Shows
Let's Talk LoyaltyPaula Thomas, Oprah of Loyalty wins The 2025 International Loyalty Personality of the Year (#674)This episode is available in audio format on our Let's Talk Loyalty podcast and in video format on www.Loyalty.TV.Today’s episode is hosted by Amanda Cromhout, featuring a special guest – our very own Paula Thomas.In this conversation, Paula shares the inspiring origin story of Let’s Talk Loyalty – from spotting a gap in the market to launching the industry’s first podcast dedicated to loyalty, and eventually expanding into Loyalty TV.Now over five years old, Let’s Talk Loyalty has evolved into a powerful voice in the B2B space. Paula refle...2025-06-0333 min
Let's Talk LoyaltyPorsche, Latam Airlines and La Quinta Hotels Driving Customer Engagement Using Gamification (#665)This episode is available in audio format on our Let's Talk Loyalty podcast and in video format on www.Loyalty.TV.For a masterclass in gamification, you can enjoy Yu-Kai Chou’s down to earth interview with Amanda Cromhout about gamification and his Octalysis Framework. He is the Founding Partner of The Octalysis Group and the creator of The Octalysis Framework which has been translated into 16 different languages, serving not only the commercial work but also academia. This interview highlights the impact gamification can have on customer engagement and the commercial results it drives in loyalty pr...2025-05-0142 min
Let's Talk LoyaltyInside South Africa’s Loyalty Landscape: A Conversation with Amanda Cromhout (#660)In this episode Charlie Hills interviews Amanda Cromhout, the CEO and Founder of Truth. Based in South Africa, Truth is a boutique consulting business specialising in customer centricity and customer loyalty programmes. Amanda is also a proud co-host for Let’s Talk Loyalty!Today we will be learning about her favourite book and loyalty programmes, her background in loyalty and the highlights and key learnings from her new research report on loyalty in South Africa - The Truth and Brand Mapp Loyalty White Paper. It’s the only study of its kind in South Africa which is a renown...2025-04-1533 min
Let's Talk LoyaltyIndiGo: Launching a loyalty programme at scale in the world’s 5th largest economy (#657)This interview with Neetan Chopra from IndiGo is highly insightful from learning about a relatively young airline, a very young loyalty programme and a global market place not to be ignored. IndiGo operates out of India, which is the world’s 5th biggest economy. The airline carried over 100m passengers in 2024 and has growth plans for its carrier and frequent flyer programme, BluChip, which launched 5 months ago.Hosted by Amanda CromhoutShow notes:1) Neetan Chopra2) IndiGo3) BluChip4) Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build...2025-04-0335 min
Let's Talk LoyaltyCustomer Advocacy and Emotional Loyalty Driven by Value-Based Alignment (#649)Customer advocacy and emotional loyalty are driven by value-based alignment rather than product, service and price points. Explore a new take on customer loyalty from the latest whitepaper from Yuping Liu-Thompkins, Professor of Marketing at Old Dominion University and Director of Loyalty Science Lab. Her latest whitepaper: The Politics of Brand Loyalty unpacks US consumer views on values alignment and how ideological views impact brand decisions.Hosted by Amanda CromhoutShow Notes:1) Yuping Liu-Thompkins2) Old Dominion University3) Loyalty Science Lab.4) The Politics of Brand Loyalty...2025-03-0642 min
Let's Talk Loyalty#642: Managing 5 loyalty programmes into a new era of hyper personalisation in India: Arvind Fashions Ltd.Arvind Fashions Ltd is a USD 500 m turnover fashion business, which has been in existence for over 30 years. Its loyalty base boasts over 10 million customers across its five different loyalty programmes. Tanya Alexander is AVP loyalty and Operations at Arvind Fashions Ltd and shares her challenges of operating five+ loyalty programmes, using customer-relevant channels and how she sees the role of AI driving faster hyper personalisation to better serve the Indian fashion market.Hosted by Amanda CromhoutShow Notes : 1) Tanya Alexander 2) Arvind Fashions Ltd3) The Ken 4...2025-02-1136 min
Let's Talk Loyalty#620: Gamification driving sustainable behavioural changeThis podcast is a masterclass in how gamification is not child’s play and how the loyalty industry can reap significant rewards (excuse the pun) by taking this strategy seriously. Dr Jacqui Nortje and Glenn Gillis are dedicated professionals who understand this opportunity deeply, with years of hands-on experience, serious brand performance and a phD in gamification between them.Hosted by Amanda Cromhout. Show Notes:1) Dr Jacqui Nortje 2) Glenn Gillis3) Hailr4) Sea Monster2024-11-2752 min
Let's Talk Loyalty#608: Global customer transformation via B2B loyalty with the Largest Brewer in the World.Marc St Pierre tells a compelling story of how his team at Anheuser Busch InBev delivered a global business transformation process to automate B2B sales and to enhance the customer experience for AB InBev's B2B clients. This radically improved the customer experience and created a high customer adoption rate to the tune of $40bn sales through the new platform. Equally of interest is how this process created a B2B loyalty platform which is executed globally but is managed locally to be relevant and impactful. Marc highlights some of the differences between markets such as...2024-10-3031 min
