Loyalty NewsWire

Loyalty Newswire
October 23, 2023

By: Wise Marketer Staff |

Posted on October 23, 2023

This Week's News

The weekly Loyalty Newswire from The Wise Marketer delivers a curated list of the latest news and announcements from around the globe on all topics related to customer loyalty. We share news on a spectrum of topics, all with the intention of giving you an “info boost” to start your week.

The Loyalty Newswire makes it simple for busy professionals (that means YOU) to quickly digest important industry news and to *maybe even* enable you to star in your next big meeting.

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Delta Adjusts Loyalty Program Changes After Customer Backlash

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian announced this past Wednesday that the recent changes to SkyMiles announced by the carrier “probably went too far”. Bastian said he received hundreds of emails after the company announced significant changes to its SkyMiles program in order to address the surge in frequent flyers. "It’s been a challenge to balance the growth of our membership with our need to deliver premium service experiences," Bastian said. "We made some difficult program decisions to address this issue and ensure we are delivering elevated service to our Members. But your response made clear that the changes did not fully reflect the loyalty you have demonstrated to Delta."

Southwest Airlines Announces 5 Changes To Rapid Rewards Program

While Delta is experiencing severe backlash over the changes announced to its SkyMiles program, Southwest Airlines is making its own announcement of 5 significant changes to Rapid Rewards. The airline says it is enhancing its member value proposition with these changes:

A new Cash plus Points feature will be introduced in Spring 2024
Use of the cobrand credit card will help flyers reach tier status twice as fast
Getting to A-List status will require less flights
Reaching A-List Preferred will be easier as well
A-List Preferred members will receive up to two complimentary premium drinks per flight

Other than the worry that we’ll soon have a cabin full of heavy drinking A-List preferred Members (we’re joking), the changes are all positive and have interesting timing as they capitalize on Delta’s woes. You can read the entire story here.

Loyalty Juggernaut Wins Top Technology Innovation Award 3rd Year In A Row

Loyalty Juggernaut (LJI), the first cloud-native technology platform for loyalty programs and ecosystems, announced that it has won its 3rd consecutive 'Best Technology Innovation' award at Global Flight's Loyalty & Awards 2023 conference. You can read the full press release here. Ravindra Bhagwanani, Managing Director of Global Flight stated "This award holds remarkable prestige as it is determined by a panel of actual loyalty practitioners and loyalty strategy professionals. Congratulations to the LJI team for completing a winning trifecta. It's a testament to their focus on innovation," said. "Loyalty Juggernaut's Pulsar represents a pioneering approach, harnessing Generative AI to swiftly craft highly personalized and effective loyalty campaigns."

The CRMC Webinar Series Hosted By Wise Marketer Continues With Wingstop & Epsilon On Nov. 15

The CRMC Webinar Series has been highly popular over the past few years. The episode coming up on November 15 at 1pm ET features Wingstop and Epsilon as they tell the story of Data, Identity and Activation: The winning trifecta to optimize channels, build loyalty and drive revenue.

Today’s consumers interact with brands across a mix of 20+ channels, on average. As a result, many companies serve countless messages across multiple channels but overlook channel management and optimization. This can lead to ad waste, bad customer experiences and low ROI. To win in this environment, marketers must deliver seamless, consistent digital experiences that engender trust.

Register here to listen to Epsilon and Matt Warren, VP of Media and Digital Marketing Strategy at Wingstop, to learn more about how these underpinnings work together to help you grow your brand loyalty and build an efficient marketing eco-system that maximizes business outcomes.

Philippine Based Loyalty Outsourcing Firm Loyalty Connectos Is Open For Business

Loyalty ConnectOS was created to revolutionize outsourcing and working models for teams, taking advantage of hybrid and work from home practices, coupled with a large pool of loyalty talent in a low-cost market – the Philippines. The new venture, founded by loyalty veteran Nik Laming, exists to enable loyalty, digital and data businesses to extend their teams, maintaining control and with full visibility, with staff based in the Philippines made up of specialized talent in roles including data analytics, campaign execution, IT, operations and 80 different job categories. Philippines has the third largest English-speaking population in the world with 94% literacy rate of its 110 million people, excellent education, and a solid work ethic. It represents considerable opportunity for cost savings of 50-70%.

Red Roof® SHE Leads Forum Celebrates Women In Hospitality

Red Roof®, an award-winning leader in the lodging industry, hosted over 200 attendees at its 2023 SHE Leads Forum in Dallas. Dr. Lalia Rach, Founder and Partner, Rach Enterprises and best-selling author of Managing the Book on You! Rewriting Your Leadership Story, moderated the two-day Forum, and keynote speaker Dorothy Dowling, Founder of Introspect Strategic Advisor Services, helped motivate the crowd with her inspirational thoughts. Attendees also heard from experts offering business advice, including Jyoti Sarolia, President and CEO at Ellis Hospitality, and Christine Taylor, Claims Consultant & Strategic Insurance Partner at Lockton Companies.

Join The Wise Marketer At The Loyalty Summit CXM In Los Angeles

FTE is hosting the first Loyalty Summit CXM 2023 on 15-16 November 2023 in Los Angeles, CA and the Wise Marketer Group is the official media partner for the event. Rick Ferguson will be the MC on the day and Phil Rubin is chairing the event. The speaker lineup is very strong, and we encourage you to attend this new event covering all that you need to know about loyalty in 2023.

