ICR330: Jude Thorne, Loyalty Rewards for Good

My guest today is Jude Thorne, founder and CEO of a loyalty rewards programme with a difference.

Jude has 24 years’ experience in customer relationship management, customer loyalty, marketing and branding. She joined AirMiles in 1994 after senior roles within the advertising industry. In her roles as Marketing Director and then as Managing Director, Jude focused on deepening customer relationships, creating centralised accounts and focusing on customer and client communications and service.

The creation of new products and services underpinned the company’s progress and by the time Jude left AirMiles at the end of 2000, the company had increased its profits to £27.2 million, making it the most profitable subsidiary of BA Worldwide at that time. Jude then established Verve Partnership Ltd with Steve Toomey ex FD of AirMiles. Verve advised on customer loyalty programmes for companies such as Sainsbury’s, MBNA, RCI, Cendant Group, John Lewis PLC, Virgin Nigeria and HSBC. Jude is a founder shareholder of The Ice Organisation Ltd.

As you'll hear in this episode, Ice is a free loyalty programme that gives customers flexible rewards when they buy from its environmentally conscious retailers using their registered Mastercard credit card. Ice rewards are always given on top of any other discount, promotion or cash back offer.

I speak to Jude about some of the current trends in loyalty reward programmes, how as consumers we can choose which loyalty programmes in which to participate, some of the environmental issues that impact the use of loyalty programmes, and much more.

Here's my conversation with Jude Thorne, founder shareholder of The Ice Organisation, in episode 330 of Informed Choice Radio.