Let's Talk Loyalty

Today's episode is a short summary of my interview in 2020 with Annich Macintosh, the Editor and CEO of the "Loyalty Magazine Group" in the UK, focusing on their loyalty awards.

Annich explains the approach, some notable winners in 2020, and also some key trends and changes she noticed in consumer behaviour that loyalty professionals need to notice and factor in to their plans in a pandemic-changed world.

As these awards have now been re-branded, I also share the new positioning and remind everyone to enter for the new International Loyalty Awards being awarded in London in 2022.

Show Notes:

1) Annich Macintosh Editor and CEO, Loyalty Magazine Group

2) International Loyalty Awards

Accor Live Limitless (ALL) is a loyalty programme that spans 51 brands and almost 7,000 hotels across different customer segments at different price points, yet who share common needs and passions.

With a vision to offer much more than simply a place to stay, ALL is focused on becoming a day to day companion for travellers as well as local communities, based on compelling partnerships and delighting each and every guest when they arrive in any Accor property.

Isabelle Birem is the Senior Vice-President Loyalty at Accor Group, and she joins me in today's episode of "Let's Talk Loyalty" to share the challenges and opportunities of driving loyalty at such scale globally, ensuring staff and owners understand the power of the loyalty programme to drive their businesses forward and deliver on the brand promise for every guest.

Isabelle shares the reasons behind their sports sponsorship with Paris St Germain and the "money can't buy" experiences this creates, as well as the innovative "double-dip" partnerships launched with Air France / KLM and Qantas.

This episode is sponsored by Valuedynamx ( Part of Collinson Group)

Show Notes:

1) Isabelle Birem Senior Vice-President Loyalty at Accor

2) Accor Live Limitless

Nathan Beaver is a Partner at KPMG UK and in 2020, he shared his insights on the "integrity economy", and how consumer behaviour evolved during the global pandemic.

With 91% of customers saying they do NOT want to return to the pre-Covid world, he explained some of the principles that loyalty programme managers need to keep in mind to connect with their most valuable customers.

Trust has become an essential ingredient in business and KPMG revealed some dramatic research findings on what they are calling the "New Customer".

Listen to this short show to capture the key highlights of my interview with KPMG UK.

Show Notes:

1) Nathan Beaver - Partner at KPMG UK

2) Let's Talk Loyalty Episode #50 with KPMG

7-Eleven is renowned as the world's largest retailer, with over 77,000 stores globally, serving an incredible 10 million customers every day.

The brand is proud to have invented the convenience store itself, creating the concept in 1927, with a vision to delight local communities with speed and simplicity.

In this episode of "Let's Talk Loyalty", Chief Digital Officer of 7-Eleven Inc, Raghu Mahadevan, explains the firm's focus on customer loyalty, and how that entire journey is being supported by its loyalty program 7REWARDS.

This incredible loyalty program already supports over 55 million members and today we discuss some of their latest inventions and award-winning strategies that are engaging customers both outside the store as well as inside, with a consistent "obsession" to delight them.

Show Notes:

1) Raghu Mahadevan, Chief Digital Officer at 7-Eleven

2) 7 Eleven USA

3) 7 Rewards

Let's Talk Loyalty celebrated its first birthday in August 2020, so in episode 49, I was celebrating this milestone with some special guests.

It featured my friends from the Loyalty Academy, with a focus on the scholarship competition that listeners could enter, with one lucky listener winning a FREE Loyalty Academy Scholarship worth $1,750!

My two guests on this show - Graeme Thomson, a Director of the Loyalty Academy, and Emily Ong who was a recent graduate of the course.

In this short summary episode, I summarise the background and approach taken by the Loyalty Academy for anyone studying the CLMP, which is designed to support loyalty professionals with ideas and concepts they can use immediately in their day to day roles around the world.

Show Notes:

1) Let's Talk Loyalty Episode 49 - One Year Anniversary

2) Graeme Thomson - Director of the Loyalty Academy

3) Emily Ong - CLMP

Arsenal is one of the most successful football clubs in English football history, having played in the country's top division each season since 1919, and in the process winning 13 league titles.

Like many sports, it is already loved by millions of loyal fans, and this year, Arsenal became the first UK Premier League team to create an entire loyalty programme for their fans, designed to enhance attendance at games and build the connection between fans and the Club between games.

This fascinating interview is with Arsenal's Senior Loyalty Manager, Karen Dumbrell, who explains that through fan engagement, the award-winning "My Arsenal Rewards" is already delivering more benefits for fans, and commercial and operational benefits for the club, supporting key objectives and driving great fan behaviour.

