#206: Global Loyalty Academy Workshops in 2022 and FREE Competition to Win

This episode is all about The Loyalty Academy and the latest updates and in-person workshops to become a “Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional™️” (CLMP).

Mike Capizzi, Dean and Director of Education at The Loyalty Academy joins us to share their latest Loyalty Academy news, as in-person training workshops return in key cities around the world.

In today’s show, we also announce a NEW scholarship and competition for one lucky listener to win a FREE “Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional” accreditation either in person or online.

Listen to hear how to enter.

Show Notes:

1) Let’s Talk Loyalty CLMP Workshop Scholarship Information and Application due XXX, 2022

2) Mike Capizzi, Director of Education, The Loyalty Academy

3) The Loyalty Academy

4) Scholarship Competition from “Let’s Talk Loyalty” and The Loyalty Academy

Audio Transcript

#206: Global Loyalty Academy Workshops in 2022 and FREE Competition to Win (32m)

Welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty an industry podcast for loyalty marketing professionals. I’m your host, Paula Thomas. And if you work in loyalty marketing, join me every week to learn the latest ideas from loyalty specialists around the world. This show is sponsored by The Wise Marketer, the world’s most popular source of loyalty marketing news insights and research. The Wise Marketer also offers loyalty marketing training through its Loyalty Academy, which has already certified over 245 executives in 27 countries.

Paula Thomas

00:00:46

A Certified Loyalty Marketing Professionals for more information, check out thewisemarketer.com and Loyaltyacademy.org. Hello, and welcome to episode 206 of Let’s Talk Loyalty, all about the Loyalty Academy. As many of you know, I am a proud graduate and a Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional or CLMP. And now that the world is getting somewhat back to normal, the Loyalty Academy is expanding its schedule of workshops around the world.

Paula Thomas

00:01:29

I thought it might be a really exciting time for all of you listening to think about getting yourself certified in 2022. So joining me today is Mike Capizzi, dean of the Loyalty Academy and it’s director of education. And also together today, I am really excited to be announcing a new scholarship available for one lucky listener together Let’s Talk Loyalty and the Loyalty Academy are offering one lucky winner of full certification worth up to $2,000. So if you want to get yourself certified as a CLMP, you can win this scholarship and available either online or in-person at one of the workshops you’ll hear mentioned in today’s show.

Paula Thomas

00:02:18

If you’d like to win the scholarship courtesy of Let’s Talk Loyalty and the Loyalty Academy, make sure to listen to all of today’s show and Mike, and I will tell you all about this exciting partnership and how you can enter and win So, Mike, Capizzi, thanks for joining me today. How are you? Welcome back to Let’s Talk Loyalty,

Mike Capizzi

00:02:43

Always a pleasure. Thank you very much for having me on the show.

Paula Thomas

00:02:46

Oh, it’s a pleasure to have you back, Mike. You’re a busy man. It’s almost impossible to track you down with all your troubles these days.

Mike Capizzi

00:02:53

Yes, ma’am.

Paula Thomas

00:02:54

Well, we’re here to talk about all of that with good reason, Mike. So listen, before we get into all of the wonderful updates on the Loyalty Academy, as you know, we’re starting our show these days talking about our favorite loyalty programs. So given your, I suppose 48 years of experience, you must have some incredible insights on what’s working I suppose, in 2022. So please do tell us, what is your current favorite loyalty program?

Mike Capizzi

00:03:21

Well, I like them all, you know, a person who has spent their entire lifetime looking at designing, assessing lowly marketing programs. There’s very few. I don’t like some are done better than others. Of course. So rather than pick any one particular brand, what I’d like to suggest, at least from a US market perspective these days is the hottest space. And that is in the restaurant space, especially the family-style restaurant or the quick-service restaurant or QSR. This was a vertical market that really didn’t grasp the loyalty genre until very late and then along came to the pandemic and it kind of changed the customer to brand relationship in this sector quite a bit.