Let's Talk Loyalty#584: You Can’t Avoid Loyalty Fraud, But You Can Attempt to Manage ItMichael Smith, from AI Events is co-Founder of the Loyalty Security Alliance.He talks through the definition of fraud and the difference between traditional fraud and account take overs. He also explains the different stages of fraud: prevention, detection & post fraud recovery for customers. Fascinatingly, we discuss who are the fraudsters from customers o staff, bots and criminal gangs.Hosted by Amanda CromhoutShow notes:1) Michael Smith2) Loyalty Security Alliance.3) The Paypers2024-09-0449 min
Let's Talk Loyalty#578: Audacious Success: Dr. Nceba Hene's Rewarding Journey with AfricanBankDr Nceba Hene has a lot to shout about after an incredibly successful start to Audacious Rewards, the rewards programme for AfricanBank. The story behind Audacious Rewards is fascinating, but what is more significant is its performance to date, after only 18 months. It is delivering a +67% increase in profit for like for like customers due to Audacious Rewards. It is an award-winning brand from this year’s International Loyalty Awards.Hosted by Amanda Cromhout Show notes:1) Dr Nceba Hene2) AfricanBank3) Audacious Rewards2024-08-2145 min
Let's Talk Loyalty#566: International Leaders in Loyalty Conference - South AfricaToday I’m super excited to introduce you to the “2024 International Leaders in Loyalty Summit” which is taking place in South Africa this September.Many of you know that I often talk about South Africa as one of the world’s most sophisticated loyalty markets, as the breadth and depth of the programmes there are so much further advanced than most of us realise.I’m thrilled to be personally travelling to this conference this year and you won’t be surprised to hear that it’s our friend and guest host Amanda Cromhout who created and is...2024-07-2436 min
Let's Talk Loyalty#563: How to Scale a Telco Loyalty Platform into a Technology Platform Across Multiple Countries?Mateboho Malope holds a strategic group-wide portfolio to reflect the strategy that Vodacom is embarking upon. Vodacom is a 30 year old telco giant transformed into a fintec platform with over 500m customers on its addressable base. Vodacom launched Vodabucks almost 4 years ago in South Africa and is now scaling it across the African continent, with a recent programme launch in Tanzania. Its impressive fintec platform mpesa sees a $340bn p.a. processed across 51 million customers. Mateboho’s biggest learnings address the cultural differences in countries across Africa and in conclusion Mateboho see the Vodabucks strategy as a w...2024-07-1754 min
Loyalty WiredNewscast 2 - Spotlight on GDPR, the UK market & Blind LoyaltyThis week Rick Ferguson travels to the European Union for a look into the current state of General Data Protection Regulation compliance, Charlie Hills, of WPP, gives a summary of the UK loyalty market and Amanda Cromhout shares her inspiration for setting up the Blind Loyalty Trust.2024-06-2434 min
Let's Talk Loyalty#551: What We Thought We Knew About Retention and Customer Lifetime ValueDaniel McCarthy is Assistant Professor at Emory University Goizieta School of Business. In this interview, Dan unpacks several deep layers of understanding around measuring retention and customer lifetime value. He highlights a concern that businesses state improved performance against reduced churn rates. It is not that simple. He dives into differences of retention and churn measurement across subscription and non-subscription, across different industries and even the impact of a free trial in a subscription business. If you are in the industry of loyalty, you need to listen to Dan McCarthy’s view on measuring churn, retentio...2024-06-1944 min
Let's Talk Loyalty#539: Exploring Loyalty: Insights from David Slavick of Ascendant Loyalty MarketingDavid Slavick is Co-Founder and Partner at Ascendant Loyalty Marketing. His interview unpacks a vast array of loyalty discussion points, which flow easily due to David’s extensive experience both brand side and consultancy/agency side. We enjoy the deep dive into partnerships, programme commercials and programme manager pain points.Hosted by Amanda CromhoutShow Notes:1) David Slavick2) Ascendant Loyalty Marketing2024-05-2242 min
CustomerlandStrategic Synergies That Reshape Consumer EngagementJoin us as we sit down with David Slavick to explore the world of partnership innovation in business. In this conversation, we're not just discussing any collaborations; we're taking a closer look at the unique and imaginative partnership between Crocs and Taco Bell, as well as the philanthropic "Blind Loyalty" project led by Amanda Cromhout. We'll uncover why these collaborations click with consumers and discuss the importance of creativity and strategy in making a meaningful impact in today's market.Understanding loyalty programs can be tricky, but we're here to help make sense of it all. We'll share...2024-05-1333 min