What does it take to be a Leader in Loyalty? The line up of speakers and panelists at the International Leaders in Loyalty Summit in Cape Town showcased the very best of International loyalty expertise. Our loyalty summit had 8 international speakers and the best of South Africa’s loyalty leaders.
One of the latest loyalty buzzwords is AI. We tend to drive the message that this means augmented intelligence rather than artificial intelligence and it is starting to make an impact on our industry and on the lives of our loyalty consumers. Wojtek Kempny from Comarch debated how automated should loyalty programmes get? and Tom Peace from The Loyalty People broke AI down into its component parts. Focusing on predictive AI or generative AI, Tom landed his messages with examples from Sephora, Duolingo, Strava and Air France, to name a few global brands. We were spoilt with insight into the loyalty landscape, challenges and differences in the Middle East from Emily Ong at The Landmark Group, plus a masterclass in co-brand card strategy from Rafael Martinez-Frausto from Mastercard (based in Mexico).
Outside of the loyalty arena, Pete Case, an award-winning Creative Director from Ogilvy started his keynote with “I AM NOT A LOYALTY EXPERT!” but spoiled us with storytelling around purpose-led marketing and the responsibility brands have.
Day 1’s panel brought about a deep discussion on gamification. Another buzzword but certainly not child’s play. The moderator, Nic Bednall, one of our longest standing South African Loyalty Awards judge created a world-class dialogue around the significance gamification plays in encouraging consumers to engage with brands and nudging them potentially to a change of positive behaviour, like Vitality Active Rewards (presented by Dr Jacqui Nortje). Glenn Gillis from Seamonster talked through the enormity of gamification with examples such as Roblox seeing 79 million daily users, spending 3 hours a day in the game and 40% of which are over 16. Vodacom won the “Best Use of Gamification” award at the South African Loyalty Awards and Mateboho Malope from Vodacom described how gamification adds value to consumers in the telco industry, within which it is notoriously difficult to show value.
Day 1 saw 2 ‘commercially-focused’ keynote speakers. Firstly, Jay Weinberg from Ascendant Marketing talked though how to calculate the ROI of loyalty. I had the opportunity to be the final keynote speaker of the day and shared the required process to build a loyalty programme from strategy, through to programme design and finalising the journey with a deep dive into loyalty KPIs. 10 “must-understand” metrics to keep your programme on track to healthy customer loyalty. I also had the pleasure of showcasing the success we have made over the past 12 months in changing lives by restoring eye sight through The Blind Loyalty Trust. We launched our next Blind Loyalty initiative: RUN FOR VISION, which commences on World Sight Day – 10 October 2024.
The second day of our summit didn’t disappoint with a never-to-be-missed keynote from Rob McDonald, Commercial Director of IAG Loyalty. Rob talks through the story of the Avios currency over the years. The whole audience listened to every word! We also heard from Fionna Ronnie, from TFG South Africa. She took to the stage as the winner of the SA Loyalty Awards “Loyalty Personality” of the year 2024. Fionna always has so much to share and as always, didn’t disappoint at this event. The final keynote was given by Cecile Masson Henry from IBL Mauritius about the re-platforming of their award-winning loyalty programme. Truth had the pleasure of building the strategy and design of wiiv Rewards and Cecile has held the helm ever since.
The summit gave attendees 3 deep-dive workshops from Comarch – using behavioural economics to enhance loyalty, from Eighty20 – executing a winning data strategy and from TLC – embracing variety, value and innovation in rewards marketing.
Finally, the summit hosted the first ever live-Loyalty TV event with Paula Thomas as Loyalty TV’s host, talking to 3 South African brands about their loyalty strategies and performance having been recognised at the 2024 International Loyalty Awards (in May). Fionna Ronnie from TFG, Dr Nceba Hene from Africabank and Pieter Woodhatch from eBucks were part of this magical discussion on loyalty leadership.
100% of attendees said they would recommend this event to others; so year on year, we continue to bring the best of South Africa to the world and the best of South African loyalty to the rest of the world!