Mike Capizzi

00:04:12

And people started realizing that they had an identifiable database and they had the ability to on a permission basis to contact the members of the database. That would be way better than the mass media advertising approach that they had historically taken. So with that, they started saying, what’s the best way to build the file and the still the best way to get zero party or first party data is still loyalty program. So they all started to experiment with the technique. And now two years later, you’re seeing announcement after announcement, after announcement in the U S most of them were covered by the, The Wise Marketer you’ve picked up on summit, Let’s Talk Loyalty, the hot spaces, the restaurant space, and you’ve got a very low average ticket against very high frequency.

Mike Capizzi

00:05:03

And that model has sometimes not worked because it’s really difficult to earn enough benefit when you’ve got such a small ticket size. But what they’re finding out is the best customers of these particular restaurant brands are in there frequently. And it’s pretty easy to give them some free food quickly because they liked that the customer likes that and all the while you’re building a transactional database, which can be used for other marketing purposes. So rather than pick a brand, I picked the whole genre and I’d say the hottest space in the U S right now, especially quick service restaurant. If you wanted a recent reference, like a McDonald’s for years, they resisted the loyalty genre, or they started experimenting in Europe and then they rolled out in the UK, and now they have finally rolled out in most of their locations in the United States.

Mike Capizzi

00:05:56

That’s well-documented on a variety of loyalty news sources.

Paula Thomas

00:05:59

Yeah, you’re absolutely right, Mike. And I’ve certainly been following us with that with bated breath, certainly on LinkedIn and all of those channels where they do share some absolutely incredible numbers. So, so I think it’s a brilliant insight. And I love the context, I suppose, from a number of perspectives, Mike, because I think what we’ve all seen is absolutely fast. Food meant no friction at the point of sale. And I think historically the perception was, well, if I’m going to ask somebody to download an app and fill in personal data, that’s just going to get in the way of selling the food. But as you said, I think everything has just come up to speed. Now, the technology is brilliant.

Paula Thomas

00:06:40

The benefits of having that digital and mobile first relationship far exceeds the kind of, you know, initial, I suppose, hurdle that we would have seen in the past. So absolutely extraordinary to see brands like McDonald’s investing so heavily in our industry

Mike Capizzi

00:06:55

And good observation, Paula, because the newer technologies, especially the mobile enabled loyalty technologies have come a long way and mitigate some of this clogging of the queue at point of sale, which will never work in a QSR environment every second counts. So because of the newer technologies, it’s now pretty easy to flashy. No.

Paula Thomas

00:07:20

Yeah, yeah. And as you said, everyone loves free food, so we’re not difficult to convince, but there’s something in it for us. Huh?

Mike Capizzi

00:07:27

That’s right.

Paula Thomas

00:07:28

Wonderful stuff. So, listen, I guess our main, you know, purpose of, of getting together today, Mike, is to talk about actually your success and the incredible work that the Loyalty Academy is back doing. I have to say to migrates joy, and in a global context, you have been running workshops, certainly in Dubai where I think everyone knows I live and work and you have an incredible outline and plan for the year. So tell us a bit, first of all, I suppose poppy and the Loyalty Academy is doing maybe from a content perspective and then from an availability perspective for people listening.

Mike Capizzi

00:08:07

Okay, well, throughout 2020, and for almost all of 21, we really could not run in person educational workshops that was COVID related. Yeah. So, you know, getting professionals together in a public setting and having them go through the entire Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional program, and about two and a half to three days, it’s always been attracted people like the fact that they can collaborate with others in a live event. They love the live interaction with the faculty, but they especially like the fact that they can earn their credential in such a short period of time.

Mike Capizzi

00:08:50

So they were always popular and we had big visions in the end of 2019. We had gone to some Paolo Brazil. We did about 80 people and we had big visions in 21 have going all over the world and along came our friends from COVID and that killed everything. So 2020 was out 21. And in March of 22, we did we buy and that whole middle east, north Africa region remains, I think, a hotbed for royalty, you know, that it’s your home market. So those were good. And in the interim, what we’ve really done is we’ve extended the workshop idea to a series of individual modules that can be taken online and it can be done in an on-demand environment.

