Constellation selected Virtual Incentives as the exclusive provider of a digital rewards platform for customer campaigns and consumer promotions, the companies announced in January 2016. The release, dated January 13, described a direct systems integration intended to deliver rewards more quickly and improve reporting on promotional programs.

The arrangement included Virtual Incentives' Gift Card PASS product, giving recipients access to a choice of retailers, and virtual Visa reward accounts for online spending. By combining merchant-linked and open-loop products, Constellation could use different reward formats within the same customer promotion strategy.

The companies listed customer acquisition, retention, referrals, automatic bill payment, paperless billing, and product or service upgrades among the behaviours eligible for rewards. Education and brand-building campaigns were also part of the collaboration.

Jason Berns, Constellation's executive director of marketing and business analytics, said customer feedback had shaped the move. He expected the digital platform to accelerate reward fulfilment and add tracking and reporting tools for assessing how customers responded to the programs.

Virtual Incentives chief executive Jonathan Price said the direct integration suited Constellation's emphasis on prompt reward delivery. The announcement did not disclose the commercial value of the agreement or an initial number of reward recipients.

At the time of the release, Constellation described itself as an Exelon subsidiary supplying power, natural gas and energy services to roughly two million residential, public-sector and business customers. That corporate description and customer figure relate to the January 2016 agreement. Virtual Incentives provided the digital reward fulfilment technology for the campaigns.