Will MyTeamUSA  (U-S-A! U-S-A!) attract loyal Olympics fans?
Does anyone remember the launch of the Discover Card? When introduced in 1985 as “the card that pays you back”, it really felt different from Visa and MasterCard. Forget the card’s super high interest rate—I was getting cash back on every purchase!
Times change and now the cash back [...]

Trendy business buzzwords aren’t any fun until you form an opinion and seek feedback to get to the substance of the issue.
Customer Engagement is one of those terms that is being mentioned more frequently than Kim Kardashian was during the Super Bowl. It’s the 2010 version of “what’s hot, what’s new, what’s next?”
The question is, [...]

In the past week, business has taken me to Vancouver, BC and San Jose, Costa Rica with a pit stop in South Florida for a day or so at home. None of that was a big deal until my colleague Mike Atkin noted at dinner that we’ve been hitting these spots in conjunction with some [...]

After spending the last few weeks thinking through reasonable responses to my new favorite question for 2010 “Do you think Social Media is here to stay?“, I’ve recently been re-directed to my “old” favorite question that I have been answering for 12 years “Do loyalty programs work?“
Without disappearing completely down that gopher-hole, I’ll just say [...]

Over the recent holidays, my friend Bill Hanifin pointed out a post written by the person arguably at the forefront of the whole social media movement, Chris Brogan. In the post, Brogan said, “People are slowing down to turn their thoughts to family and to their own development, and to what worked and what didn’t [...]

Almost 10 years ago, I wrote an opinion piece for COLLOQUY questioning whether Frequent Flyer miles were still the most valuable currency in the Loyalty Marketing landscape.  The premise was that the weakening value of the FF mile might open the door for a better offer to capture the loyalty imagination of consumers. The next [...]

In the beginning, there was Air Miles. Actually, according to history, it was three men in a room that started Air Miles.
According to Air Miles corporate history, Keith Mills wasn’t one of those three guys, but somehow later it was Sir Keith Mills that sowed the seeds of the Air Miles brand and business model [...]

Data security, taxes & privacy concerns: Grown up Challenges for a Maturing Industry
A few thoughts on challenges for an industry entering adulthood.
Loyalty Marketing has its own two-edged sword to contend with. The collection of customer data is essential to delivering offers and promotions that influence purchase decisions, but the spotlight on responsible management and protection [...]

Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, I got used to my home town being the butt of nightly jokes on national television. “On a clear day in Cleveland…you can see absolutely Nothing!” was a popular refrain from Johnny Carson. The “Mistake on the Lake”, the flaming Cuyahoga River, a mayor who skipped a Presidential visit to [...]

I’ve always admired great writers and Rick Ferguson, the Editorial Director of COLLOQUY, is on my list of the best.
I had the opportunity to co-author an article for COLLOUQY with Rick on the changing nature of card rewards programs in this challenging economic environment. If you would like to have a quick read, it is [...]