A celebrity endorsement—for a loyalty program?
The pros and cons of using a celebrity spokesperson in advertising have been long established.

The pros? A celebrity draws attention
The cons? A celebrity draws attention—away from your product or service

What’s more, as we recently saw with golfing legend you-know-who, there’s the potential downside of aligning your company with a celebrity [...]

I’ve gotten into a bad habit with my children. Whenever they ask me about overzealous promises from a product advertisement, I just tell them “It’s probably not true, it’s just marketing stuff“.
The bad part is that I am instilling a degree of cynicism in the little ones, but then [...]

When it comes to brand recognition, the usual names that dominate the conversation are Apple, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Visa and …. Chick-fil-A?
Ok, Chick-fil-A may not be a household name of the same caliber as Starbucks, but I guaranty that the “second largest chicken restaurant chain in the US” has the most passionate fan base in [...]

For me, the most compelling question to arise from the tawdry Tiger Woods scandal isn’t whether his wife will leave him, but whether his corporate sponsors will.  In particular, the management consulting company Accenture.
We’re not talking energy drinks or golf shoes here, Accenture is a starched white collar Fortune Global 500 firm that, excuse the [...]

It’s probably no surprise that the great brands are able to combine excellent products with a superior level of customer service. After all, it’s this magic combination that makes them great brands in the first place.
Go to an Apple store to purchase their (in my opinion) superior products, and you get service from friendly, helpful [...]

The end, when it came, was sudden. Just when it looked like the Saturn car company had been rescued by the Penske Group, the deal fell through and now, despite a loyal customer following, Saturn is no more.
As faithful Loyalty Truth readers know, I have blogged about Saturn in the past, noting its social media [...]

(Another reason your company needs a social media presence.)
Microsoft sucks. So does The Home Depot. Ditto Dell, Target and Dominos.  And while it may not surprise you to hear that Wal-Mart sucks, you may not have heard that beloved brands like Apple, Ikea and Starbucks suck as well.
The fact is that despite you or your [...]

I had two hours to kill in Chicago O’Hare and needed something to drink. Just as I was teetering towards the familiar Starbucks installation, I spotted an inviting alternative across the concourse – Argo Tea. I’d never seen this chain before but was attracted by the Asian-tea-fusion feel to the place. As I scanned for [...]

Earlier this year, I blogged on Loyalty Truth about the Ford Fiesta Movement. As you may recall, the Ford motor company gave new Fiesta automobiles to 100 social media-savvy drivers for six months—hoping they would post videos and blog about the Fiesta, to build some buzz around the car’s early-2010 launch.
I really hadn’t heard much [...]

I was dining with my wife at Carrabba’s recently and she asked me the BIG question, though it’s probably not one that you have in mind:  “So, do a lot of businesses still do this loyalty stuff“?
I had just written a post about new execution formats that Loyalty Marketing programs were taking in the [...]