Mike Capizzi

00:09:36

So a need perspective student can register and go at their own pace, take as many courses a week as they want. They need 15 in order to earn certification. And the flexibility of being able to do it from your home when the kids were sleeping or on the weekend, especially during the COVID period would be quite beneficial. So we went through, I think about another hundred CLMP since the last time you and I spoke. And today we’re at a 276 certified professionals, 28 countries around the world. And we think that number will continue to grow at a reasonable rate, especially with the in-person workshops coming back.

Mike Capizzi

00:10:23

So you mentioned that, and we’ve got four scheduled for 2022. Toronto will be first, a Toronto Canada. We’ve been there before. We have senior faculty people there that’ll be May 11 through 13 and Toronto. That’ll be a very small intimate group that always is. But again, they’re able to collaborate with each other. The second one will be a new country, be India. We’re going to go to Mumbai from June the 28th through the 30th, their faculty members are there. And we’re looking forward to that. India is another one of these places in the world that is extremely hot for royalty.

Mike Capizzi

00:11:05

There are a lot of service providers. There, there are a lot of different kinds of programs there, and it’s a very, very large market and a market that always has been very keen on education. So we’ll be going in person. My colleague bill Hannifin will be leading that particular workshop in Mumbai. Then we’re going to turn around and go to one of your favorite places that would be Dublin. Now we’re going to go in September, that’ll be paying European. We expect quite a few Irish nationals, but we’ll also we’ll draw from the continent. And maybe even from the UK again, we’ve got a great partnership going with some people in Dublin, and that’s going to be in September, we’re working on the exact date and the hotel arrangements that will probably also be an intimate group kind of on the small side.

Mike Capizzi

00:11:58

And some of those are good when it’s 10 to 15 people, you’ve got a lot more time to talk about the issues. Then when you got 50, 60, 80 people becomes a little bit more like a classroom. And then finally, after a three-year absence, we will return to the U S in October, that’ll be in Fort Lauderdale, which is my home market. And I think that’ll be the fifth time we’ve done the U S a, the US still has more Certified Loyalty Marketing Professionals than any country in the world. Not only are we quite large and very sophisticated with the loyalty technique, but when we do these in-person events, we’ll certify 10, 15, 20 people at a time.

Mike Capizzi

00:12:45

Yeah. The numbers go up quite a bit. So Toronto Mumbai, Dublin, and the US all scaffold information is available on the website. So you can register for any four of those. And we’ve got three other places in discussion. We’re probably not going to make it till 20, 23, but I’ll say the speech until I know for certain that we’re going to go,

Paula Thomas

00:13:12

Okay, I’m guessing they’re outside the US Mike, am I picking that up and guessingLcorrectly?

Mike Capizzi

00:13:16

That is correct.

Paula Thomas

00:13:18

Okay. Okay. Well, that’s exciting for those of us who are not in the US but I think I’d said to you before Mike, I mean, I did my CLMP in 2018. I was in a lucky position, I suppose, between two contracts where I happen to have a lot of time, you know, just like a month, for example, to, to work on us. So I really liked that intensive opportunity. And, but of course at the time it was only available on demand. There wasn’t an in-person one like Dubai has now. So I have to say, I’m a little girl, so I couldn’t do it in person with you. And, but on demand was a fabulous experience. And like, to, to pick up on the other four destinations, you’ve mentioned there, Mike, so, you know, clearly Dublin is my home city.

Paula Thomas

00:14:01

I know you’re going. I, in fact, we’re both going, we’ll give a shout out to our friend, Eileen and Marianne running the Irish Loyalty Summit at the end of April, the end of this month. And what I think you’ll find Mike, there is, you know, people in business in Ireland certainly are very, again, education hungry. Like we want global best practice. I think there’s something about being from a small country where you kind of feel like you have to punch above your weight. And I think when we first talked about you guys going to Dublin, and I said to, certainly in my experience, it’s such a great city. People almost just need an excuse to go there. So you’re giving them that excuse. I think it’s going to be a wonderful training course.

