Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360

Send us a textIn 2003, Insomnia Cookies was founded by Seth Berkowitz, a University of Pennsylvania college student seeking a late-night sweet treat—a shared need that turned into an opportunity for Berkowitz on the UPenn campus. He baked cookies in his college house kitchen and delivered them to hungry students in the early hours of the morning.  The brand now counts two decades of serving up delicious cookies to customers, with nearly 300 stores across the U.S. and a couple in the U.K. and Canada. Select stores are open late—sometimes until 3 o’clock in the morning— depending upon the night. The cookies are served warm, and brand fans can also order ice cream to accompany baked treats.   Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, spoke to Tom Carusona, Chief Marketing Officer of Insomnia Cookies, about launching a new loyalty program, understanding customer segments and how to activate them, and tapping into emotional loyalty. Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/Or-mtujWRDQRead the feature on Loyalty360 here: https://loyalty360.org/content-gallery/in-depth-exclusives/insomnia-cookies-launching-a-new-loyalty-program-and-building-robust-customer-profiles-for-increase

Send us a textSwitchfly was founded in 2003 as a travel technology startup. Today, Switchfly is a travel experience platform that allows brands to create memorable moments for employees. As a concept, the company is the silent partner in many of the major loyalty programs that consumers recognize. For the last 20 years, the company has been behind many of the loyalty points programs in financial services and the airline industry, which reward and engage consumers with travel. When consumers take points earned through a credit card to pay for travel, Switchfly works behind the scenes, applying those points to hotels and flights. The company also services car rentals and activities globally. About 18 months prior to sitting down with Loyalty360, Switchfly began to focus on Human Resources and Rewards and Recognition for Employee Engagement in corporate America. Internal customers—employees—have many of the same expectations and wants in a loyalty program as a brand’s external customers.Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, spoke with Nowell Outlaw, CEO at Switchfly, about effectively engaging employees with loyalty program benefits, modernizing tools in the travel ecosystem, and leveraging technology to make “smart” recommendations for customers. 

Send us a textAffectionally labeled as the “most Canadian brand in Canada,” Tim Hortons is a beloved quick-service restaurant (QSR) featuring coffee and other beverages, delicious donuts, breakfast favorites, and sandwiches. The brand counts more than 5,000 restaurants worldwide—with the majority of them located in Canada. Tim Hortons restaurants can be found in the U.S., with more concentrated pockets close to the Canadian border.    The company was founded 60 years ago in Hamilton, Ontario, and has since become the largest restaurant chain in Canada. Tim Hortons serves nearly 7 out of 10 coffees purchased in the nation, which represents approximately 80% of Canadian visits to Tim Hortons’ restaurants at least once per month. Today, the brand is arguably embedded in the fabric of Canadian life, with core values rooted in those of Canadians. Tim Hortons was a finalist at Loyalty360’s 2024 Loyalty Expo in the Customer Experience Strategy and the Loyalty Program Design categories, taking home the Silver Award in the former and the Bronze Award in the latter.  Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, spoke with Ricardo Frydman, Director of Performance Analytics & Pricing for Tims Financial, and Shannon Torabi, Senior Manager for Digital & Loyalty Growth at Tim Hortons, about the launch of Tims Word Challenge, authentic emotional loyalty, and how customers must always be top of mind.Watch the interview here: https://youtu.be/uImmE12atxIRead the feature on Loyalty360 here: https://loyalty360.org/content-gallery/in-depth-exclusives/tim-hortons-cultivating-and-increasing-customer-engagement-by-leveraging-a-unique-and-innovative-ap

Send us a textThe company that would eventually become Stop & Shop was founded in 1914 when the Economy Grocery Store opened in Somerville, MA. In four short years, 32 stores made up the thriving grocery chain. By 1942, Stop & Shop, Inc. became the company’s official name, and expansion into surrounding states continued. Today, Stop & Shop is one of the several grocery brands operated by Ahold Delhaize, with roughly 400 stores located throughout New York, New England, and New Jersey. Stop & Shop was a finalist for this year’s Loyalty360 Awards at Loyalty360’s 2024 Loyalty Expo, taking home the Bronze Award in the Technology and Trends category for its innovation in engaging technology-adverse customers through in-store kiosks.   Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, spoke with Per Jensen, Head of Loyalty at Stop & Shop, about the reason behind implementing the kiosks, improving personalization, and securing program support from organizational leadership.  Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/4TtR5WL1qIwRead the feature on Loyalty360 here: https://loyalty360.org/content-gallery/in-depth-exclusives/stop-shop-increasing-customer-engagement-by-leveraging-in-store-technology

Send us a textWunderkind works alongside clients using an AI-driven performance marketing solution, helping them form stronger brand-audience connections through identification resolution and hyper-personalized triggered messaging. The Wunderkind Identity Network identifies anonymous website traffic through a network that recognizes 9 billion devices, enabling clients to recognize anonymous users, gather first-party data, and make targeted offers across email, text, and ads.  The company connects with any industry with ties to retail or that has direct-to-consumer revenue channels. Wunderkind is mostly active in apparel and fashion spaces, as well as beauty, luxury goods, and electronics. It is also fairly experienced in travel, hospitality, and even event ticketing verticals. Loyalty360 spoke with Tim Glomb, VP of Digital, Content, and AI at Wunderkind, about leveraging AI, data collection and maintenance, and offering an intelligence layer to help brands better understand their customers.

