Bill Hanifin
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Here in Orlando, enjoying the best Loyalty Expo to date, I can tell that change is in the wind. Today’s sessions covered future visions of how loyalty is evolving to drive results for brands across vertical industries. Loyalty 360’s chief, Mark Johnson provided a keynote documenting changes in consumer behaviors that are compelling loyalty marketers to adopt new perspectives on program execution.
Barry Kirk, Maritz led a panel of practitioners from Gamestop, SAP and others who talked about the holes in current loyalty models and predicted that cross channel marketing and better use of data collected on loyalty program members will lead to breakthroughs in loyalty ROI.
Jonathan Silver, Affinity Solutions shared how Sony is using an innovative approach to retain viewership and support advertising revenues for Wheel of Fortune, America’s most watched game show.
Peter Oxley, RewardStream and Kiwi Collection shared insights into how referral and recommendation marketing leverages human behavior to create loyalty without a formal program construct.
Tomorrow, BJ Emerson, Tasti D Lite, will talk about the frozen desert chain’s use of passive check-in to accelerate the rewards earned by members of its Tasti Rewards program. More great content is sure to complete Day Two in Orlando.
Meanwhile, I received notice from Mike Atkin, a well regarded UK based loyalty consultant, that he was featured on New Zealand TV to share his views on the state of the industry in that country with comparisons drawn to leading UK programs including Tescos. You can watch the video here.
In 2005, Mike Atkin and I founded the Customer Strategy Network as a global association of independent loyalty marketing practitioners. At that time, we were surprised that the 25 year old relationship and loyalty marketing industry did not have a professional organization where ideas and best practice could be exchanged in a non-competitive environment. That simple observation led to the establishment of this group, signifying a new model of cross-border collaboration among leading marketing experts.
CSN was founded on the pillars of solution independence and cross-border understanding, and its members deliver strategies for clients worldwide. CSN will have a new web site available shortly, so please watch this space for announcements.
It seems that Loyalty Marketing is truly entering a new phase of development. I’ve been encouraged by new ideas shared by delegates at Loyalty Expo and Mike’s appearance on NZ TV tells me that Loyalty never sleeps!