Mike Capizzi

00:14:42

Well, they do a nice job with with the loyalty awards. And so I’ll be going twice. I’m going to go the end of this month, the end of April or the award celebration. There also is a little summit in advance of that. I’ll be giving a, a brand new presentation at the summit, and then we’ll return in September to, to do the workshop and Eileen and Marion been great partners. We, you know, we originally were going to do this in March of 2020, and I was one foot away from the airplane When the Irish government came in and clamped down on everything. And I knew we were in trouble. Paul, when they canceled St.

Mike Capizzi

00:15:21

Patrick’s day, I, we were definitely in trouble. So we’ve had to pull this off, but this year we’d go to Dublin. And the other advantage to Ireland is it’s much for Euro, not just in terms of currency, but in terms of outlook and association, then the UK and we, people from the Scandinavian countries or even Germany and, and even Eastern Europe, they’re more likely to go to Dublin than they are to London.

Paula Thomas

00:15:53

It’s actually just a much easier place to get to. As I said, it has so many other reasons. And even actually something I’ve always been very proud of being Irish bike is what a lot of companies you’ll find professionally love about the country is, as you said, it’s a Euro country. So it’s very easy to, to test new propositions in the Irish market. So you’ve got the benefit of a currency that’s available across multiple markets. Obviously it’s English language speaking. We are a highly educated workforce and we actually also call it the Silicon village of the world because all of the digital brands have headquartered themselves in Dublin.

Paula Thomas

00:16:35

So again, it’s, it’s something I’m proud of. And I think everybody, who’s Irish, we’re very patriotic. What you’re upstairs, the rice when St. Patrick’s day was canceled in 2020, I think we all call us well, listen, that’s the end of that now for awhile, but I don’t know if you know, there is actually an extra holiday, you know, for St. Patrick’s day now in 2022, just to, to signal the return to normality. So Thursday, when we see each other together at the loyalty summit, it’s definitely going to be back on track.

Mike Capizzi

00:17:03

And so what we’re looking forward to that we have only one CLMP in all of Ireland, you don’t count cause you’re, you’re classified as Dubai. There’s only one in the entire country. And by going over and doing the workshop, we’re going to add about a dozen more. I think

Paula Thomas

00:17:19

That’s excellent. That’s excellent. And I wanted to ask you Mike, as well, because I’ve been really impressed to see a number of companies, for example, on this show, first of all, who really do understand the designation of CLMP Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional. Like I think that has become a brand. And I know you’ve worked very hard on that. So I want to congratulate you on building that I know it’s not easy. Well, what I’m increasingly hearing Mike is that there are companies, you know, for example, in the tech space, maybe who are putting their entire sales teams through the SA CLMP so that they can talk your language when they’re in meeting with our clients. So I think that’s extraordinary.

Mike Capizzi

00:18:00

Yeah, exactly. There are some companies that I’m sure when they come to a workshop, they’d like to meet some folks from other brands that could possibly collaborate with them or do business with them. There’s no doubt about that. Sure. The fascinating thing I find out about sponsorship is the desire that we support education. W we’re a thought leader in our space. We believe in the loyalty space. Yes, we are a service provider or yes, we have technology, but we believe in education because there is a foundational set of principles and practices, which drive this industry. They’ve always been there.

Mike Capizzi

00:18:42

They just were never taught at the university level. So I find so many people who’ve been in Welty 10 years, 20 years, but they got in with basically no foundation and they had to learn on the job today. There’s too much money invested. The programs are too important to brands that are beginning to realize if I can get everybody on the same page to start some foundational principles and practices that can be applied practically every day, then I’m off to a really, really, really good start. Everybody talks the same language. Everybody’s trying to define the value propositions in appropriate manners. Everybody’s evaluating operations and technology and especially analytics and operable means the needs are really good things.

Mike Capizzi

00:19:28

The team begins to contribute to the loyalty program a little bit faster and some brands, some very large brands around the world believe in this. So strongly they’ll send as many of their people as they possibly could.

