This episode is sponsored by Tally – the loyalty platform from Phaedon.

Tally offers the simplicity of natural language and the power of AI to build and run your loyalty campaigns end-to-end.

See what’s possible at TallyLoyalty.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chili’s sold close to 30 million margaritas last year — more than any other restaurant brand in the United States. The brand has just closed its twenty-first consecutive quarter of same-store sales growth. And the loyalty program sitting underneath that run has spent the last two years getting simpler, not bigger.

Aaron Dauphinee at Wise Marketer Group sits down with Nicholas Kerr, Director of Loyalty and Growth Marketing at Chili’s. (Brinker International)

And casual dining may be one of the hardest categories for loyalty. Visit frequency is low, margins are thin, the consumer has been trained on discounts for forty years, and the experience is delivered by people rather than an app. The reflex in that environment is to add: more points, more tiers, more offers. BUT Chili’s went the other way! Listen in to learn how and why.

Hosted by Aaron Dauphinee, CLMP™

Show Notes:

1) Nicholas Kerr

2) Chili’s. (Brinker International)

3) Die with Zero (Book Recommendation)

4) Our Previous Episode with Nicholas Kerr

This episode is sponsored by Epsilon.

Loyalty Buyer's Guide from Epsilon - a free practical guide to help you evaluate loyalty platform options.

Download it here now.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our guest today is Megan Chickrell, Sr. Manager, Loyalty Strategy Ahold Delhaize USA. Megan is a dynamic marketer and a force in the grocery sector, just named as one of Progressive Grocer's 2026 Top Women in Grocery: Rising Stars! Ahold Delhaize USA is a division of global food retailer Ahold Delhaize operating multiple brands in the US which taken together comprise the largest grocery retail group on the East Coast and the fourth largest in the nation.

Megan was interviewed in October 2024 by Paula Thomas, where they talked through current loyalty initiatives at Ahold Delhaize USA. In this episode, host Bill Hanifin, CEO Wise Marketer Group expands on this conversation, discussing the evolution of loyalty and personalization, how customer expectations are evolving alongside technology and AI, and the unique opportunities and challenges for customer marketing in the grocery sector.

Note: A small portion of the audio in this episode has been adjusted using AI voice cloning to correct a few mispronounced words. This was used only to fix pronunciation — the content, meaning, and speakers' original statements remain exactly as recorded. No AI-generated commentary or altered content has been added.

Show Notes:

1) Megan Chickrell

2) Ahold Delhaize USA.

3) The Calamity Club

What happens when points, discounts and rewards are no longer enough to earn lasting customer loyalty?

Elie Carrier-Walker, Vice President, International Client Services, Loyalty at Epsilon, explores how loyalty is evolving from a traditional marketing programme into a strategic business capability.

Elie shares why successful loyalty strategies need to go beyond transactional rewards to build trust, emotional connection and long-term brand preference. We discuss the balance between transactional and emotional loyalty, the role of brand reliability, and why loyalty needs to be embedded across the wider business — not treated as simply another marketing initiative.

We also explore some of the most common reasons loyalty programmes fail to deliver lasting value, and what brands can do differently to create stronger customer relationships and sustainable growth.

This episode is sponsored by Epsilon. Epsilon has been helping clients deliver on their loyalty objectives globally for more than 50 years. Today, Epsilon Loyalty combines deep loyalty expertise with market leading technology to create growth-based programmes that fundamentally change habits and deliver measurable long-term value.

Hosted by Charlie Hills

Show Notes:

1)Elie Carrier-Walker

2)Epsilon

3)The Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns.

This episode is sponsored by Epsilon.

Loyalty Buyer's Guide from Epsilon - a free practical guide to help you evaluate loyalty platform options.

Download it here now.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What happens when a loyalty programme becomes deeply connected to the brand customers already love?

In this episode we are joined by Pascale McBain, Head of Digital Customer Experience at Baker’s Delight, to explore how Dough Getters is strengthening customer relationships across more than 500 bakeries in Australia.

Pascal shares how Baker’s Delight uses loyalty data to understand customer behaviour, why research revealed that awareness—not rewards—was the biggest opportunity, and how Dough Getters is driving emotional connection, advocacy and commercial value.

She also discusses the importance of simplicity and frictionless experiences, the role of personalisation, engaging franchisees across a complex network, and how customer data is shaping the future of the programme.

A fascinating conversation about building loyalty by combining brand love, customer insight, simplicity and meaningful rewards.

Hosted by Carly Neubauer

Show Notes:

1) Pascale McBai

2)Baker’s Delight

3) Dough Getters

4) The Chimp Paradox by Professor Steve Peters (Book Recommendation)

This episode is sponsored by Tally – the loyalty platform from Phaedon.

Tally offers the simplicity of natural language and the power of AI to build and run your loyalty campaigns end-to-end.

See what’s possible at TallyLoyalty.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In this episode, Charlie Hills interviews Timothy Lange, CRM Lead at Vinted, a brand well known and loved by listeners. Tim leads the CRM team's messaging as the company transitions from a fashion resale platform to a multi-category marketplace and continues its expansion across Europe. His focus is on driving engagement, personalisation, and improving the Vinted experience for millions of members.

In this episode, listeners will learn all about Vinted, how the brand manages loyalty, and key insights and innovations to look out for.

Loyalty marketing professionals are invited to join the show every week to hear the latest ideas and insights from loyalty experts around the world.

Show Notes:

1) Timothy Lange,

2) Vinted

3) Quiet by Susan Cain (Book Recommendation)

This episode is sponsored by Tally – the loyalty platform from Phaedon.

Tally offers the simplicity of natural language and the power of AI to build and run your loyalty campaigns end-to-end.

See what’s possible at TallyLoyalty.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today’s episode is in Audio only.

In this episode, our host Nyeleti is joined by Alice Sesay Pope, a Fortune 100 executive, former Global Vice President at Amazon, and author of The Trust Algorithm, to explore why the hardest part of AI adoption isn't the technology at all—it's the trust required to use it well.

Drawing on more than two decades of leadership across Amazon, Visa, Microsoft, Capital One and USAA, Alice makes the case that transformation succeeds or fails on people, governance and judgment long before it succeeds or fails on technology. The conversation moves from how leaders diagnose which problems genuinely call for AI, to what builds a customer's confidence to engage rather than hesitate, to what effective governance and accountability actually look like once AI moves from framework to lived, high-stakes experience.

A central theme is that this wave of transformation is different from those that came before it - not because it changes how work gets done, but because it changes who, or what, is doing the thinking. Nyeleti and Alice discuss what that shift means for how people behave inside organisations, and for loyalty and CX professionals in particular, who are often influencing AI transformation rather than leading it.

This episode offers a grounded, leadership-first perspective for anyone building customer loyalty in an environment where trust, not technology, is the real currency of transformation.

Show notes:

1) Alice Sesay Pope

2) The Trust Algorithm

3) Good to Great - Jim Collins (Book Recommendation)

This episode is sponsored by Tally – the loyalty platform from Phaedon.

Tally offers the simplicity of natural language and the power of AI to build and run your loyalty campaigns end-to-end.

See what’s possible at TallyLoyalty.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tomas Warden, Group Owner of Digital Customer Success at Telstra, shares how Telstra Plus is moving beyond points and rewards to create meaningful customer experiences, drive retention and build emotional loyalty.

Discover how Telstra is using digital innovation, travel partnerships and customer-centric experiences to make loyalty a powerful strategic lever.

Hosted by Carly Neubauer

Show Notes:

1) Tomas Warden

2) Telstra

3) Telstra Plus

4) Diary of a CEO by Stephen Bartlett.