There’s a fascinating article titled “The Dawn of the Relationship Era in Marketing” that recently appeared in AdAge magazine. It’s written by David Rogers and Bob Garfield, the latter the same guy who caused a stir a few years ago with the essay “The Chaos Scenario” which (semi-correctly) predicted “the end of advertising as we [...]

2011 began as a year with loads of promise for Loyalty Marketing. Top of mind for most program managers was the need to add value for members while keeping costs under control, and to better manage the financial liability associated with unredeemed points and miles.
Purchase behaviors exhibited by the Millennial generation were being adopted by [...]

At Hanifin Loyalty we like to talk about what it takes to build customer loyalty, but we also pride ourselves in being good listeners. We listen to clients and we listen to customers. Like the old saw said “God gave us one mouth and two ears for a reason”. Maybe they should be used in [...]

In the final part of our Three Part interview series with Rob Markey, Bain & Company, we share insights from Mr. Markey on how to better execute surveys, whether to introduce incentives to improve survey responses, and get his opinions on whether NPS or other metrics will eventually influence share prices on public exchanges.
Oh yes, [...]

My interview with Rob Markey about the new book, The Ultimate Question 2.0 “How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World”, continues today with a closer look at how the “score” has evolved into a “system”.
The book includes a number of case studies ranging from Charles Schwab to Apple Retail to The Progressive Group [...]

In a previous post I mentioned that I was the beneficiary of a serendipitous moment in which I was given the opportunity to interview Rob Markey, a partner in Bain & Company’s New York Office and head of the firm’s global Customer Strategy and Marketing practice.
The topic was a new book, The Ultimate Question 2.0 [...]

Someone help me. I’m being bullied by Southwest Airlines.
Actually, a better set of descriptive terms would be pestered, annoyed, or amused, depending on the day.
The source of my discontent is my mailbox. Southwest has sent me a solicitation for its frequent flyer cobrand credit card at least once per month for probably the past 2 [...]

Aeropostale, Inc. is a specialty retailer fighting for the attention of a client base exhibiting limited or no attention span. I’m not mean, just the father of three children, so let’s just say that I’m experienced.
No matter how you describe it, today’s consumers are distracted and its not easy to engage them for long. That’s [...]

Everyone knows that the air travel experience isn’t what is used to be. My recent trip around the world in 5 days served to accentuate the contrast of today’s reality with more elegant days past, while reminding me of solutions that remain untapped by the airlines to improve their standing with frequent flyers.
Some aspects of [...]

Attending the National Restaurant Association show recently, I solidified some perspectives on social couponing and collective buying schemes in a post here. The buzz from domestic restaurant marketers over how best to leverage collective buying sites such as Groupon, Living Social, Facebook Deals, and the myriad of copycats that have emerged over the past 3 [...]