Paula Thomas

00:19:39

Yeah. Yeah. And I’ve heard that firsthand. So as I said, it’s a credit to you and to the whole board of regions, because I know you do have, how many is it actually, half of the border regions down? Like

Mike Capizzi

00:19:50

We have six, we have a vacancy right now because one of our senior members, Dr. Sashi retired. Yeah. He’s given it up. So Graham Thompson who’s chairman of the board is looking to replace that open seat right now. But there’s six of us. We meet quarterly, a mix of academic professionals and service provider. People that everyone very, very, very experienced. And it basically is an advisory council. They make certain decisions and approve certain things, but they also render advice back to the academy about things that we could be doing that we’re not doing

Paula Thomas

00:20:30

That to keep

Mike Capizzi

00:20:32

This fresh fall as it keeps changing.

Paula Thomas

00:20:33

Well, you’re totally right. I mean, there’s a reason I have three podcasts a week now as well. Like, you know, there’s that much happening. So we’ll never be sure to things to talk about. Huh.

Mike Capizzi

00:20:42

That’s correct.

Paula Thomas

00:20:43

And you know, what I also think is important actually about the whole community Mike and somebody nailed it for me recently, I did an interview with there, with Microsoft rewards and obviously an incredible brand. And again, you know, incredible industry expertise, but the guy himself, Adam grew up was saying to me, you know what, loyalty can be a very lonely business. And that’s exactly how I felt when I was running a loyalty program. The first time back in Ireland, where, like you said, I was learning on the job. The stakes were super high. I didn’t have a background in the industry and nor did I know even who to ask. So my experience now being a CLMP is you can reach out on LinkedIn.

Paula Thomas

00:21:28

And if you see a fellow, you know, graduate, it’s, it’s an instant way to reach out and go. I’m another CLMP I’d love to ask you about whatever. And people are so much more responsive, you know, as a result of that,

Mike Capizzi

00:21:41

I think that’s right. We are constantly looking at ways to improve the collaboration among the CLN piece of cross country. What we didn’t want to do is publish contact information.

Paula Thomas

00:21:53

That’s true.

Mike Capizzi

00:21:55

Some people use that just for the sales call and we didn’t want that to seal and piece didn’t want that. So we are on the verge of launching a brand new system at the Loyalty Academy, new software, new website, new backend, new database, new way to offer courses and the context of that announcement, we’re going to make it available so that you can link in. You can ask for a LinkedIn request on another CLMP in another part of the world. Then it’s up to the two, whether they want to communicate with each other or not.

Paula Thomas

00:22:32

Okay. Okay. Yeah. A safe space then do to reach out and again, understand the reason for connecting. But again, you know, it’s a, it’s a close community and it’s a safe place

Mike Capizzi

00:22:42

And there are incredibly experienced. And we look at the experience set across the 276 by and large. It’s not new people by and large. It’s very experienced people. Some brands put in their new hires as well, but it’s a very experienced group. And you know, it’s real easy. If you can connect with somebody it’s real easy to get advice and counsel from somebody who’s been there done that.

Paula Thomas

00:23:10

Of course, of course the best kind of advice. So with that in mind, I suppose, Mike, I wanted to touch on, as you said, staying up to date and I know that you are regularly adding new topics and new content. And in fact, I just, today also did an interview with Charlie Hills.

Mike Capizzi

00:23:28

Oh,

Paula Thomas

00:23:28

I know it’s now on your faculty as well. So tell us all about that.

Mike Capizzi

00:23:33

Well, we’ve been getting inquiry about partnership. Most of the more evolved, well, the schemes have got a element of partnership included in the program. It could be partners where you can earn a benefit on behalf of a brand, or it could be partners where currently you can redeem for something outside of the brands repertoire, but on the earning side, you know, the airlines kind of led the way with this and they’re the oldest Royal pure Welty play out there still. But the aim was natural. You know, if a hotel brand or an airline brand could partner with each other and allow the earning of currency for a book, a reservation with either that was just smart to do well, that concept is being extended now everywhere.

