Rakuten+
Core Team: Kristin Graham, Julia Mazerov, Alex Petosa
The brief
Rakuten+ is an exclusive membership for shopping lovers who want rewards on premium brands, offering 10% Cash Back and VIP shopping perks on hundreds of designer labels. Develop a visual identity that feels elevated and differentiated, but also familiar to the expression of the Rakuten we know today.
The audience
Our research department gathered feedback in order to better understand how members and non-members respond to potential positioning of Rakuten+. The resulting audience was dubbed the Shopportunists: Aspirational, higher household income spend, love to shop and splurge on quality/designer, enjoy the ‘thrill’ but don’t always get the deal.
Identity inspiration
Rakuten+ is more than access to always-on Cash Back. It’s a portal to elevated style. Our members need to feel the difference.
We pulled inspiration from luxury materials, store windows and framing devices, and premium tech cues.
Initial mood board
Rakuten
Bright palette
Pattern
Playful illustrations
Colorful store tiles
Rakuten+
Restrained palette
Premium textures
Geometric shapes
Monochromatic store tiles
Site and app
Members in the target group see Rakuten+ placements in various places throughout the website and the Rakuten app—to let them know that they’re already shopping, but could be earning so much more. Without the budget for a photoshoot, we relied on heavily curated stock and product images (with occasional help from AI) to provide a unified look-and-feel. We collaborated closely with our product design team to ensure that the identity was infused into all relevant touchpoints—like the tiny plus signs next to the Cash Back rate.
Our targeted members also received a series of invitation emails, letting them know that they were some of the exclusive few to be eligible.
Once signed up, members were led into a custom welcome email series and transactional emails unique to Rakuten+.
One final look
We continue to evolve and expand the Rakuten+ program as more merchants buy in—up next, travel! Initial pre/post of a member joining Rakuten+ has shown a 23% increase in AOV, 50% increase in orders, and 70% increase in spend across all Rakuten stores—continuing to build on their lifetime value.
