December 9, 2020 – The Mallett Group, a loyalty and relationship marketing consulting agency, announces the appointment of additional Managing Partners. Lars Holmquist and Steve Sickel, two loyalty marketing veterans with decades of experience between them, join original founding member Marc Berman to lead the consulting agency forward.
“The success of any consulting agency relies mainly on the talent and caliber of its people,” says Marc Berman. “Bringing on Lars and Steve to our executive leadership really elevates the level of sophistication we can offer to our clients.”
Lars Holmquist has deep loyalty experience in the travel, loyalty and payments industries holding senior executive positions at TSYS Loyalty (where he served as President), MasterCard, American Express, Brierley & Partners, Loylogic and Cartera Commerce. Lars has been a Board Member of the Cardlinx Association and most recently held the role of EVP Americas for Collinson responsible for leading the loyalty commerce and card linked offers business unit.
Steve Sickel is a successful travel industry veteran with 25+ years of experience in senior level and c-suite roles across multiple sectors (hotels, airlines, third party distribution) and multiple disciplines (loyalty programs, database marketing, partnership development, branding, e-commerce, and call centers). Steve led the loyalty practices at Continental Airlines (pre-merger with United) and at InterContinental Hotels Group where he ran both programs to industry-leading performances.
Loyalty marketing has grown to be an important element in the overall marketing strategy of many companies looking to build deeper customer relationships and drive commercial outperformance. This focus has led to the proliferation of loyalty programs; the development of extensive partnership networks; the design of highly targeted marketing campaigns; and the deployment of sophisticated technologies to support this agenda. The Mallett Group advises clients across all of these dimensions in order to maximize the efficiency and efficacy of their loyalty marketing investments by delivering a unique approach to its clients: the talent and experience of a big-name consultancy with the speed, practical solutions, and cost-effectiveness of a boutique agency.
Over the past year, however, investment in loyalty marketing has been curbed as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many companies faced with reduced budgets are looking for innovative staffing models to manage their expense budgets while maintaining their commercial viability.
“Loyalty marketing can be complicated and expensive,” adds Berman. “And in a post-COVID world where many clients have downsized their staffing significantly, The Mallett Group is well-positioned to serve as “just-in-time” resources that can be pulsed up or down to manage aspects of our client’s loyalty agenda without the longer-term commitment of adding additional overhead. Our team of consultants have held similar roles to those of our clients and know the ins and outs of designing a competitive loyalty strategy and, more importantly, implementing these strategies in a crowded, competitive market.”
About The Mallett Group
The Mallett Group is a loyalty and relationship marketing consulting agency established by loyalty marketing veterans. Founded in 1997, The Mallett Group specializes in helping clients design, develop, and maximize the value of their loyalty strategies and programs by bringing clients the best of both worlds – the talent and experience of a big-name consultancy with the speed, practical solutions, and cost-effectiveness of a boutique agency. The Mallett Group is staffed with an extensive team of over twenty loyalty marketing experts based in North America, Europe, and Asia who possess deep loyalty experience across the Travel, Financial Services, Loyalty Support Services, and Retail sectors and have served industry-leading clients including American Express, AT&T, Sears, Mastercard, British Airways, Emirates, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and Priceline.com to name only a few.