Advertise on podcast: Let's Talk Loyalty

Fiona Clifford, Member Engagement and Marketing Manager at Supercheap Auto, joins Carly Neubauer to share how the Supercheap Auto Club transformed its loyalty proposition for over 5 million active members. Recognised as Best Loyalty Program in APAC at the ORIAS 2026, the programme continues to evolve, balancing customer value with commercial performance through a simpler rewards model and data-driven personalisation. Hosted by Carly Neubauer Show Notes: 1) Fiona Clifford 2) Super Cheap Auto 3) Be the Unicorn (Book Recommendation)

Vuyo Henda is a decorated marketing leader. She is passionate about loyalty and this shows in her leadership of the Spur Family Card loyalty programme, Africa’s leading restaurant loyalty brand. Vuyo’s insights from this show cover the importance of operational delivery of the loyalty strategy and how to create magic at a store level. Hosted by Amanda Cromhout Show Notes: 1)Vuyo Henda 2)Spur Corporation 3) Spur Family Card loyalty programme, 4) Good Strategy Bad Strategy (Book Recommendation)

How can brands balance customer loyalty with profitability? Carly Neubauer speaks with Roz Travers-Hucker, Head of Marketing at Canningvale Australia, about using customer data, relevant rewards and emotional connections to drive sustainable growth. Roz shares lessons from Best Friends Group’s paid membership program and Canningvale’s Home Lovers Club, exploring loyalty economics, customer engagement, and the importance of creating value for both customers and the business. Show Notes: 1) Roz Travers-Hucker 2) Canningvale Australia 3) Home Lovers Club 4) FYI: For Your Improvement (Book Recommendation)

What does it take to build a loyalty strategy that delivers more than points, discounts and transactions? Bridget Blaise-Shamai speaks with Jacek Materna, CEO of TrueLoyal, about the evolution of modern loyalty — from customer communities and authentic advocacy to gamification, UGC and connecting online and offline behaviour. Jacek shares real-world examples from brands including Nestlé Purina, Hero Cosmetics and more, while explaining why incrementality and measurable lift should be at the heart of every loyalty investment.They also explore how brands can turn customer communities into a source of insight, content, engagement and acquisition — and why the future of loyalty is about creating experiences that genuinely earn customer commitment. Hosted by Bridget Blaise-Shamai This episode is sponsored by TrueLoyal Show Notes: 1) Jacek Materna 2) TrueLoyal 3) Good to Great - Book Recommendation

Chili’s sold close to 30 million margaritas last year — more than any other restaurant brand in the United States. The brand has just closed its twenty-first consecutive quarter of same-store sales growth. And the loyalty program sitting underneath that run has spent the last two years getting simpler, not bigger. Aaron Dauphinee at Wise Marketer Group sits down with Nicholas Kerr, Director of Loyalty and Growth Marketing at Chili’s. (Brinker International) And casual dining may be one of the hardest categories for loyalty. Visit frequency is low, margins are thin, the consumer has been trained on discounts for forty years, and the experience is delivered by people rather than an app. The reflex in that environment is to add: more points, more tiers, more offers. BUT Chili’s went the other way! Listen in to learn how and why. Hosted by Aaron Dauphinee, CLMP™ Show Notes: 1) Nicholas Kerr 2) Chili’s. (Brinker International) 3) Die with Zero (Book Recommendation) 4) Our Previous Episode with Nicholas Kerr

Fresh from the 8th South African Loyalty Awards and International Leaders in Loyalty Summit in Cape Town, Lisa Brightwell sits down with Amanda Cromhout, CEO & Founder of Truth Loyalty and Chair of the South African Loyalty Awards, to reflect on one of the biggest moments in the South African loyalty calendar. Amanda shares the standout insights from the summit, from AI and consumer psychology to loyalty economics, customer lifetime value and the power of ecosystems. She also takes us behind the scenes of the awards, including why FNB eBucks and Shoprite Xtra Savings continue to stand out, what challenger brands can do to get noticed, and why the awards celebrate commended and highly commended teams alongside category winners. The conversation also looks at how the International Leaders in Loyalty Summit has evolved from a small classroom gathering into a global loyalty community—and what Amanda hopes to bring to its next chapter. Hosted by Lisa Brightwell. Show Notes: 1)Amanda Cromhout 2) International Leaders in Loyalty Summit in Cape Town 3)South African Loyalty Awards 4) Truth Loyalty 5) The Courage to be Disliked - Book Recommendation

