Affinity Solutions Launches Rewards Finder App, the First-Ever GPS-based Loyalty App for iPhone, With Sovereign Bank

NEW YORK, Dec. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Affinity Solutions (www.affinitysolutions.com), the leading provider of partner-funded customer loyalty programs in the U.S., launched its new Rewards Finder app, an iPhone application for bank rewards customers, with Boston-based Sovereign Bank.  The application uses the iPhone's location-based technologies to tag surrounding participating merchants that offer cash back percentages through the Sovereign Cash Rewards debit card program.

The Affinity Rewards Finder iPhone app is available on the Apple App Store for free (www.apple.com/iphone/apps_for_iphone), and customers will be able to log in using their existing Sovereign Cash Rewards user identification and password.  Sovereign Bank customers will be able to earn up to 20% back at retailers like Borders, Ace Hardware, Banana Republic, Avis Car Rental, Duane Reade, and more.

The App constitutes the first phase of the Affinity Wallet program, a comprehensive rewards offering that leverages multi-platform technology and Affinity's national network of over 15,000 retailers and 430 banks to deliver the right offer to the right customer at the right time, based on analytic data compiling the shopping behavior of nearly 70 million customers,

Future additions to the Wallet offering will include point-of-sale receipts pointing shoppers to other local participating retailers and a "Rewards Toolbar" which annotates search results with relevant offers, among other capabilities.  Affinity Solutions will launch Droid and Blackberry versions of the Affinity Rewards Finder in the first quarter of 2011.

"Given recent legislative changes which have put more pressure than ever on the retail banking community, it is imperative to find new and forward-thinking ways to increase customer engagement and satisfaction.  Sovereign Bank is an innovator among leading card issuers, and we're very excited to be launching this capability together; the Rewards Finder app, this latest innovation, exemplifies the philosophy of giving the right offer to the right customer at the right time," said Jonathan Silver, President and CEO of Affinity Solutions. "The Rewards Finder app will form the backbone of our future mobile offerings."  In addition to Affinity's best-of-breed technology services, Sovereign will be leveraging Affinity's network of national and local brick-and mortar retailers to create a robust offering of cash-back bonuses.

Rewards Finder is part of a suite of Follow Me Around technologies, including incorporating merchant offers/rewards into geosocial networks, including Facebook, FourSquare, Twitter, Gowalla, Loopt, MyTown, and Whrrl

About Affinity Solutions

Founded in 1998, Affinity Solutions has developed hundreds of offline and online relationship marketing and retailer-funded programs. Its innovative programs integrate a rich database of customer information, rebate rewards, experiential benefits, and editorial content, to drive deeper customer relationships for its bank and retailer partners. Affinity Solutions has partnerships with over 430 national and regional banks, including Sovereign Bank, U.S. Bank, and Capital One, and major international transaction processors including First Data and Fiserv.  Affinity's innovative, data-driven programs integrate targeted rebates/rewards, experiential benefits, and editorial content, to drive deeper customer relationships for their partners.  Their proprietary multi-dimensional analytics platform has been proven to predict "readiness to buy," using the entire transaction profile of cardholders, driving incremental purchase behavior. Providing a turnkey solution, the company offers direct marketing, creative and editorial development, partner recruitment, information technology, data analytics, and specialized customer service.

SOURCE Affinity Solutions