We’ve covered the headlines, the media narrative, and the legislative map. Here is a proposed path from creating awareness to taking a seat at the table.
From Awareness to Action
Over the past two months, The Wise Marketer has published a series on the legislative pressure building around loyalty marketing. Loyalty Marketing Is Making Headlines for the Wrong Reason traced how the “surveillance pricing” debate came to include loyalty programs. Your Loyalty File Isn’t a Surveillance Dossier pushed back on a media template that treats a voluntary relationship history as evidence of harm. And our state-by-state legislative tracker mapped more than 40 bills across 24-plus states.
As we published these articles, the pace has not slowed. New laws in Maryland and Connecticut took effect October 1. New York’s One Fair Price Act is set to take effect in December, and New Jersey’s follows in 2027. The FTC has proposed an enforcement policy statement on personalized pricing. California’s AB 2564 died in the final hours of session, but nobody expects it to stay that way forever.
Awareness was step one. This article is about step two – how we join this national debate in earnest by creating a unified voice for our industry.
Others Are Defining Our Business
The critics of loyalty marketing are organized. The Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, the American Economic Liberties Project, Groundwork Collaborative and Consumer Reports have names, faces and a research trail. They brief congressional staff, file in agency dockets and are the first call when a reporter needs a quote.
The loyalty industry’s response has been fragmented and peripheral to where the regulatory conversations are happening. Two recent examples show both what it can do and where it falls short.
In Seattle this August, retailers faced a proposed Fair Pricing and Transparency ordinance that would bar companies from using AI and personal information to set prices. Amanda Dalton, president of the Northwest Grocery Retail Association, which represents 455 Washington retailers, didn’t defend surveillance pricing, she argued for relevance.
“You don’t want a bunch of dog food coupons if you own a cat”, she commented describing a scenario where a shopper who buys cat food every week should get cat food coupons and sending them requires knowing what she buys. Her members proposed amendments that would bar using personal data to charge higher prices while preserving discounts and rewards, and they launched a Protect Seattle Savings campaign. He comments served a purpose as they turned an abstract data-policy question into a choice any pet owner understands.
Last December, after the Washington Post’s Starbucks story went viral, Don Smith, global consulting officer and CMO of Brierley, pushed back in Retail Dive. Brierley is part of Capillary Technologies, the loyalty technology provider listed on India’s NSE and BSE. Smith commented that charging members of equal status different prices for the same product would be “predatory pricing.” If members believed their data were being used that way, “they would opt out of loyalty.” That is a well-crafted statement from an authoritative figure in our industry.
Both of these responses are effective means of framing the essence of loyalty marketing. What is needed now is a coordinated national voice that speaks as loyalty professionals and represents the industry as a whole.
The loyalty carve-outs in today’s laws aren’t permanent. They exist because someone showed up, bill by bill, and they can be drafted away just as easily. If we don’t define what a legitimate loyalty program is, legislators will define it for us.
A Path Forward
A unified voice doesn’t mean defending every program reflexively. It means giving lawmakers something better to work with than anecdotes. We see four building blocks.
- A shared vocabulary. Uniform pricing differs from individualized pricing, disclosed from covert, and personalization from data sale. We need to create a practitioner-based definition of these terms that legislators can use as they draft legislation.
- A voluntary transparency standard. Both the FTC and the federal One Fair Price Act hinge on disclosure and knowing consent. An industry-authored standard, such as a plain-language summary of what is collected at enrollment and how it shapes offers, could be used as a regulatory baseline.
- Credible evidence. Critics have citable research. The industry mostly has assertions. Independent research on the value loyalty program members receive would change that. Wise Marketer Group launched its longitudinal study of consumer sentiment on brand and program loyalty in 2025 and is continuing to build this as an asset for the industry.
- Participate in the Process. That means filing comments, testifying and briefing staff before a bill is drafted, not after. It also means saying publicly that bait-and-switch tactics are indefensible. Credibility comes from criticizing bad actors, not covering for them.
Where The Wise Marketer Fits
No single company can take on this responsibility by itself. And no trade association yet speaks for loyalty as a discipline across retail, travel, hospitality, financial services and QSR. The Wise Marketer is offering to serve as the hub where that voice comes together.
In practice, this means three things.
- We will maintain the legislative tracker current as a living resource.
- We will continue to publish evenhanded analysis that legislative staff and journalists can cite.
- We will convene practitioners, technology providers, program operators and researchers, including the Loyalty Academy™ and CLMP™ community, to develop shared positions under a working banner we’re calling the Loyalty Transparency Initiative.
This isn’t a finished plan. It’s a vision for how the industry can coalesce to clearly explain our purpose, consumer benefits, and our approach towards data stewardship. If you run a program, build the technology behind one, or advise brands that do, we want to hear from you.
Tell us where you agree, where you don’t and what you would add. Reach us here with your ideas (support@thewisemarketer.com)
Standards and statutes that will impact loyalty marketing in the future are being written as we speak. The water in this river is moving quickly and we need to board the same boat and paddle in unison. We are our own best advocates and now is the time to ensure that the people who understand the business best will be in the right rooms where the important debates are taking place.
