The Loyalty NewswireApril 21, 2025

Global News Roundup from The Wise Marketer

From the Editor

Kicking off a new week with some new perspectives from Loyalty Science Lab!

We do like when academia brings practical insights into the fold for us marketers, and the team out of Old Dominion University does just that in their latest article, “Loyalty Programs as Price Buffers: Promise or Myth in Inflationary Times?”. This article tackles the crucial question of whether your loyalty program is helping or hurting your ability to adjust prices.

Loyalty Science Lab shares research-backed insights into how loyalty programs can both reduce and increase price sensitivity, depending on factors like program design, customer commitment, and market context. This knowledge is power for businesses navigating inflationary pressures.

The article also outlines five strategic approaches to use loyalty programs as effective price sensitivity shields. From offsetting price increases with enhanced value to deploying targeted pricing defense by customer segment, they provide actionable advice to help you protect your bottom line while maintaining customer loyalty.

It’s definitely worth a read. Check it out!

Stay. Loyal. Always.

Chief Marketing Officer, Wise Marketer Group

Global News Roundup

Brightline Launches First Loyalty Program with Antavo to Deliver More Rewards, More Often

Brightline is the only privately owned and operated intercity railroad in the United States and continues to redefine travel through speed, comfort, and sustainability. Founded in 2017, the transportation company has carried millions of passengers in South Florida via service between Miami and West Palm Beach. Now it has announced a new loyalty program for travelers.

“Brightline’s new loyalty program, powered by Antavo, will elevate our guest and brand experience,” said Patrick Goddard, CEO of Brightline Florida. “We’re building a strong community of loyal riders by offering a truly rewarding experience. With Antavo’s advanced technology, we can deliver a seamless and scalable program that not only celebrates our current guests but also lays the groundwork for future expansion and innovation.”

Program Highlights:

Introductory triple-point bonus on all qualifying purchases for rides booked and taken by June 3, 2025.
No Redemption Minimum: Use points as you earn them — every point counts
Instant Access: Points post after travel and can be used on your next trip
Digital Member Card: Powered by Antavo’s Wallet module

News from “Down Under” – Courtesy of Ellipsis

Coles Plus and Woolworths Everyday Extra subscription customers are 4% of supermarket revenue.

Participation in paid supermarket loyalty programs is still relatively low. Coles Group’s Coles Plus had 70,000 members (at the end of 2023), accounting for 4% of total revenue that year. Woolworths Everyday Extra had 320,000 paying members, making up 4% of total revenue.

David Jones’ new shopping app (to eventually include its new loyalty program)

David Jones launched its shopping app three months ago and has hit 80,000 downloads. Its loyalty program will eventually be integrated with the app. It had 1.6 million loyalty members in 2022. David Jones is spending Au$ 65 million on a tech revitalization, which includes this app.

Webjet will launch a loyalty program.

Online travel agency Webjet will launch a loyalty program to grow international flights, hotels, and business travel. It’s part of a strategy to double total transaction value from $1.6bn to $3.2bn by 2030. Marketing spend will increase from 1.5% to 2.5% of total transaction value,e and Webjet will appoint a head of loyalty. 5.5 million customers interact with Webjet monthly.

Blain’s Farm & Fleet Launches Retail Media Network in Partnership with Epsilon

Blain’s Farm & Fleet announced the launch of its retail media offering, Neighbor Network. Launched in partnership with Epsilon and its Epsilon Retail Media platform, Neighbor Network combines artificial intelligence and person-first identity in the ad server to give marketers a single retail media offering to reach customers on Blain’s Farm & Fleet website (farmandfleet.com), app, or across the open web with relevant, personalized messages.

