I considered using my Nectar points for a day out, but discounted the tour of Manchester United football ground, the extreme dodgems and Alton Towers. Tesco rewards had lots of choice of days out, but they mostly revolved around children’s activities such as Cadbury World or a wildlife park. I wasn’t able to plan a day trip with my Airmiles due to seat availability.

Actually, none of the trips on offer by any of the schemes I looked at appealed to me, so I used my press invitation and went instead to the Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Royal Academy in Piccadilly.

It was amazing. At times explosive – literally – at others uncomfortable, meaningful or confusing. But always stimulating, and hugely thought provoking.

Kapoor is widely considered to be the highest profile and most renown living UK sculptor, and his show has received a massive amount of publicity, so I won’t spend too long describing the effect of the red wax sludge exploding from the cannon, or the primeval piles of natural materals formed with the help of a computer.

What I want to do is issue a deep and heartfelt appeal to the managers of our loyalty schemes (and this applies all over the world) to stop dumbing down their rewards, and introduce a few more meaningful and cultural events.

London alone this week has the Anish Kapoor exhibition opening, and the Tate Britain has Turner, Whistler and Monet, yet not one of our loyalty schemes has considered a tie-in. Why not?

Museum and art galleries provide such a wonderful day out, and although Tesco does offer a few museum entrances within its massive range , they are fairly themed, such as the Canterbury Experience, or the National Maritime Museum of Cornwall. There is precious little art, no serious music and a major emphasis on occupying the kids.

Now don’t misunderstand me, I have done my time traipsing round themed events such as Jorvic in York or the Robin Hood experience in Nottingham and there are not many railways centres, butterfly parks and cave trips that have not had a visit from the McIntosh family during past wet holidays.

But my kids also enjoyed art exhibitions (the Royal Academy summer exhibition being a favourite) and as they learned musical instruments at school, were quite happy to listen to a serious music concert.

In London alone, there is the Natural History museum, the V&A, the Tate Modern, the Royal Academy, the Science Museum and the Portrait Gallery, which would all be delighted if someone came up with a scheme to bring in more visitors.

Incentives to visit

Many of our museums and art galleries have free entrance, but there could be special incentives for loyalty scheme members, such as special days, or special guided tours, or even a free coffee or soft drink in the cafeteria. It would bring publicity to places many probably don’t even consider.

And let's not forget that one’s children are only lent to us, and that there is life before and after their arrival. Once the little darlings have left for university, (or much earlier come to that) they are no longer interested in theme parks or family outings.

Have a look around you in any pretty town centre and see the number of fifty plus couples wondering around in foursomes, whiling away their free time. This is a massive market looking for activities.

Targeting those with money

So why do scheme managers assume that all their points savers are only interested in non-cultural activities for families with young children?

It is rather obvious that it is the higher income customers that have the most to spend and many of these fall in the socio/economic A/B category. So why are rewards so clearly targeted at the Cs?

I am not suggesting swaping the pop concert for Mozart, or the Alton Towers trip for the Tate Modern, but it would be great to add some more variety.

Loyalty rewards have tended to get stuck in the doldrums of late, and apart from some interesting green initiatives from Nectar, look as though they will stay there.

It is possible to go even further and say that a large segment of the UK customer base is not being motivated by them at all.

A day out in a big city, whether it is London, Manchester Edinburgh or even Paris or Barcelona, becomes even more exciting if a trip to the Guggenheim or the Tate Modern is thrown in.

So let's breathe some life into our loyalty schemes, and help keep our nation’s culture healthy at the same time.

New scheme please

And could someone start a company called Culture Rewards (along the same lines as Air Miles). It would be a multi-retailer scheme, used especially, but not exclusively by the top brands, offering hard to acquire tickets, and special functions especially for Culture Reward savers as well as just normal entry to the best of our art and music events.

OK, I can hear you saying, American Express already fills this space with its black card. But I can’t afford one of those, and yet I would enthusiastically save Culture Rewards. Anyone with a proposal, get in touch. Email me at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it