Our guest today is Megan Chickrell, Sr. Manager, Loyalty Strategy Ahold Delhaize USA. Megan is a dynamic marketer and a force in the grocery sector, just named as one of Progressive Grocer's 2026 Top Women in Grocery: Rising Stars! Ahold Delhaize USA is a division of global food retailer Ahold Delhaize operating multiple brands in the US which taken together comprise the largest grocery retail group on the East Coast and the fourth largest in the nation. Megan was interviewed in October 2024 by Paula Thomas, where they talked through current loyalty initiatives at Ahold Delhaize USA. In this episode, host Bill Hanifin, CEO Wise Marketer Group expands on this conversation, discussing the evolution of loyalty and personalization, how customer expectations are evolving alongside technology and AI, and the unique opportunities and challenges for customer marketing in the grocery sector. Note: A small portion of the audio in this episode has been adjusted using AI voice cloning to correct a few mispronounced words. This was used only to fix pronunciation — the content, meaning, and speakers' original statements remain exactly as recorded. No AI-generated commentary or altered content has been added. Show Notes: 1) Megan Chickrell 2) Ahold Delhaize USA. 3) The Calamity Club

What happens when points, discounts and rewards are no longer enough to earn lasting customer loyalty? Elie Carrier-Walker, Vice President, International Client Services, Loyalty at Epsilon, explores how loyalty is evolving from a traditional marketing programme into a strategic business capability. Elie shares why successful loyalty strategies need to go beyond transactional rewards to build trust, emotional connection and long-term brand preference. We discuss the balance between transactional and emotional loyalty, the role of brand reliability, and why loyalty needs to be embedded across the wider business — not treated as simply another marketing initiative. We also explore some of the most common reasons loyalty programmes fail to deliver lasting value, and what brands can do differently to create stronger customer relationships and sustainable growth. This episode is sponsored by Epsilon. Epsilon has been helping clients deliver on their loyalty objectives globally for more than 50 years. Today, Epsilon Loyalty combines deep loyalty expertise with market leading technology to create growth-based programmes that fundamentally change habits and deliver measurable long-term value. Hosted by Charlie Hills Show Notes: 1)Elie Carrier-Walker 2)Epsilon 3)The Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns.

What happens when a loyalty programme becomes deeply connected to the brand customers already love? In this episode we are joined by Pascale McBain, Head of Digital Customer Experience at Baker’s Delight, to explore how Dough Getters is strengthening customer relationships across more than 500 bakeries in Australia. Pascal shares how Baker’s Delight uses loyalty data to understand customer behaviour, why research revealed that awareness—not rewards—was the biggest opportunity, and how Dough Getters is driving emotional connection, advocacy and commercial value. She also discusses the importance of simplicity and frictionless experiences, the role of personalisation, engaging franchisees across a complex network, and how customer data is shaping the future of the programme. A fascinating conversation about building loyalty by combining brand love, customer insight, simplicity and meaningful rewards. Hosted by Carly Neubauer Show Notes: 1) Pascale McBai 2)Baker’s Delight 3) Dough Getters 4) The Chimp Paradox by Professor Steve Peters (Book Recommendation)

In this episode, Charlie Hills interviews Timothy Lange, CRM Lead at Vinted, a brand well known and loved by listeners. Tim leads the CRM team's messaging as the company transitions from a fashion resale platform to a multi-category marketplace and continues its expansion across Europe. His focus is on driving engagement, personalisation, and improving the Vinted experience for millions of members. In this episode, listeners will learn all about Vinted, how the brand manages loyalty, and key insights and innovations to look out for. Loyalty marketing professionals are invited to join the show every week to hear the latest ideas and insights from loyalty experts around the world. Show Notes: 1) Timothy Lange, 2) Vinted 3) Quiet by Susan Cain (Book Recommendation)