This programme is the first of its kind in the UK, and it has given the Club multiple new ways to communicate and engage with fans, while taking into account their marketing preferences.

“My Arsenal Rewards” was just launched in August 2021, so in this first interview, you can enjoy key insights on the insights and power of building a loyalty programme that truly puts its fans at its heart.

Show Notes:

1) Karen Dumbrell Senior Loyalty Manager at Arsenal FC

2) Arsenal Football Club

3) My Arsenal Rewards

4) Emirates Stadium

5) Emirates.com - Sponsor of Arsenal Football Club

6) Visit Rwanda - Sponsor of Arsenal Football Club

7) adidas - Sponsor of Arsenal Football Club

With over 7 million members, Etihad Guest is the loyalty program for Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, based in Abu Dhabi.

This short podcast is a summary of my interview with Kim Hardaker, who together with her team, found thoughtful and meaningful way to innovate, and reward members, even while airline travel was at an all time low just six months in to the global pandemic.

Enjoy Kim's compelling insights and hear their gorgeous "world of thoughtfulness" campaign - a great example of building emotional loyalty even at that challenging time.

Show Notes:

1) Episode #48 - Loyalty Insights from Etihad Airways

2) Kim Harkader, Managing Director, Etihad Guest

A wide-ranging conversation with L'Oréal's new Director of Loyalty for their Luxe Division, Alyssa Callahan.

L'Oreal is a leading brand in the beauty industry with a huge global portfolio which includes brands likes Lancome, Kiehl's & Yves Saint Laurent.

Alyssa shares her key objective to help these luxury brands demonstrate their loyalty to customers who increasingly buy directly online, with the channel having grown dramatically throughout the pandemic.

Alyssa also shares learnings from her loyalty career in Wyndham Hotels where she created compelling subscription programs to help guests enjoy increased flexibility with their products, as well as developing powerful partnerships for parents and children when she led loyalty for Toys R Us.

Alyssa truly describes herself as someone with "loyalty in her blood" so listen to learn some exciting ideas as she begins to lead new loyalty initiatives for the luxury brands within L'Oréal!

Show Notes:

1) Alyssa Callahan - Director of Loyalty at L'Oréal Luxe Division

2) L'Oréal

3) Wyndham Hotels & Destination

How do you differentiate one hotel brand in such an ultra-competitive industry?

By focusing on authentic, heartfelt ideas and initiatives that go way beyond anything your guests ever expect.

This is just one of the insights I learned last year when I chatted with Shirley King who has over 25 years driving engagement and loyalty for Kimpton Hotels and IHG both at home in the USA and internationally.

Listen to hear how her instinctive loyalty mindset helped her create some of the industry's most iconic programs, as well as some of the ideas she was thinking through for the future to create even greater loyalty in a post-pandemic world.

Show Notes:

1) Let's Talk Loyalty Episode #47 - Shirley King IHG Rewards Club

What a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the impact of the global pandemic on the Emirates Skywards loyalty programme.

I was joined by Dr Nejib Ben-Khedher for a second time, who shared some fascinating insights on the most powerful initiatives they recently launched, with an increased focus on personalisation, powerful partnerships, and innovative technology solutions to create even more compelling experiences for customers.

Nejib explains how they've doubled their open rates for Skywards email campaigns, and enhanced the "in-path" experience to multiply their look-to-book ratio, going back to basics to support the airline as it recovers from the effects of the pandemic on overall travel patterns.

We also discuss Skywards+, the latest addition to the Skywards proposition, with insights on who's engaging and why, as well as the gamification approach that's proving increasingly popular. Members compete to claim tickets for unique Skywards Experiences through Emirates-sponsored events such as the Formula 1 racing, football games with AC Milan, Arsenal and Real Madrid as well as world class tennis and cricket to cater to all of their member's passions.

We learn the incredible ongoing growth for Skywards despite the pandemic, as well as some extra-ordinary changes in how members are engaging.

Finally, we discussed some of the future trends that Nejib is focused on for the next phase of growth for Skywards, with a clear focus on increasing overall loyalty to Emirates with its passengers and members.

This episode is sponsored by Valuedynamx ( Part of Collinson Group)

Show Notes:

1) Nejib Ben-Khedher

2) Emirates Skywards

3) Skywards Plus

4) McKinsey - Power of Paid Loyalty Programmes

5) Skywards Exclusives