Eliza Ollinger, GM, eCommerce at Blain’s Farm & Fleet, commented, “Neighbor Network gives our brand partners the opportunity to tap into what we know about our neighbors and use first-party data to better understand each individual neighbor and deliver personalized ads at the right place and time. Our SKU-optimized targeting is powered by AI that uses billions of intent signals to make hundreds of decisions in milliseconds, so brands don’t need to worry if their campaign is reaching the right individual. Most importantly, Neighbor Network will help brands achieve their goals, whether it’s to increase category share, convert new shoppers, or build brand loyalty.”

New 10Fold Research Finds Marketing Budgets Are Up in 2025—But KPIs Didn’t Increase

10Fold, a leading business-to-business (B2B) Deep Tech communications and content agency, today released the 2025 U.S. Marketing Budgets Update: The CMO Wake-Up Call report. Report findings reveal a shifting landscape for B2B marketers where AI-fueled transformation is redefining how marketing leaders spend budget on programs, hire staff and agencies, and evaluate ROI.

The new data, based on research commissioned to Sapio Research, collects information from 125 U.S.-based B2B marketing executives. Based on the market changes, 10Fold updated U.S. data and expanded on concepts introduced in 10Fold’s 2024 Marketing Spend Strategy report. You can read the press release here, but here’s a teaser:

While 56% of companies increased marketing budgets in 2025, most saw only modest growth, typically under 20%.
At the same time, just 47% of marketers raised KPI goals, and a majority (52%) either kept expectations flat or lowered them.
These shifts point to a marketing environment focused less on blanket growth and more on performance-based investments, particularly in emerging tools like AI and automation.

Vivo (Brazil) partners with Africa Creative to launch campaign addressing smartphone addiction.

Vivo, Brazil’s leading telecommunications company, has partnered with leading Brazilian advertising agency Africa Creative to launch a thought-provoking campaign addressing smartphone addiction. The campaign responds to alarming statistics from the 2024 Mental Health Panorama, conducted by Instituto Cactus and AtlasIntel, which found that 40% of respondents report that likes and comments on social media significantly affect their self-esteem.

The same study reveals that 45% of Brazilians aged 15 to 29 feel intense social media use negatively impacts their mental health, contributing to increased anxiety and depression. Brazil currently leads Latin America in anxiety and depression cases, with the World Health Organization reporting that 5.8% of the country’s population—approximately 11.7 million people—suffer from depression.

British Council realizes a 70% reduction in marketing content creation costs and a 50% faster turnaround time.

British Council, the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, sought to enhance engagement across Wider Europe for its Global English campaign by localizing content in seven languages (Spanish, French, Georgian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian and Ukrainian), all while ensuring the essence of the campaign was not lost in translation. This ambitious project, involving over a thousand assets and over ten Adobe master templates, presented challenges in terms of cost and efficiency.

The solution was to use innovative AI-powered design automation to secure significant reductions in the time and money required to produce marketing content. British Council leveraged Creatopy’s platform to achieve a remarkable 70% reduction in global content production costs, bringing them down from €5k to €1.5k per campaign. Full press here.

Bloomreach and EMARKETER Study Finds Emotional Connections — Not Discounts — Drive Brand Loyalty in Today’s Economy

This new study reveals that personalized experiences, meaningful interactions, and brand values drive repeat purchases more than price cuts. Amanda Cole, Chief Marketing Officer from Bloomreach, shared these highlights from the report:

88% of marketers say consumers consider a lack of trust a dealbreaker for purchasing
32% and 22% of respondents found that available customer support and free delivery, respectively, provide the best opportunity for customer retention
75.3% of the marketers surveyed use personalized marketing in loyalty programs and find it effective for customer retention

Read the report here.

Paytronix Releases 2025 Loyalty Report Covering the Restaurant Sector

Paytronix just published the 2025 Paytronix Loyalty Report, which finds that while loyalty check size is rising across both restaurant concepts and c-stores, flat check sizes are common. You can download the report here.

The report recommends a combination of AI-enhanced data analytics, qualitative behavior feedback, along with gamification, AR, and mobile loyalty tools to increase engagement and grow loyalty spend.

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