Virgin Australia's Velocity promises exclusive access to concerts and events

How many frequent flyer points would you sacrifice for a backstage meeting with your favourite superstar?

It’s a question Velocity Frequent Flyer executives appear to be pondering as they look at options for their latest partnership with TEG Live, the company behind Australian event ticket seller Ticketek.

Country rock superstar Keith Urban yesterday became the first major act to be part of a push by Velocity to connect its 6 million plus members with the entertainment industry. Premium tickets to Urban’s concerts in December are among the first available and he also gave an intimate concert at the launch in which he explained and played tracks from his new album, RipCORD.

Velocity Live aims to give the one in four Australians who now belong the program to access to VIP offerings such as premium seating, pre-sale ticket allocations and backstage packages with the added bonus of earning frequent flyer points.

Velocity chief executive Karl Schuster also yesterday did not rule out allowing people to use their points to pay for concerts.

 “Watch this space,’’ he said.

The Velocity move is part of a push by loyalty programs to expand their offerings to members and make themselves an increasing part of their everyday lives.

Velocity already allows members using BP service stations to buy petrol using their points and operates a portal where frequent flyers can use what has essentially become another currency to buy merchandise. Other “out of the box’’ concepts include giving members parental leave so they can maintain their status, family points pooling and awarding points for pets who fly.

While still smaller than its opposition, Velocity has grown strongly and Schuster says there is plenty of room for more growth.

 “Aussies are really unique in the world, they’re a bit like Canadians, in they really love their loyalty programs,’’ he said.  “So we want to enrich the proposition and give people more earn opportunities, give people more burn opportunities.’’

Schuster acknowledged most people still want to redeem their points for flights, an area in which Velocity has won awards for seat availability and which it still sees as crucial.

“So that is really an important part of our deal and having being part of the Virgin Australia family, that’s again foremost in our minds,’’ he said.  “So we are always thinking about those things for our members. It’s what they care about, it’s where the rubber hits the road.’’

But Velocity is also seeing members using their points in other ways and Schuster believes the technology will facilitate this trend.

“The ease and frictionless nature of how you can use digital to engage in the program is becoming more and more a reality and we want a big part of that,’’ he said.

On the live performance and event partnership, Schuster said entertainment was deeply entrenched in the Virgin family’s DNA and was were the brand was born with founder Richard Branson’s record label.

He said the move was about “putting the heart back into loyalty’’ and would be available to all members regardless of their Velocity status. Velocity was working with TEG on select events across Australia throughout the year, with plans to add sporting events.

“The intention is that Velocity Live will become the place to go to get exclusive money-can’t-buy experiences and the hub will be continually updated with exciting new events, entertainment experiences and offers for our members,’’ he said.

Urban said he loved the fact the program would offer access to people who would not otherwise get it.

“For me the live experience isn’t just playing live,’’ he said. “We also do a thing backstage in a lot of our concerts right now which is sort of the show before the show — not just a basic meet-and -greet but really getting to spend time with people and do a mini concert backstage.’’