If you were to describe the state of customer loyalty these days in a song, few tunes describe things better than Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.

Take Americans’ flight to private label goods from tried and true flag brands. Our agency has been involved in Private Label marketing for decades, and although the economy and consumer price-sensitivity are huge factors in brand flight, the numbers of consumers we see fleeing into private label products in beauty, household and food categories–long-term strongholds in the consumer product category–are downright eye-popping. According to a Sanford C. Berstein analysis of Nielsen data, overall U.S. sales of household and personal products increased a measly .2% in the four weeks ended March 20th from one year earlier, while private-label sales increased 5.4% over the same period. In other words, private-label sales trumped their overall category sales by 2,700%.

And it’s not just household goods. Consider the auto industry. A quick survey of several of my twenty to forty-something co-workers here at our creative marketing firm, revealed that although the majority of their parents were loyal brand purchasers, their adult children are willing to buy the best car at the best price for whatever their life needs are. Once again, there are a lot of factors that play into brand defection including the demise of some popular industry brands (think Saab, Pontiac, etc.), but the brand loyalty of our parents–and the phrase “Ford guy” or “Toyota guy”– seem to be a bygone phrase.

On the other hand, there are some corporations that really seem to have this brand loyalty/retention thing nailed. On the hospitality side, for instance, Hilton Hotels’s HHonors program has been hailed as the gold standard in a relatively crowded category.

How successful has this loyalty program been? Try 25 million members strong (a mark reached just a few weeks ago). Instead of following the trend of many other retailers’ reducing their perks to cut costs, Hilton has taken the “More is More” approach and has the distinction of being the only loyalty program allowing its members to double dip (by collecting hotel AND airline points for the same stay). It operates using a reward exchange feature, which allows HHonors users to turn points into airline miles and vice-versa.

Additionally, Hilton has tapped into the fact that people generally respond well to options. Take for instance their recent Pick a Promotion from last fall. This program offered members the opportunity to collect double points for all stays. Or, if they preferred, they could earn 25,000 points for staying four times qualifying them for a second bonus program called  Have a Night on Us, earning users one free night’s stay after every four stays until March 31, 2010.

Business travelers have felt the love and are expressing their loyalty beyond their  workweek overnights. In a recent article on Hospitalitynet.org, Peter Strand, Director of Franchise Development for Prudential Real Estate and a long-time Hilton HHonors member, talked about how his positive business travel experiences with Hilton have shaped his affinity for the flag in his personal life as well. “Knowing how the franchise business works, I experience a high-level of consistency from Hilton Worldwide hotels that I haven’t experienced in other hotel chains whether I’m traveling for business or for my son’s ski racing competitions.”

But wait…did you just hear that? I think it’s the sound of Nancy’s boots walkin’ over to a Hilton Hotels’ welcome counter.

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