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Are Loyalty Programs Doomed?

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Marketing Horizons: Are Loyalty Programs Doomed? With G. Ajay Row




T he marketing world has embraced loyalty programs ever since the launch of the American Airlines Advantage program in 1981. But these transactional rewards programs are headed for the trash heap, says our guest Ajay Row, a longtime authority on retention and loyalty, based in Mumbai. Join us to learn the strategy behind loyalty marketing programs and the strategy that is likely to replace them. The key lies in figuring out who’s valuable to you, what’s valuable to them, and how you can deliver and extract more value in the relationship.


Three takeaways:

  • Moments that matter is the essence of customer experience marketing. We need to create unique experiences that can differentiate and can be memorable enough to not just be tossed away in the mind of the consumer.
  • Loyalty is identifying who is valuable to you and what is valuable to them, then implementing the mechanism that allows you to create those moments that matter. These loyalty programs have five additional assets to offer the firm including access to customer data, owned currency, source of alliance partnerships.
  • The future of loyalty is creating digital moments that marry the physical and digital world; a magical moment that is lasting based on what you have taken away.

About our Guest

G. Ajay Row

G. Ajay Row is an entrepreneurial executive with 35 years’ experience in data-driven, digital, loyalty, analytics and CRM across a variety of industries and several countries. Launched among the first CRM, loyalty and data-driven marketing programs globally in the 1980s, have since implemented programs across 65+ countries. Built several companies, two to exit, and numerous case studies. 11 years with the Taj and then the Tata Group responsible for CRM. 5 years at ITC. Full-time consultant for several years.


Meet the Hosts

Cyndi Greenglass

Cyndi W. Greenglass is a founding partner and president at Livingston Strategies, a data-informed, strategic consulting firm that helps clients develop, execute, and measure their customer communications with a close focus on results. Cyndi has razor-sharp strategic skills matched by impeccable on-the-ground savvy and tactical abilities. She is an Adjunct Instructor in the Data Marketing Communications online master's degree program from West Virginia University.

Greenglass has twice been named into the Top 100 Influential BTB Marketers by Crain’s BtoB Magazine and was the 2012 CADM Chicago Direct Marketer of the Year. She is a member of the Board of Advisors for BRAND United and has taught, trained and presented at over 50 conferences throughout the world.


Ruth Stevens

Ruth P. Stevens consults on customer acquisition and retention, for business-to-business clients. Ruth serves on the boards of directors of the HIMMS Media Group, and the Business Information Industry Association. She is a trustee of Princeton-In-Asia, past chair of the Business-to-Business Council of the DMA, and past president of the Direct Marketing Club of New York.

Ruth was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Marketing by Crain’s BtoB magazine, and one of 20 Women to Watch by the Sales Lead Management Association. She serves as a mentor to fledgling companies at the ERA business accelerator in New York City.


WVU Marketing Communications Today: Horizons is presented by the West Virginia University Reed School of Media and Communications, which offers renowned online master’s degree programs in Marketing Communications. Interested in growing your career with a master's degree in Data, Digital or Integrated Marketing Communications? Request more information today!