By Lia Grimberg, CLMP, MBA, and Chief Engagement and Growth Officer, NALA™ and The BIG Handshake Loyalty™ Toronto and Chicago
Somewhere between tighter budgets and higher consumer expectations, loyalty lost its nerve.
The programs that used to differentiate brands are starting to look the same. The boardroom conversations are getting harder. And the marketers responsible for making loyalty work are often doing it in isolation, without a room full of peers who understand the pressure from the inside.
That is what The BIG Handshake Loyalty™ Toronto was built to fix.
The BIG Handshake Loyalty™ Toronto (supported by CORA Loyalty) is making its debut at the Sheraton Centre Toronto on April 21. It is the first North American edition of a conference that has been running successfully in Europe for four years, with events in Amsterdam, London, Berlin, and Milan. Now, under the NALA umbrella, it is coming to you.
The format is deliberate. This is not a trade show. The audience skews heavily toward brand-side executives, which means the conversations in the room are between loyalty practitioners, not between brands and vendors trying to sell them something. Attendees are primarily directors, vice-presidents, and senior managers responsible for loyalty, personalization, and CRM strategies, predominantly from the retail, travel, and financial services sectors.
The agenda reflects what is actually keeping loyalty leaders up at night right now. Economic pressure is squeezing both sides of the equation: consumers are leaning on their loyalty programs more than ever to offset rising costs, while companies are being asked to deliver more value with tighter budgets. Partnerships, tiered recognition, personalization, and program ROI are not just buzzwords this year. They are survival strategies.
The speaker lineup brings that tension to life with real case studies and candid reflection.
Josh Meyer from Canadian Tire will explore how the company is redefining loyalty through partnerships. Steve McClelland from WestJet will share how WestJet Rewards is evolving to drive everyday loyalty, not just travel redemption. Rachel MacAdam from Skip will share what a loyalty reboot actually looks like in practice. Amanda Mitchell from Petro-Canada will walk through Canada’s first frequent fueler program, a new model for recognizing and rewarding top spenders at the pump.
Christine Yuen from Loblaw, Susana Donaldson Farrell from Indigo, and Elizabeth McNeil from RBC will join a panel on the future of personalized offers and promotions, moderated by Joel Percy from Eagle Eye. Shoshana Fruitman from CAA Club Group and Daniel Shearer from Maple will make the case for healthcare as a strategic loyalty lever.
The Loyalty X sessions are worth highlighting on their own. Jennifer Bryl from Home Hardware and Trinh Tham, CEO of Chatime, each take the stage for 15 to 18 minutes, no notes, no slides, to share unconventional thinking and hard-won lessons from long loyalty careers. These sessions tend to be the ones people remember longest.
Beth McCoy from CORA Loyalty opens the day with Jason Beales from BMO AIR MILES with a provocative statement about commitment. Len Covello from Engage People will speak to rebuilding loyalty through real-time value. Michelle Sequeira Yee and Sean Claessen from Bond Brand Loyalty will close with a challenge to the room: loyalty has peaked, and here are four shifts to turn your program into a growth engine.
Barry Choi of The Globe and Mail and Lia Grimberg of NALATM will MC the day together.
This is a conference built for the people who run loyalty programs, not for the people who sell to them. If that is you, this is where you should be on April 21.
Registration is open to senior brand-side loyalty marketers.
Secure your spot at: https://www.tbhtoronto.com/#/tickets?lang=en
