The 2025 Asia Pacific Loyalty Conference (July 29-31) provided more than 430 people with 15 presentations (keynotes and panels) over the two days, amongst dinners and breakfast gatherings where deeper relationships were formed and new one’s started.
Here are a few facts but mostly memories worth sharing:
- Opening by Mandy Gallie
Fact: “The loyalty industry in AUS is worth $6BN pa” .
Memory: This is a thriving community and we all play a part in the vitality of motivating loyalty and delivering loyalty programs to the lives of customers and benefits back to the brands. - How do we behave? Dan Monheit provided a dynamic and professional insight into four psychology constructs that are sure to help loyalty practitioners influence behaviours.
Memories:
Social proof: “You don’t have to be popular, you just need to look like you are” (Eg New York Times Bestseller List)
Choice paradox: “Choice makes us feel powerful. Too much choice we do nothing”
Effort Bias: “If you can make visible some of the effort made to provide an outcome, the perceived value is greater”
Peak End Rule: “Creating an outstanding end-end experience is a complete waste of time (Wow!!! that’s provoking). Instead focus on finding peak moments in the experience and the last moment (end)…those are the moments of memories
(This is where I had a heart palpitation as the Joyalty* Moments of Magic lead me to Joyalty* Magic of Memories) - Agentic Ai. “The future happens very slowly and then all at once” (Kevin Kelly) and the Agentic AI world we are NOW in was presented insightfully by Rob Lopez, Lucinda Acheson and Miles Toolin
Memory: “Do not capture data gratuitously.” “Data is the new asbestos. Be careful how you handle it” (very powerful point made) - Privacy and data. Veronica Scott and Lincoln Hunter were engaging and made us all lean forward with a health warning
Memories: : “Data collection is worth respecting. Security of data is worth investing.”
(My other memory of Lincoln Hunter = green socks) - Z Energy and the loyalty advantage. Bronwyn Barberel.
Memory: “Buy stuff. Collect points. Earn treats. Simple.” Elegantly simple. The beauty of simplicity is how it makes all people in a business believe and buy into a loyalty program . Team at point of sale are the “number eight wire” (for my kiwi friends) of a loyalty program. - MYER one and Rob Pope. A journey of past, present and future for the 21 yo loyalty program. So many facts shared.
Memory of a fact: A platinum member has purchased 76x in one year! - Carla Scalora proudly shared the power of the Cotton On Perks loyalty program that works internationally across 7 brands
Memory: The joy of those members lucky enough to be part of a trip of lifetime linked to the Cotton On Foundation’s environmental connection.“Emotion is the real currency of loyalty” - Everyday Rewards and family of services – Insurance and Mobile was clearly shared by Glenn Baker on how the sum of the parts makes the whole
Memory: Advice from Glenn Baker to brands designing programs “Keep it simple. Meet your customers needs”.
No fluff.No puff. Just give good stuff! (my words inspired by Bronwyn Barberel) - Panel on program campaigns with Andrew Goldstein, Jaimi Farrey, Stefani Pandovski and Laura Grenfell
Memory: I am biased on this one. Jaimi sharing the story of the $100 gift voucher given by team members in store to customers as a random act of kindness…wow! (Joyalty* Moment of Magic). - Lifeblood’s Jacqui Solly shared more than Lifeblood’s Gifts Program (Loyalty saves Lives). This was a masterclass of storytelling. The Jac(qui) is out of the box. The world needs to hear her story.
Memories: People crying in the audience. There is a story everywhere. Make the complex simple and the simple compelling. With inspiration from Bronwyn Barbarel (again)…”Give blood. Get gifts. Save Lives. Simple. (Bloody simple) - NAB Goodies and Katarnya Murdoch. A transparent presentation of the challenges and successes (so far) of NAB Goodies.
Memory: “What do you want your loyalty program to be known for?” “What DON’T you want you lloyalty program to be known for”. My recommendation is to ask your team those two questions, compare notes, summarise and make it a screen saver! - Mark Aronsten from Tryzens shared some findings from their recent research
Memory: He also shared a memorable quote “technology is not a strategy”. That’s worth a tattoo! - Stephanie Andrews, Ryan Berman, Nik Laming provided some thought provoking points of view on card-linking, blockchain and device interoperability
Memory: From SMS to MMS and now coming RCS (Rich Communication Services) – thanks Ryan for sharing what’s around the corner (already in US) still to come to AU - Fraud prevention. Chris Gregory (AI version and real version) together with Michael Smith – the real version had the audience looking up (from their phones) with the real issues of fraud and hacking
Memory: Chris Gregory AI video which apparently his wife could not tell the difference (don’t go there) - Andrew Sayers from Skywards Frequent Flyer Emirates provided a bookend to the conference with style and sophistication – both in presentation and substance!
Memory: Rewards for time “Earn a mile a minute” promotion and for me the hairs on my neck stood up when I heard about Dubai’s “Minister for Happiness” …they must have many example of JMoMs (Wonder if we will soon see roles in business Customer Happiness Manager?
Summary: When you leave a conference with a belly full of memories that make a difference to the industry you love…there is nothing better.
