November 24, 2026
10:00 AM EST
Register below for this event.
About
Is your loyalty story ready for the spotlight?
Every year, the International Loyalty Awards celebrate the programs, teams and initiatives setting the standard for customer loyalty worldwide. A program alone rarely decides whether an entry is shortlisted or wins. What decides it is how well the story is told, how clearly the impact is proven, and how closely the submission speaks to what judges are actually looking for.
In this exclusive session from the partnership between The Wise Marketer and the International Loyalty Awards, we’re opening the doors to the judging room. Last year's Global winning brand, plus two ILA Judges, and a member of the Awards’ leadership team come together to share candid, practical guidance on turning your achievements into an award-winning submission. Discover what that recognition can do for your brand, your team, and even your own career!
You’ll learn how to:
- Choose the right category for your program or initiative
- Read the judging criteria the way judges do
- Build a compelling narrative around your objectives, strategy and impact
- Prove results with meaningful evidence, customer outcomes and commercial impact
- Avoid the common mistakes that quietly sink strong entries
We’ll close with a live Q&A, so bring your questions about your own program and entry.
This session is for loyalty program owners, Heads of Loyalty, CRM and CX leaders, and anyone with a loyalty initiative worth celebrating. It works for past entrants who want a stronger submission and for first-timers alike.
Attendees will also receive an exclusive Wise Marketer entry code, offering a rate lower than even Early Bird pricing. It’s available to all webinar participants.
Don’t just enter. Win.
Featuring
James and his team were instrumental in RBC taking home the Global Loyalty Program of the Year this year. James Lombardi is Senior Director of High-Net-Worth and Premium Experiences at RBC, where he leads loyalty for the bank’s high-net-worth clients across Avion Rewards, spanning product, premium partnerships, and experiences. He previously headed loyalty partnerships for RBC, managing a network of more than 2,000 brand alliances and helping launch Avion Rewards Pay with Points on Ticketmaster.ca. James brings over 15 years of leadership in partnerships, loyalty, and financial services, and was named one of Business in Vancouver’s Forty Under 40.
Marian Kelly is a highly experienced international business leader and entrepreneur with over 20 years' experience spanning business development, strategic partnerships, international market development and commercial growth. Her expertise lies in identifying new market opportunities, building strategic relationships and developing businesses and platforms with international reach. She has worked on numerous high-profile global initiatives, bringing together organisations, industry leaders and commercial partners to create new opportunities for growth and collaboration.
As Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Zenith Marketing Global, Marian has been instrumental in developing and expanding the company's international portfolio, which includes the International Loyalty Awards, Loyalty Connect Global, European Loyalty Awards and Irish Loyalty & CX Awards. She has helped build a recognised international platform connecting leading brands, loyalty practitioners, technology providers and industry experts across multiple markets.
Through nearly two decades of involvement in the global loyalty industry, Marian has developed a valuable perspective on the evolution of customer loyalty, the changing expectations of consumers and the strategies and innovations shaping the future of the sector. Her work provides exposure to hundreds of loyalty programmes across industries and geographies, offering a unique insight into global best practice, emerging trends and the commercial opportunities within the loyalty ecosystem.
Passionate about the power of relationships, collaboration and strategic partnerships, Marian is committed to advancing the global loyalty industry, championing excellence and creating platforms that enable businesses and the people behind them to connect, share knowledge and shape the future of loyalty.
Cecilia has been on the judging panel of the International Loyalty Awards since 2017. She is the Chief Growth Officer of DataLab, a Customer Equity consultancy she co-founded in 2012 and now part of The Relevance Group. Her focus remains on utilizing data to extract maximum financial value from customer relationships in a sustainable way.
Cecilia is a customer insight pioneer and was integral to Payback´s rapid success over 25 years ago. Since then, she has held leadership positions at top energy, banking and retail brands and continues to act as a sparring partner for C-level executives who understand the power of customer data to drive growth.
At DataLab, she has worked with her clients to create and relaunch some of Europe’s most iconic and acclaimed loyalty schemes.
An Italian national, Cecilia is also a published author and a popular guest speaker on Loyalty topics. As a member of “Generation CEO”, she gets great satisfaction from supporting young female leaders on their path to the boardroom.
Host
Aaron Dauphinee is CMO and Partner at Wise Marketer Group (WMG) — home to The Wise Marketer™, the global voice of customer loyalty reaching 15,000+ professionals worldwide, and The Loyalty Academy™, the world's only professional certification body for loyalty marketers. More than 1,300 professionals across 55 countries have earned the Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional™ (CLMP™) designation through the Academy's programs.
With 25+ years in consumer-centric and data-driven marketing, Aaron is an award-winning B2B marketer and recognized thought leader in customer loyalty strategy, loyalty program design, and using data intelligently to drive brand value. His career spans senior roles at Bond Brand Loyalty — where he led the development of The Loyalty Report™ — as well as Rubikloud (CMO), Aimia, Gartner CEB, Alliance Data, and Shell Canada. He also taught Marketing for five years at Toronto Metropolitan University.
At WMG, Aaron drives the research, education, and content initiatives that equip loyalty professionals at every level — from emerging practitioners to senior executives — to build deeper customer commitment and measurable business results.