The Loyalty Newswire from The Wise Marketer
This edition covers: Acosta Group, Amex, Brand Keys, CLMP™, DSW, ebbo, Ellipsis & Co, Fathom, Kyros Insights, Leal Hub, Mastercard, McCabes Pharmacy, Merkle, PwC, Ramp, Revolut, Site Impact, Starbucks, Superhuman, Target
FROM THE EDITOR
There's CLMP™ momentum around the world: a new workshop lands in Dubai (Oct 27–29) alongside the existing Mexico City session with Leal Hub, and registration is open for Kyros Insights' September 24 webinar on proving loyalty ROI in the CFO's language.
Elsewhere, we have numbers for you — read through the numbers in this week's news, and you'll get a grip on the state of loyalty and where it's headed:
- 77% vs. 27% — Americans who notice personalized marketing constantly or often vs. those who feel brands actually understand what they want (Site Impact)
- 9 in 10 — Brits who now belong to a loyalty scheme (Amex)
- 72% — U.S. shoppers who visit convenience stores with a specific mission in mind (Acosta Group)
- 80%+ — service transactions in Paraguay now made via digital payment
- Up to 5% — Canadian Tire Money earned on linked Tims Rewards purchases
- ~7,000 — five-star G2 reviews for Fathom, now part of Superhuman
Bill Hanifin, Managing Editor — The Wise Marketer
SHORT TAKES
- [AUS] Australian banks plan to overhaul loyalty rewards beginning in October
- [Global] Mastercard Launches Wallet Pay to Scale Digital Wallets Worldwide
- [Global] What's the Link Between Location Sharing and Social Influence?
- [Ireland] McCabes Pharmacy Launches PLUS Program
- [LAC] Digital Payments Account for Over 80% of Service Transactions in Paraguay
- [UK] Starbucks Trials New O2 Location-Based Mobile Marketing Service
- [UK] 2026 Loyalty Barometer Report from Merkle
- [UK] 9 in 10 Brits Now Belong to a Loyalty Scheme — Amex Report
- [US] DSW Gives Customers 'More Control' as It Revamps VIP Loyalty Program
- [US] Acosta Group Research Shows 72% of Consumers Visit C-Stores with a Mission in Mind
- [US] Target Baskets Can Track You In-Store. Here's What to Know
CLMP™ TRAINING SPOTLIGHT — MEXICO CITY
Certified Loyalty Marketing Training™ Workshop Coming to Mexico City
Leal Hub, the leading customer loyalty and strategy consultancy in Mexico, is hosting a CLMP™ workshop with the Loyalty Academy in Mexico City on October 21–22. The CLMP™ credential distinguishes professionals who design and lead customer strategies across B2C and B2B markets — an important professional development opportunity for loyalty practitioners across the region. Additional workshops in Brazil, Colombia, Dubai, and the US will be announced soon.
FEATURED STORIES
New CLMP™ Workshop Announced in Dubai on 27–29 October
The Loyalty Academy and QBF Consulting are bringing the Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional™ (CLMP™) workshop to Dubai, October 27–29. The credential program equips practitioners to design and lead customer loyalty strategies across B2C and B2B markets, and the Dubai session adds to a growing 2026 calendar that already includes the CLMP™ workshop with Leal Hub in Mexico City this October.
Fathom Is Now Part of Superhuman
For all those people using AI notetakers in their digital meetings, you should know that Fathom is now officially part of Superhuman. Fathom was recognized in G2's 2026 Best Software Awards Top 100, named HubSpot's 2025 Most Used App of the Year, and is rated five stars by nearly 7,000 G2 reviewers. Superhuman is building a connected suite of apps and agents that use context from across the workday, spanning email, calendar, collaborative documents, and databases. Fathom adds another piece to that picture: meeting intelligence. Nothing changes today for Fathom users, but integration opportunities are coming soon.
18th Annual Brand Keys Loyalty Leaders List Identifies the Brands Capitalizing Most on AI
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping brand loyalty, and the 18th annual Brand Keys Loyalty Leaders List identifies the brands capitalizing on this shift. The 2026 rankings reveal meaningful movement among industry leaders, driven by a profound increase in consumer expectations. “AI has moved from novelty to mainstream and is driving emotional affinity for brands,” said Robert Passikoff, founder and president of Brand Keys, Inc. “AI has moved loyalty well beyond a transactional model, becoming a powerful driver of emotional connection, relationship, and behavior, substantively defining this year's leaders.”
The Next Chapter of Enterprise AI Is Taking Shape at the Customer Edge
Ian Kahn and Preet Takkar, both Principals with PwC US, collaborate on this article about how companies are rethinking the commercial operating model — connecting marketing, sales, commerce, pricing and service around the customer journey. AI is pushing companies to move beyond individual use cases and rethink how customer-facing functions operate together, and the authors advocate that creating an intelligent “customer edge” is an optimal path to success.
Consumers Say Personalized Marketing Knows Too Much and Understands Too Little
77% of Americans detect personalized marketing constantly or often. Only 27% say brands actually understand what they want. The Site Impact 2026 Personalization Reality Check Report examines where consumers draw the line between personalization that feels useful and personalization that feels invasive. To understand how consumers experience personalized marketing in a data-driven advertising environment, Site Impact partnered with the third-party survey platform Pollfish in June 2026 to survey 800 U.S. adults ages 18 to 64 who regularly notice ads and marketing tailored to them.
Revolut and Ramp — Two Firms Seeking to Change Modern Cash Management
Revolut Business and Ramp are two prominent companies pursuing different versions of the same ambition: to become the financial infrastructure through which modern companies spend, move and manage money. Revolut, founded in London, has built its business around international payments and multi-currency banking. Ramp, based in New York, has focused more heavily on controlling corporate spending, automating financial processes and using artificial intelligence to identify waste.
Ellipsis Opinion: Privacy Reforms in Australia Are Hitting Loyalty Programs in Disguise
Everyone in Australia is reading the new privacy reforms as a media and advertising story. But they might be missing the part of the story that impacts loyalty marketing. A loyalty program is, at its core, a business built on customer data in exchange for personalised value and trust. Most of the recent commentary has focused on direct marketing, media, advertising, and data governance — but those are also the operating mechanics of any well-functioning loyalty program. The reforms ask one question of every business that runs a loyalty program: can you prove you still deserve that trust?
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