The Wiser Loyalty podcast series is produced in partnership between Let’s Talk Loyalty and The Wise Marketer™. Throughout 2024, Wise Marketer Group’s (WMG) CEO, Bill Hanifin, and CMO, Aaron Dauphinee, shared their insights on topics inspired by courses from the Loyalty Academy’s™ Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional™ (CLMP™) curriculum.

In 2025 we shift from this academic focus to seek out insights from practitioners of the trade from the C-Suite. Twice a month, we will bring you an interview with a C-level executive who has transformed strategy into practical application to generate business results.

In this episode Aaron speaks with CLMP™ and loyalty academic, Darron Kirkley from the University of South Carolina (USC). Darron is one of less than a handful of instructors in the USA who have created a university level class focused on the discipline of loyalty. His course, Hospitality Loyalty Strategy, is taught through USC’s College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management and Darron is a steward of the hospitality sector.  

Darron shares his unique perspective into the mindshare of the next generation of loyalty marketers. We also discuss the drivers of loyalty in hospitality and the go-forward state for the loyalty industry.