Rewards have historically been considered a promotional tactic, part of loyalty, CRM or retention initiatives funded by trade and shopper marketing budgets.
It’s a valid classification for single-brand programs and rewards platforms that focus on discount-driven conversion, but in the retail-media era, brands are increasingly treating rewards like a scalable performance advertising channel.
Fetch, America’s Rewards App, is the go-to partner for brands across CPG, restaurant and retail to acquire and retain consumers. On Fetch, advertising doesn’t disrupt – it delights. The ads are the content, and brands are the center of joy. More than 12 million highly engaged consumers use Fetch every month, sharing their full purchase history in exchange for personalized offers and rewards. The platform captures $179 billion in consumer spending annually, giving Fetch an unparalleled understanding of consumer behavior across all channels and retailers.
Fetch isn’t just a promotions tool — it’s a full-funnel, performance-driven advertising platform that leverages patented artificial intelligence and machine learning to acquire and retain consumers at scale. Unlike discount-based promotions that focus solely on price-sensitive shoppers, Fetch uses purchase-based targeting to deliver personalized rewards that drive real behavior change without devaluing brand equity.
For example, a consumer downloads Fetch because the app offers rewards for their favorite brand of coffee. As the platform delivers value, engagement becomes a habit — scanning receipts, discovering new brands and unlocking even more ways to earn. Over time, consumers’ connection to brands on Fetch deepens, turning a routine purchase into a rewarding, loyalty-driven experience.
A recently commissioned media mix measurement study from Nielsen confirmed Fetch as the most efficient advertising channel for consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, outperforming TV, social media and online video. The study found that Fetch campaigns delivered an average incremental Return on Ad Spend (iROAS) of $2.64—higher than TV ($2.50), social media ($2.29), online video ($2.14) and print ($1.91).
But Fetch’s impact goes beyond efficiency — it drives real consumer action. Fetch contributes an average of 15% of total media-driven sales for CPG food brands, a 40% higher impact than other digital media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube and Twitter/X. Only television surpassed Fetch in total sales contribution, making Fetch the top-performing digital channel in the study.
Fetch doesn’t just outperform other channels — it enhances them. Nielsen found that adding Fetch to multi-channel campaigns significantly boosted performance:
- Fetch + Print: 4.4% higher sales lift
- Fetch + Online Video: 3.5% higher sales lift
- Fetch + TV: 3.0% higher sales lift
- Fetch + Social: 2.9% higher sales lift
With Fetch, rewards aren’t just an incentive — they’re a measurable, scalable way to acquire, retain and create lifelong consumers more efficiently than traditional digital ads. As consumers demand more value and brands seek better ways to engage them, rewards have shifted from a nice-to-have perk to a must-have tactic in the modern advertising playbook.
By turning passive audiences into active participants who are compensated for the value of their attention, the idea of rewards as a better ad creates a new, consumer-centric paradigm for personalized advertising.