Send us a textWith more than 20 locations in the U.S., Great Wolf Lodge is a popular chain of hotels featuring water parks and attractions that engage guests with a diverse set of lodging and dining options. Daily events are designed to entice families seeking a fun getaway and water park enthusiasts alike. Great Wolf’s Voyagers Club program provides members with special deals to encourage them to book their next visit. Dave Van Saun is the Vice President of CRM and Ancillary for Great Wolf Lodge. In his role with the brand, he spends much of his time on the ancillary side of the business—which is everything guests can do at Great Wolf outside of booking the room. Van Saun works with pricing, packaging, and promotion of all the brand’s food and beverages, retail, and attractions alongside Great Wolf’s line of business leaders. On the CRM side, Van Saun oversees customer communications, and that is where loyalty fits into his purview. Great Wolf launched its loyalty program a couple of years ago, and Van Saun and his team have managed the day-to-day activities supporting Voyagers Club since. Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, spoke with Van Saun about the brand’s loyalty program, forming strategic partnerships to elevate the customer experience, and measuring success.Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/ytKu1PluJU0Read the feature on Loyalty360 here: https://loyalty360.org/content-gallery/in-depth-exclusives/great-wolf-lodge-making-an-impact-on-the-full-customer-experience-by-evolving-customer-loyalty

Send us a textEngaged Nation provides a suite of services and solutions designed to captivate, motivate, and drive measurable results. The company’s offerings include interactive web-based incentive programs that align seamlessly with each client’s unique objectives, whether they aim to boost brand visibility, enhance customer lifetime value, or drive incremental revenue. Powered by the REACH™ Digital Ecosystem of technology, Engaged Nation offers a platform to create engaging and personalized experiences. Engaged Nation works closely with brands across various industries—C-store, CPGs, financial services, restaurants/QSR, travel/hospitality, and many more—to help them drive engagement, boost revenue, and build lasting customer loyalty. Engaged Nation tailors solutions to meet the unique needs of clients based on their customers and industry, with the goal of helping them stand out in a crowded digital marketplace.  Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, spoke with Daniel Wood, Chief Customer Success Officer at Engaged Nation, about the company’s REACHTM platform, keeping customers engaged, and leveraging technology to understand individual customer preferences or behaviors. 

Send us a textIn his new book, BIONIC RETAIL: HOW TO THRIVE IN AN EXPONENTIAL WORLD, author Gary Hawkins discusses how the pace of change outside organizations is accelerating faster than within, creating a growing gap between what once made retail successful and what will be required in the future. There is often a disconnect between shopper expectations and the traditional store, and retail brands must pivot and adapt to remain relevant and achieve success.  Hawkins grew up in grocery retail, and his family once owned stores in the wholesale business in Upstate New York. It was in one of those stores, nearly 30 years ago, where Hawkins launched one of the first loyalty programs in the U.S. supermarket retail sector. The program served as a leader in the industry, providing much learning around customer data, shopping behavior, customer-level economics, and more. Eventually, his efforts switched to assisting other prominent retailers in the U.S. and around the world with a focus on capturing, understanding, and using shopper data. From there, Hawkins worked with bigger brands before moving to technological pursuits. Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, spoke with Hawkins about his book, the exponential environment brands operate in today, and how change outside an organization moves more quickly than change on the inside. Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/LEZwEDVw-RERead the feature on Loyalty360 here: https://loyalty360.org/content-gallery/in-depth-exclusives/author-gary-hawkins-discusses-his-new-book-and-how-an-evolving-society-impacts-retail-technology

Send us a textAs a leading digital financial services company, Ally Financial focuses on serving communities and helping customers navigate life milestones and achieve financial goals. From helping customers chart a path to homeownership to planning for retirement, the brand seeks ways to connect with customers in meaningful interactions. Personal finance can be very emotional, and Ally works to balance leveraging customer data while serving as a guide to assist customers in building a solid financial foundation. Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, spoke with David Hixon, the Executive Director of Product Marketing and CRM at Ally, about how sports partnerships bring Ally and communities together, using data and insights to support personalization, and leveraging the right metrics to determine success.Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/U5vHWa85-jE

Send us a textFounded in 2009, vLoyalty is a privately held company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The company combines the power of payments, card-linking loyalty and promotions, and text messaging to help companies easily enroll, engage, understand, and reward customers to drive repeat visits and sales.  vLoyalty offers clients a patented cloud-based suite of solutions that meets the needs of small businesses as well as large franchise enterprises. These solutions enable efficient and convenient loyalty program enrollment at the point of purchase. Clients can also take advantage of real-time access to historical purchasing data to optimize point-of-sale (POS) targeted offers and leverage compliant SMS text messaging to engage customers—all with seamless payment integration. Loyalty360 spoke with Peter Vogel, Chief Revenue Officer at vLoyalty, about loyalty program automation at the checkout, vLoyalty’s recent quick-service restaurant study, and what’s coming next for the company in 2024.