 | |
| Industry | Experience Days |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1988 |
| Headquarters | |
| Parent | Inflexion Private Equity |
| Website | www |
Virgin Experience Days is an experience day company launched in 1988 as Acorne Sports and is a brand licence holder for gift experiences and gift cards marketed under the Virgin name. Acorne took over Virgin Experience Days, which had been part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, in 2002.
Beginning as 'Virgin Experience' in March 2001 and originally catering to corporate clients in the form of employee and customer incentives [1] the company expanded over the years from targeting mainly those in London [2] to include the rest of the country. In the summer of 2018 the company rebranded to become the newly named 'Virgin Experience Days Limited '. [3]
Starting from a modest product range including other products from the Virgin Group such as Virgin Balloon Flights, the catalogue steadily expanded to include more modern forms of experiences. Nowadays their experiences include skydiving, zorbing and supercar driving alongside celebrity chef dining experiences, historical tours, afternoon teas and more. [4] [5]
Virgin Experience Days are also frequently given away in competitions [6] and work in partnership with bloggers [7] [8] [9] for more in depth reviews of their experiences. The company's business-to-business division was relaunched in 2017 [10] under the name ‘Virgin Incentives’, following Virgin Experience Days' buyout by Inflexion Private Equity.
A loyalty program or a rewards program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of one or more businesses associated with the program.
Virgin Group is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970.
Whole Foods Market, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon, is an American multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from hydrogenated fats and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. A USDA Certified Organic grocer in the United States, the chain is popularly known for its organic selections. As of March 4, 2019, Whole Foods has more than 500 stores in North America and seven in the United Kingdom.
Red Letter Days is a UK company which was an early adopter of the concept of giving experience day vouchers as gifts and corporate rewards, based in Farringdon, London in the offices of its parent company, Moonpig Group.
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Travel + Leisure Co. is an American timeshare company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. It develops, sells, and manages timeshare properties under several vacation ownership clubs, including Club Wyndham and WorldMark by Wyndham, and provides timeshare exchange services, primarily through RCI.
Virgin Money UK plc is a British banking and financial services company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and Australian Securities Exchange; it is also a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
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An incentive program is a formal scheme used to promote or encourage specific actions or behavior by a specific group of people during a defined period of time. Incentive programs are particularly used in business management to motivate employees and in sales to attract and retain customers. Scientific literature also refers to this concept as pay for performance.
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Xperience Days is an experiential gifts company and was founded in New Jersey in 2004 by Michelle Geib, Gavin Bishop and Robb Young. The business is modelled after the experience gift companies first launched in the UK and pioneered by Acorne. The concept was popularised by Red Letter Days, in particular by the appearance of founder Rachel Elnaugh on the BBC series Dragons' Den.
Patisserie Valerie is a multi-channel cake business that operates in the United Kingdom. The business specialises in handmade birthday cakes, pastries and other fancy cakes which can either be ordered online for delivery throughout the UK, or enjoyed at one of the company's local patisseries. Patisserie Valerie's products are also supplied on a wholesale basis to retailers and food service operators.
Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. is an American privately held company that operates in the prepaid, gift card and payments industries. It sells branded physical and digital gifts, phones, prepaid debit, and incentives cards online and through a network of global retailers. Blackhawk's network reaches people through a number of different channels including in-store, online, mobile, and incentive. Blackhawk headquarters are in Pleasanton, California and the company was incorporated in 2006.
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