Fisoc and PULSE Announce Agreement to Provide Buzz Points Rewards Program to Financial Institutions
After a successful pilot, Buzz Points will be made available to all PULSE participants
AUSTIN, TEXAS and HOUSTON, April 23, 2013 – fisoc, provider of the Buzz Points™ loyalty program, has joined with PULSE to offer Buzz Points to the network's participants. Buzz Points enables financial institutions to connect with consumers and merchants through rewards and social-media engagement.
Last year, fisoc and PULSE began a pilot to gauge financial institutions' interest in a comprehensive solution for offering rewards and strengthening relationships with their account holders. During the pilot, Buzz Points was aligned with Discover® Debit, managed by PULSE, to offer rewards that encourage consumers to shop locally and support merchants in their communities. Participating cardholders earned reward points that could be redeemed for gift cards or donated to charitable causes.
Based on the pilot's success, Buzz Points is now being made available to PULSE financial institutions in select markets. Plans are under way to begin introducing Buzz Points to other PULSE participants later this year.
"Our loyalty platform is an innovative program featuring meaningful rewards and discounts for consumers, while benefiting local businesses," said Jay Valanju, fisoc CEO. "In this digital age, our solution enables PULSE to offer its financial institution participants a fully turn-key rewards program. This will provide a distinct advantage to PULSE in the highly competitive debit industry."
Offering Buzz Points is one more example of the strategic investments PULSE is making in products and services to help its participants maximize their debit portfolios.
"After recent regulations significantly changed the debit landscape, we were seeking an innovative rewards platform to help our issuers boost cardholder loyalty, encourage debit use and improve their bottom lines," said Judith McGuire, PULSE Executive Vice President of Product Management. "The program had to demonstrate value to both issuers and merchants. It also had to be easy to implement and help issuers build relationships with consumers and merchants. The Buzz Points program delivers on all of our criteria."
About fisoc and Buzz Points
fisoc, Inc., has developed the Buzz Points product suite that connects consumers, local merchants and community financial institutions through social-media engagement, targeted marketing, and rewards. Buzz Points enables credit unions and community banks to generate more non-interest income, increase transactions, reduce account attrition, drive new loans, and attract new customers. Buzz Points' Merchant Program provides additional revenue to financial institutions, increases existing consumer loyalty, and supports local businesses by increasing their market reach and attracting new customers. Investors include Greycroft Partners, KEC Holdings, Metamorphic Ventures, Daylight Partners and Angel Investors. For more information, please visit: www.fisoc.com.
About PULSE
PULSE, a Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) company, is a leading debit/ATM network, serving approximately 6,100 financial institutions across the United States. This includes more than 4,100 issuers with which PULSE has direct relationships and 2,000 additional issuers through agreements PULSE has with other debit networks. PULSE links cardholders with ATMs and POS terminals at retail locations nationwide. Through its global ATM network, PULSE provides worldwide cash access for Diners Club and Discover cardholders through more than 900,000 ATM locations. The company also is a source of electronic payments research and is committed to providing its participants with education on emerging products, services and trends in the payments industry. For more information, visit www.pulsenetwork.com.