Today’s episode is in Audio only. In this episode, our host Nyeleti is joined by Alice Sesay Pope, a Fortune 100 executive, former Global Vice President at Amazon, and author of The Trust Algorithm, to explore why the hardest part of AI adoption isn't the technology at all—it's the trust required to use it well. Drawing on more than two decades of leadership across Amazon, Visa, Microsoft, Capital One and USAA, Alice makes the case that transformation succeeds or fails on people, governance and judgment long before it succeeds or fails on technology. The conversation moves from how leaders diagnose which problems genuinely call for AI, to what builds a customer's confidence to engage rather than hesitate, to what effective governance and accountability actually look like once AI moves from framework to lived, high-stakes experience. A central theme is that this wave of transformation is different from those that came before it - not because it changes how work gets done, but because it changes who, or what, is doing the thinking. Nyeleti and Alice discuss what that shift means for how people behave inside organisations, and for loyalty and CX professionals in particular, who are often influencing AI transformation rather than leading it. This episode offers a grounded, leadership-first perspective for anyone building customer loyalty in an environment where trust, not technology, is the real currency of transformation. Show notes: 1) Alice Sesay Pope 2) The Trust Algorithm 3) Good to Great - Jim Collins (Book Recommendation)

Tomas Warden, Group Owner of Digital Customer Success at Telstra, shares how Telstra Plus is moving beyond points and rewards to create meaningful customer experiences, drive retention and build emotional loyalty. Discover how Telstra is using digital innovation, travel partnerships and customer-centric experiences to make loyalty a powerful strategic lever. Hosted by Carly Neubauer Show Notes: 1) Tomas Warden 2) Telstra 3) Telstra Plus 4) Diary of a CEO by Stephen Bartlett.

As part of our Best of the Back Catalogue, we’re revisiting a fascinating conversation with Paul Smitton, now President, International and Partnerships at Ascenda and formerly CEO of Asia Miles ( now Cathay / the Cathay Membership Programme.) A true loyalty industry veteran, Paul shares insights from his remarkable career, from his “baptism of fire” building Air New Zealand’s first loyalty programme in 1991 to leading one of Asia’s most recognised loyalty programmes, Asia Miles. In this episode, Paul explores the importance of customer focus and innovation, sharing his thinking on blockchain, WhatsApp and the evolution of Asia Miles’ partnerships across dining and eCommerce. It’s a great conversation filled with practical insights, memorable stories and a powerful reminder of what it means to have a true loyalty mindset. The episode was released in 2020. Show Notes: 1) Paul Smitton 2) Cathay / the Cathay Membership Programme 3)#65: Paul Smitton talks Asia Miles, Innovative Ideas in Airline Loyalty and Preparing for Travel's Inevitable Rebound

Dave Canty needs minimal introduction to the world of loyalty. He is the 2026 International Loyalty Personality of the Year, and this interview we'll engage all loyalty professionals as we learn from Dave and his rich loyalty career. With a career spanning three decades and across multiple industries of airlines, retail, hospitality, and now at Bilt Rewards, Dave shares his approach to all loyalty challenges and what has made a difference in the business he's worked in and his own personal career. The current role he's playing at Bilt Rewards is illustrative of the courageous approach he takes in changing consumers' lives and changing the business through loyalty. Show Notes: 1)Dave Canty 2)International Loyalty Personality of the Year, 3)Bilt Rewards 4) The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

This episode from our Best of The Back Catalogue explores how Vodacom South Africa launched Vodabucks back in 2020, an innovative loyalty programme designed to recognise, reward and drive customer behaviour. Jorge Mendes, Former Chief Officer, Consumer Business Unit, shares how Vodacom uses gamification, brand partnerships and global loyalty best practices to build engagement and drive profitable customer behaviour. Mr. Mendes is now the Chief Executive Officer of Cell C and has been since July 2023. Show Notes: 1) Vodabucks 2)Jorge Mendes - now Chief Executive Officer of Cell C South Africa 3)#63: Vodacom South Africa Launches Vodabucks