The Loyalty Newswire from The Wise Marketer
This edition covers: Air Serbia, Albertsons Media Collective, Auriemma Group, Credit Unions, Demand Gen Report, Dental Memberships, Dragonpass, Edible Arrangements, Fanatics Markets, IFANN, Kwik Stop, Pizza Hut, Procter & Gamble, Rain, Sandals & Beaches Resorts, Seth Godin, SpaceX, TELUS, Verizon
FROM THE EDITOR
Big moves from major brands on the loyalty front this week:
- Albertsons Media Collective and Procter & Gamble debut Rico’s Tacos, an industry-first branded entertainment model, launching a scripted minivela built on retailer shopper intelligence.
- Verizon eliminates activation and upgrade fees as part of a sweeping customer-first transformation under CEO Dan Schulman.
- Fanatics Markets unlocks its ecosystem with Fanatics ONE and FanCash, a new loyalty layer powered by Crypto.com’s infrastructure.
- Air Serbia launches ELEVATE, a new loyalty program bundling reward flights, lounge access, and business-class upgrades.
- Rain brings native, embeddable loyalty rewards to every card program running on its issuing platform.
- TELUS Rewards earns global recognition for its loyalty program and rolls out a major round of enhancements.
Dig in for the full stories below, plus Short Takes covering Yum! Brands’ $2.7 billion sale of Pizza Hut, a rebranded loyalty program from Sandals and Beaches Resorts, and more.
Bill Hanifin, Managing Editor — The Wise Marketer
SHORT TAKES
- [Global] Dragonpass APAC Loyalty Index Says 53% of High-Income Consumers No Longer Value Bank Rewards
- [Global] Sandals® and Beaches® Resorts Launch Rebranded Loyalty Program, ‘Island Insiders Club’
- [US] Yum! Brands, Inc. Enters into Agreements to Sell Pizza Hut for $2.7 Billion
- [US] Kwik Stop Upgrades Rewards Mobile App
- [US] Demand Gen Report: More Than Half of B2B Buyers Say Marketing Content Feels Too Generic
- [US] Rogers Dentist Launches Membership Program for Uninsured Kids
- [US] Seth Godin: Humans Care About Status and Affiliation More Than Money in the Bank
FEATURED STORIES
Albertsons Media Collective Unveils Industry-First Branded Entertainment Model, Co-Developed with Procter & Gamble
Albertsons Media Collective has launched Rico’s Tacos, a scripted minivela that pioneers a new category for the industry: episodic, scripted branded entertainment built on retailer shopper intelligence and co-created with Procter & Gamble. The model lets brands bring a creative idea to the table and pair their own retail performance data with Albertsons’ expertise in shopper and category buying patterns — turning purchase insight directly into campaign creative.
Air Serbia’s New Loyalty Program Brings a Wealth of Premium Privileges
Air Serbia has introduced ELEVATE, a new loyalty program designed to transform the flight experience with a fresh dimension of benefits for every passenger. Every airfare or add-on purchase earns points, which members can exchange for exclusive, personalized perks. Redemption options include reward flights, extra luggage, seat selection, premium lounge access, and upgrades to business class.
Verizon Breaks Industry Mold to Put Customers First
Verizon announced the next step in its ongoing transformation, swapping complexity and friction for simplicity and real customer choice. The company is putting customers first by redefining loyalty and eliminating activation and upgrade fees. “We’re fundamentally reshaping Verizon to put the customer at the center of everything we do,” said Dan Schulman, Verizon CEO.
Edible Arrangements® Unveils New Mobile App and Fresh Edible Rewards™ Program
Edible Arrangements® has launched a redesigned mobile app alongside a reimagined Edible Rewards™ program. The overhaul is designed to give customers a more personalized, seamless, and rewarding way to celebrate every occasion — pairing a refreshed app experience with an enhanced rewards structure built around the brand’s gifting business.
Fanatics Markets Launches Loyalty Program to Unlock Fanatics Ecosystem
Fanatics Markets has launched a new loyalty program that unlocks the full Fanatics ecosystem through two new pillars: Fanatics ONE and FanCash. Built on Crypto.com’s federally regulated infrastructure, the program lets every trade earn rewards — giving customers even more incentive to participate in the Fanatics Prediction Market.
Social Platform IFANN On the Rise as Rock Digital Launches Creator Rewards Program
Rock Digital LLC has announced a major new chapter for IFANN, the fast-growing social platform that has quietly amassed hundreds of thousands of users since its public debut in October 2025. The company is launching the IFANN Creator Rewards Program, an initiative that rewards content creators for the engagement their posts, videos, and communities generate on the platform.
Rain Launches Rewards, Bringing Integrated Loyalty to Card Programs Across Its Platform
Rain, the stablecoin payments infrastructure company, has announced the broad availability of Rewards, a native loyalty capability built directly into its issuing stack. Any partner running a card program on Rain can now launch fully branded rewards for cardholders — without standing up a separate loyalty vendor or building infrastructure from scratch. Rewards follows a private beta with Avalanche Card, where enrolled cardholders spent 25% more than those without it.
TELUS Rewards Earns Global Loyalty Award Recognition and Unveils Massive Program Enhancements
TELUS Rewards has earned international recognition for its loyalty program, picking up a global industry award even as the company rolls out a wave of program enhancements. The recognition underscores TELUS Rewards’ growing reputation as a benchmark program in the telecom loyalty space, with more value on the way for members as the new benefits roll out.
Auriemma Payments Says Funding Is Not a True Barrier to Co-Brand Debit Card Growth
Auriemma Group’s latest issue of The Payments Report examines how cardholders fund co-brand debit cards and finds that concerns about funding as a barrier to growth may be overstated. The research found 43% of cardholders would maintain a balance of at least $1,000 if their card offered 1% cash back on partner-brand purchases, gas, and groceries, plus 0.5% back on everything else.
Credit Unions May Have a Bigger Digital Problem Than They Realize
According to Cornerstone Advisors’ 2026 Digital Banking Performance Metrics report, financial institutions lost an average of 3.36 digital checking account applications for every one successfully completed in 2025 — abandonment that added up to nearly 9,000 missed checking accounts per institution. The findings suggest that despite years of investment in digital transformation, onboarding, not adoption, may be the industry’s biggest digital weakness.
MANGOS Is the New Magnificent 7
By its second full trading day on public markets, SpaceX had already surpassed the market caps of Magnificent Seven members Tesla, Meta, and Amazon, pushing some on Wall Street to coin the term MANGOS (Meta, Anthropic, Nvidia, Google, OpenAI, and SpaceX) to describe an AI-focused lineup that drops Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Tesla entirely. Retail investors can’t buy into the new grouping just yet, since OpenAI and Anthropic remain private — though both are reportedly eyeing IPOs this year at valuations potentially north of $1 trillion.
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