Mighty Craft Limited (ASX: MCL) has launched a new program to allow patrons within its venues to earn fractional shares in the company with each transaction.
Patrons of the The Mighty in Moonee Ponds in Melbourne, and The Mighty in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley will be able to earn fractional shares in MCL equalling two per cent of their transaction value.
Customers of the venues are able to participate in the program through an new Australian technology platform and app call Upstreet. The app enables brands to reward customers with share ownership on all eligible purchases, which they argue creates stronger bonds between people and brands. It’s something that Mighty Craft CEO Mark Haysman says was the driving force behind the program.
“Supporting local businesses is very important to Australians at the moment, and to drive loyalty is always a challenge for every business and we’re no different. What we really like about this is the notion of ownership,” Haysman told Australian Hotelier.
“People can go into their local venue – whether it’s The Mighty Moonee Ponds or up in the Hunter Valley – and buy products that they love and enjoy the social interaction with their mates, and get a reward in return. So for us, it’s highly disruptive and the notion of ownership will more strongly connect people to the venues and the brands themselves. We hope it creates a long-term connection.”
Mighty Craft and Upstreet have been trialing the program at the two venues since just before Christmas. While it’s early days, Haysman says there has been a good uptake, as the Upstreet app makes it very easy for patrons to receive shares.
“It’s all done automatically so it’s even more streamlined than scanning a loyalty card. That’s something crucial to having a great experience on location at our venues.”
Currently the program has yet to figure out the total amount of shares it will make available through the program.
“At the moment we’re running the trial so we’ll see how that goes, but we’ll work with the UpStreet team – who we rate very highly – to work out what the optimal level is. But at this stage of the trail we think the two per cent value is a good sustainable level and should drive a good level of reward for our customers.”