The Wise Marketer

The CMO Council and the Wise Marketer Group have entered into a strategic partnership that provides their mutual members and audiences with many exciting benefits including access to expanded content, education programs, and exclusive cost-saving opportunities. The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, established in 2001, is a peer-powered network of more than 16,000 chief marketing executives in 10,000 companies across 120 countries. Membership requires demonstration of marketing expertise, a proven track record of accomplishment, and leadership in marketing innovation and digital transformation. We are thrilled to be working with Donovan Neale-May, Kevin Sugarman and their entire team to deliver high value to the CMO audience they have served so well for many years. Wise Marketer will serve CMO Council Members with insightful, practitioner-based content as well as exclusive access and cost savings on educational opportunities and an extensive thought leadership content library. Looking forward !! Aaron Dauphinee, CLMP™ Dave Thompson Nadine Rubin, CLMP™ Mason Hanifin

Protection and management of customer data is a high priority for all parties involved: consumers, brands and, yes, regulators. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) just issued its final rule implementing Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act (the “Final Rule” or the “Open Banking Rule”), granting consumers greater access rights to the data their financial institutions hold. On the same day that the CFPB issued the Final Rule, the Bank Policy Institute filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging aspects of the decision and asks the court to set aside the Final Rule in its entirety. Meanwhile, at least 8 additional states will implement comprehensive privacy laws in 2025. By the end of next year, approximately 150 million Americans—43% of the U.S. population—will be covered by comprehensive state-level privacy regulations. Read the 29 October Loyalty Newswire for more info and contact us if you want to join the industry advocacy forming amongst industry leaders.

Avios was formed in 2011, when British Airways and Iberia merged, and International Airlines Group (IAG) was born. IAG Loyalty, as it is known today, has experienced tremendous growth and now has more than 40 million members and over 125 partnerships with some of the biggest names in travel, retail, hospitality, finance, and more. Miami, Florida-based Royal Caribbean Group is among the top 3 cruise lines in the world, depending on whether you rank by revenues or passenger capacity. Royal Caribbean owns three cruise lines: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruises. Royal Caribbean offers Crown and Anchor customer loyalty program, which now includes this status match program across all three groups. Today, the two groups announced a partnership that will bring significant value to travelers. Royal Caribbean customers can now earn Avios for their bookings AND those customers who are members of Crown and Anchor will also earn value in that program. Partnerships are a key instrument that brands can leverage to add value to their loyalty programs and accelerate the rate at which customers can earn rewards. This announcement provides a strong example of a valuable partnership. Check out the press release on our website.

C-Suite executives are searching for answers to put #AI to use. A study by Forrester finds that while 70% of the retail executives surveyed are excited about AI, only 20% are currently leveraging advanced AI to improve their businesses. Eagle Eye has just published its AI Anthology, titled The Definitive Resource on Leveraging AI for Personalization & Retail Marketing. We reviewed this thoughtful and informative paper and published the review this week on The Wise Marketer. Make sure to check it out.

Sam's Club, Forever 21, Chick-fil-A Restaurants, and Walmart are among Gen Z's favorite retail brands. Sam’s Club says its Gen Z memberships are up 63%, registering more growth than any other generational group. For post-pandemic Gen Zers, “clubbing” has become more about prices than partying, and Sam’s Club is here to take their cover charge. If the age group’s frugality is one reason for them to prefer specific retailers, where else does Gen Z shop? Jenn McMillen CLMP goes deep in this article and shares where else Gen Z is shopping in 2024.

We have another example of the financial value of loyalty programs, with JetBlue the latest airline to securitize debt with loyalty program assets. JetBlue Airways announced its intent to commence a private debt offering secured by its TrueBlue® customer loyalty program. The Loyalty Notes proposed to be offered will not be registered under the Securities Act or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States without registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act or any applicable state securities laws.

Happy Birthday to Capillary Technologies as they celebrate 16 years this week! Headquartered in India, Capillary has expanded rapidly in the US over the last 3 years including acquisition of Brierley | A Capillary Services Company. Having more than 15 Fortune 200 companies on its roster, Capillary is on a mission to make it super easy for enterprise brands to manage their loyalty programs through AI powered technology. We wish them a happy birthday and a lot of success in the years to come.

Canadian Based CarltonOne operates across 185 countries with purpose and principles at its core. CarltonOne has been recognized as one of the top 50 most inspiring workplaces in North America, while helping partners and clients operate programs to inspire 14 million customers globally over the past 15 years. In June, CarltonOne announced a new external investment of capital by Goldman Sachs and in July announced the introduction of a unified Platform-as-Service designed to address the urgent need for improved rewards strategy. Read their story in The Wise Marketer and the moves they are making to spark accelerated growth in the global engagement, loyalty, channel incentive and rewards marketplace.

Long time in the works, but worth the wait. We have assembled a comprehensive list of Conferences and Events for folks interested in #customerloyalty, #CRM, #digitalmarketing and more. You can find it on our home page by clicking on News, then Conferences & Events.

Collinson has created a new tool to help benchmark your loyalty program by answering just 15 questions. The Loyalty Maturity Assessment helps you discover where your program performance stands today and gives you access to a personalized dashboard and expert advice. For a limited time, your use of the tool gives you an entry to win up to £25,000 (not a typo) in consultancy services. Transform your strategy today! Bill Hanifin, CLMP™