Fly Card CEO on competitors: “A copy from AliExpress”
Fly Card officially launched today, Sunday, the new credit card of the El Al frequent flyer club, together with its new partner, the credit card company Isracard. The announced target is one million credit cards “and far beyond,” compared with 550,000 cards today.
How will the company reach that goal? The immediate potential is 2.5 million club members, explained Frequent Flyer and Fly Card CEO Moshe Morgenshtern, alongside recruiting new customers. According to him, to increase the attractiveness of the value proposition, the company will expand into additional content areas in the lifestyle category. “There will be more moves in the coming weeks and months,” he said at the launch event the company held.
“When it comes to the tourism industry, the credit card sector is considered relatively dormant, until the surprising announcement in March of Fly Card’s move from Cal to Isracard,” Morgenshtern said. “The move we made was an earthquake that turned into a volcano,” he added, referring to the moves made by competing companies in recent months.
At the launch event, Morgenshtern revealed how the move was born: “I took office at the beginning of the calendar year. Everyone I met, I asked whether they had a Fly Card. Anyone who did not have one got the card after the meeting, but then the complaints started. ‘I’m in the parking lot, and the card didn’t go through,’ ‘I’m in a restaurant, and I couldn’t pay,’ ‘Why is it Diners?’ In fact, I personally received a series of complaints that the platform was not a hit.
“It continued with my own experience on February 9 and 10, when we held two Omer Adam shows at Menora Hall for Frequent Flyer members, customers complained that they could not pay there for food and drinks with the Fly Card. It was not our fault, but I understood that the next leap forward would have to be made with other cards.
“The goal we set is that no one will need to hold another backup credit card. Imagine if we were marketing cellular service and telling people, ‘Hold on to a competitor’s device as a backup.’ That is where the next stage came from, the connection with Isracard, which will allow people to enjoy four of its cards and American Express cards, Fly Card, Premium Select, Premium, and AMEX Premium.” Card fees are 20 to 40 shekels per month.
According to figures presented by Morgenshtern, the average transaction volume on a Fly Card is 3.5 times higher than on other cards, and most cardholders now use it as their first option. “More than one million flight tickets were purchased in the past year using points, and more than 24 billion points were redeemed over the past year,” he said.
As part of the competitors’ moves, Cal launched a new club with Issta last week, under a similar name, FlyAll. To promote the move, a television, digital, and outdoor advertising campaign was launched, often in locations adjacent to Fly Card’s. On this, Morgenshtern said it was “a copy from AliExpress. There is no comparison, it’s not car to car, it’s table to car. A card that does not have access to an airline cannot be compared with us. They cannot offer the experience we offer.”
According to him, “Our mission at Fly Card is to provide moments of anticipation for the experience, and of course the experience itself. There are many credit card companies with benefits, but no one can provide our experience. In practice, in Israel there is only one club and one credit card that connect everyday life with the experience of a vacation on a daily basis.
“We are the largest loyalty club in Israel, and it is a business success story, more than 3.5 million club members and more than half a million Fly Card holders. That is 12% of the entire credit card market in Israel, bank and nonbank.” According to official figures, Isracard holds a 42% share of the credit card market, Cal 33%, and Max 25%.
As part of the card replacement move, a rebranding effort was also carried out. Lilach Ben Artzi Levy, vice president of marketing and digital, explained that “we chose a branding language that expresses the brand’s values and connects to the world of lifestyle and experiences. We wanted an innovative, iconic, and dynamic language, and we chose the language of points, which reminds one a bit of internationalism. The new logo departs from El Al’s line and connects to its roots and strength.”
As part of the changes, the spokespersons were also replaced. NBA player Deni Avdija and “Tehran” star Niv Sultan were chosen for the role, instead of Aviv Alush and Marina Maximilian Blumin. A first new commercial already aired last Saturday night, through the peach advertising agency of Eyal Saada and Yisrael Danir from Gitam BBDO.
In addition, the club recruited a new group of ambassadors, including Lior Raz, Yael Shelbia, Dana Frieder, Sapir Avisror, Liel Eli, Yael Goldman, Kevin Rubin, and others. Cal chose not to respond to the remarks.
