GEMS Education has partnered with Aimia, a data driven marketing and loyalty analytics company headquartered in Canada, to create the region’s first education-related rewards and benefits programme.  

Aimia and GEMS Education will develop a programme that will provide the GEMS community of over 300,000 parents, teachers, staff and students, from 48 GEMS schools in the UAE, with partner discount offers and special tailor-made experiences that will help offset the cost of tuition fees.

The initiative is also GEMS Education’s way of giving back to parents and saying ‘Thank You’ for the trust that has been placed in their schools over the years, said a statement.

Dino Varkey, chief executive officer, GEMS Education, said: “Following our announcement of the GEMS Rewards Programme earlier this year, we appointed Aimia as our programme consultant and technology provider to shape the initiative. Our primary aim is to help reduce the net effect of school fees on a family’s budget and to reward GEMS teachers and staff for the amazing work they do.”

The programme will leverage the latest mobile technologies to deliver personalised and targeted rewards. Partnering with the region’s most sought after brands, the programme will offer enticing discounts, buy one get one offers on products/services, privileges and exclusive experiences across dining, healthcare, wellness, hospitality, travel, retail, entertainment, toys and stationery. It is anticipated that more partners will be signed up over the next few months, it said.

Paul Lacey, Aimia Middle East managing director, explained: “The team at GEMS Education are progressive thinkers with a strong vision for the future. Aimia and GEMS are working together to develop a market leading reward proposition that will provide real value back to parents, teachers and staff. Whilst this is a brand-new sector for us, the fundamentals of loyalty and data driven marketing remain - to provide a unique, rewarding and personalised proposition for customers.”

Aimia owns several coalition loyalty programmes including the highly successful Air Miles in the Middle East and Nectar in the UK. It also manages programmes for blue-chip clients around the world including clients in the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and across the GCC covering the retail, banking, hospitality, telecom and entertainment sectors, the statement said. - TradeArabia News Service