A go to market system designed to turn Marriott’s redesigned app into a stronger retention engine, deeper member engagement, and incremental revenue across the loyalty journey. Launching a redesigned app is never just a product challenge. It is a GTM challenge. New features do not create value on their own if members do not understand them, trust them, and build them into their behaviour. Marriott needed more than awareness around an updated app experience. It needed a system that could reintroduce the product to loyalty members, create reasons to return, and move usage from passive curiosity into repeat engagement.
Afterglow approached the rollout as a structured engagement system, not a one off launch campaign. The objective was to increase adoption of the redesigned Marriott Rewards app by giving local and international members clearer reasons to spend time inside it. That meant aligning message, incentive, feature discovery, and in app behaviour into one coordinated go to market flow so members were not just told the app had changed, but were given practical reasons to explore it, use it, and return to it.
The system was built around loyalty behaviour. Members were encouraged to complete actions inside the app in exchange for prize led engagement mechanics, with more than 3 million reward points awarded globally to support daily engagement and repeat usage. This turned the redesigned app from a passive digital touchpoint into a more active part of the customer journey, helping Marriott strengthen habit formation, increase feature visibility, and raise the perceived value of the updated experience.
Crucially, the work was not just about driving downloads or app opens. It was about improving the commercial performance of the wider loyalty ecosystem. Members were guided towards high value features such as reservations, mobile check in, and mobile requests for services like extra towels and room service. In go to market terms, this created a clearer path from awareness to utility, and from utility to retention and revenue. The result was a stronger member journey that improved engagement, supported retention, and helped drive incremental revenue for the brand.
This delivered:
Increased downloads and updates of the redesigned app
Drove awareness of key new features
Increased feature usage across the member journey
Improved engagement and retention through reward led participation
Helped turn app adoption into incremental commercial value