Capillary And ELI Partner To Armor Brands With Real-Time Emotional Loyalty Intelligence

Capillary Technologies, a global leader in customer loyalty solutions has entered into a partnership with ELI, an innovative technology company specializing in emotional data intelligence. This strategic collaboration is poised to revolutionize how brands harness emotional insights to cultivate customer loyalty and foster meaningful engagement.

Co-founded by Danny Socolof, ELI (Emotional Loyalty Intelligence) is developing emotional data analytics using the fastest-growing language in human history- emojis. Emojis have become an integral part of modern communication, each symbolizing a spectrum of human emotions. ELI’s pioneering technology deciphers the emotional meanings and intensity hidden within emojis, offering brands unprecedented signal and insights into customer sentiments.

Kwik Trip Rewards Program Outage, 'Cybersecurity Incident' To Blame

Kwik Trip reported that a "cybersecurity incident" was to blame for the disruption of its loyalty program operations. The event was first noticed on October 9. Kwik Trip is one of the largest convenience store chains in the US, with more than 800 locations throughout Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin under the name Kwik Trip, and in Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota under the name Kwik Star. The incident disrupted the company's internal network systems, Kwik Trip said, but there is no indication customer card information was involved. Kwik Trip reported on October 20 that it hoped all locations will be processing loyalty transactions soon, though the Kwik Rewards app and website remain down.

1 In 4 Genz/Millennial Workers Have Changed Jobs 2 Or More Times In Past 5 Years

To understand the prevalence and impact of job hopping among GenZers and Millennials, in October, ResumeBuilder.com surveyed 1,000 full-time workers ages 21 to 40. Key findings:

More than half of GenZers and Millennials have job hopped in the past 5 years
8 in 10 increased their salary as a result of job hopping
9 in 10 are job searching and remain open to new opportunities
Majority say they are likely to leave current company by the end of 2024

You can read more details here. Certainly the mindset of the workforce reflects trends in consumer behavior, illustrating the challenges that all marketers have to gain andmaintain attention from younger consumers who are now the prime audience for most brands.

Loyalty Science Lab Invites Customer Loyalty Program Managers To Participate In Benchmarking Study

Loyalty Science Lab (LSL) is a loyalty think tank housed in the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University in Virginia, USA. The group is led by Dr. Yuping Liu-Thompkins, an experienced academician who specializes in building customer loyalty and habits through effective marketing programs. Dr. Liu-Thompkins is a CLMP™, a member of the Loyalty Academy™ Board of Regents, and a member of the Customer Strategy Network.

LSL has embarked on an ambitious project to benchmark the performance metrics associated with global loyalty programs. This research project is being conducted in cooperation with the Customer Strategy Network (CSN) and is sponsored by Epsilon. The Wise Marketer is supporting this important initiative as a service to the loyalty industry. The first phase of this research is open to receive your responses until October 31 and you can find the survey by clicking here.

Ingenico And Jifiti Simplify Embedded Lending Integration For Merchants

Ingenico, the global leader in payment acceptance solutions, joins forces with Jifiti, the global-leading fintech in white-labeled embedded lending, in a landmark worldwide alliance. This partnership empowers merchants to seamlessly offer financing options, provided by accredited financial institutions and enabled by Jifiti, through Ingenico's innovative cloud-based Payments Platform as a Service (PPaaS). As the solution is white-labeled, the financing offering can be integrated natively within the customer journey, in-store and online, thereby deepening customer relationships and nurturing long-lasting brand loyalty.

Runa Expands Its Global Digital Value Payout Network

Runa, the digital value infrastructure for instant global B2C payments, today announced a record expansion during 2023, following the launch of its latest, first-of-its-kind payment rail that unlocks all forms of digital value earlier this year. Over the past year, the company has diversified its customer base and introduced over 1,500 new payout types. Runa's digital value network now includes over 3,500 payouts in more than 40 countries and 25 currencies, enabling fee-free, instant global B2C payouts reaching over 2 billion consumers globally.

Afterpay Partners With Nift Networks To Launch Exclusive Rewards Program For 5M+ Customers

Afterpay, one of the global leaders in "Buy Now, Pay Later" payments, announced the launch of its exclusive rewards program in partnership with Nift Networks. This collaboration aims to revolutionize the shopping experience for Afterpay customers by providing them with unparalleled opportunities to discover and try thousands of new products and services through the innovative Nift gift network.

"We are always looking for ways to improve our consumer shopping experience, and our partnership with Nift does just that," said Marni Schapiro, GM Global Advertising at Afterpay. "Our partnership empowers our customers to explore and experience thousands of new products and services with convenience while staying in control of their finances."

Career Opportunities And Jobs In Loyalty Marketing

We’ve gathered some interesting career opportunities across the Loyalty Marketing industry. We share here a partial list of all that is on our desk and there are excellent brands represented. To learn more and express your interest, please click through the individual links below.

We also have a curated concise list of executive level resources and other professionals who are available to support your team. If you are interested in connecting with anyone on the list, please email Bill Hanifin. All inquiries are managed in a confidential manner.

Comarch - Loyalty Program Manager
Kobie Marketing - Director of Business Development
Hilton - Manager, Marketing & Loyalty Strategy & Planning
LA Clippers - Loyalty Marketing Manager
Dollar Tree - Director, Loyalty & Personalization
Albertsons Companies - Manager, Loyalty Programs Partnerships
Citgo Petroleum Corporation - Manager, Loyalty Programs
FanDuel - Customer Marketing Director, Casino Loyalty
Eureka! Restaurant Group - Loyalty Marketing Manager
The Hertz Corporation - Director, Loyalty
FIS Global - Loyalty Business Analyst II
Carnival Corporation - Loyalty Operations Specialist (Hybrid)