relationships
are also using affinity partnerships to provide added value,
incremental revenue and increased loyalty. Brand affinities are
becoming increasingly popular as illustrated by Tesco, Marks and
Spencer and Virgin.
Our approach
Our primary objective is to find the most
effective way to add value to our clients, therefore our methodologies
vary in line with the challenges we address.
If you are approaching affinity marketing for the first time, we will
start by helping you develop your strategy and identify appropriate
marketing partners. We can then approach and negotiate with those
organisations on your behalf, up to the point of a formal agreement.
Our strategic approach combines market intelligence and analysis with
expert knowledge of partnership marketing. This helps you adopt a
different perspective and ensures that you benefit from the lessons
learned by others. The results are exciting new links with like-minded
organisations which accelerate the achievement of your - and their -
objectives. We consider ourselves as expert catalysts and facilitators
of strategic partnerships. We deliver value through, amongst other
factors:
- Independence and objectivity - ensuring the best partnerships and terms for you, with no vested interests in any particular form of marketing implementation.
- Market intelligence - informing your strategy in the context of the latest market developments.
- Competitor analysis - employing thorough analysis to yield actionable results.
- Proven methodology - blending a wide variety of factors and considerations to identify the right partners.
- Creativity - adding a lateral perspective to partner identification and how partnerships actually work.
- Effectiveness across sectors - acting as a catalyst across different industries and cultures.
- Access to senior decision makers - quickly getting to the right people and establishing an open dialogue.
- Solution driven - unlike many consultancies, we go beyond the theoretical, aiming to deliver practical results