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Since the mid-1980s, the concept of affinity marketing has received great attention as a promotional technique predominantly from direct marketers associated with the "designer" credit cards and the banking industry (Winters and Levin, 1981). It has also been successfully implemented in other industries, such as insurance, travel, and communications (Herzog, 1989; Lawson, 1986). However, the term has been used loosely, and wide variances exist in levels of affinity. Its interpretation is often vague.
This article is aimed at bringing clarity to the concept of affinity and distinguishing it from other marketing-related terms. It offers guidelines for differentiating three general levels of affinity groups, and it suggests respective strategic implications. It then suggests a taxonomy for classifying sources from which various types of affinity may emerge. A format relating the affinity levels with the taxonomy is presented as a general guideline for developing a marketing plan. Finally, the article discusses future opportunities for this technique.
AFFINITY MARKETING AND BUILDING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
Having proven its effectiveness in the credit card industry, affinity marketing is now growing rapidly, with creative applications in highly diverse marketing situations. Basically, this technique is a blending of affinity and the marketing concept. Affinity is an individual's level of cohesiveness, social bonding, identification, and conformity with the norms and standards of a particular reference group, while the marketing concept focusses on the "expectation of benefits" for the individual-satisfying consumer wants and needs. Thus the central theme of affinity marketing is to utilize group affiliation as a means of generating a strong and credible promotional program that is specifically tailored to the individual, but is within the context of the group. Both group and individual incentives are often an integral part of the affinity programs.
As affinity marketing gains wide recognition among marketers, there is a mandate for a commonly accepted definition which will allow practitioners to apply the technique with a basic conceptual foundation and a clear understanding of its related terminology. To date, specific components and tactics of affinity marketing such as "frequency marketing", "loyalty marketing", "relationship marketing", and even "database marketing" have been used arbitrarily and somewhat synonymously. Affinity marketing has been defined as a strategy used by vendors of goods and services to offer special incentives to association members in...