Mike Capizzi

00:24:24

And we wanted a course on partnerships. So I know Charlie pretty well. I know you know, her as well, Charlie’s at Manville connect in the UK and Charlie specializes in this whole partnership development thing. So we put together an outline. Charlie wrote the course herself. She delivered the first one, no about a month ago. Maybe it was February two months ago anyway, very well received. And that’s one of the ways we bring new content into the academies curriculum. We will ask, seek Charlie’s or CLMP, or we’ll ask seal on piece from around the world, give us a hot topic. And we’ll collaborate to put that topic into an outline that we can turn into a real course.

Mike Capizzi

00:25:11

So the program keeps expanding in that particular way. In 20 to 2022, we will probably add one more new course on fee-based wealthy programs or premium they’re often called very hot topic again. So that’s one of the ways we try to keep current is keep adding new material. In addition, we’ll go back and review more topical content like mobile technology. We’ll review those very often and update the course, but some people will come and say, well, I’m looking at your principles course, and it’s old. And I says, that’s because it was principles haven’t changed. And so 1978 examples might have changed, right?

Mike Capizzi

00:25:53

I’m giving you a newer example, but the concept itself, and some people object that they don’t like that at all, but some others, they totally get it. So that’s kind of an interesting dialogue.

Paula Thomas

00:26:03

That’s funny. Yeah. Yeah, no, it’s a good point. Absolutely. You know, you know, the, the industry’s been around a long time, so some of the fundamentals will remain, you know, till time immemorial. But then what I do, like, for example, I think you have one as well, Mike, if I’m right on financial modeling, which is always one that scares me because it’s not my skillset, but again, specialized things for people who really need to, you know, I suppose, elect for additional and education, you know, having done perhaps the original and just to, to, to explore another part of the industry,

Mike Capizzi

00:26:36

Right? Well, in the financial set, we’ve always had the core module of how to calculate an ROI and basic financial principles that apply to loyalty. And then in 2021, we added two courses specifically on liability management. So many of these programs are still points-based programs around the world that is still extremely popular design and the issue of liability keeps coming up. So once again, we went out and got one of the foremost authorities on liability in the world. I’m like, you know, the American guy and him put two courses together just on liability management. And they’re very detailed, but they’re not for a beginner, you know, they’re they’re for more advanced education.

Paula Thomas

00:27:17

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And just to, to go back to what you said earlier, Mike, you know the basic CLMP is 15 modules. And am I right in remembering there are about two hours of study for each of those modules, is that about right? Still,

Mike Capizzi

00:27:34

Usually an hour Paula an hour. And with the on demand platform, you can go back and review it anytime you want.

Paula Thomas

00:27:41

Yeah. 12

Mike Capizzi

00:27:42

Courses are required, they’re all foundational to our elective. You can pick anything you want. And the last one of course is your final exam. The board requires for certification to be bestowed. The board requires an examination that meets standards. And we couple the examination with a financial model on a real case study. So the two combined People get their credentials passed onto them.

Paula Thomas

00:28:14

Okay. Okay. Well, that’s brilliant because again, extremely accessible again on demand. And as I said, I was lucky enough to have a month off at the time. And that time, my top priority was to get this qualification, but there’s plenty of people I’m sure who would just say, look, I can do a module a week and I’ll get it done over time. And, but everybody does it at their own pace, I guess.

Mike Capizzi

00:28:37

Yeah. It follows. It’s interesting because in-person is a little bit more expensive, but that’s because you have the cost of the venue. And then if you’re a delegate, you’re going to have to probably stay in a hotel or travel to the city where the workshop is being held. I’m sweating, it increases your costs, but you’re out of the office for three days, maybe more if you’re traveling. And that is often very, very, very difficult for some people to do, but then when they get there, they love the fact that it’s collaborative. If you’re having conversations with other professionals who are in your space from totally different brands or service providers, it’s a very interesting dynamic.

Mike Capizzi

00:29:16

So that’s the real advantage other folks do exactly what you just said. Let me take it one module at a time. I can do it nine o’clock at night. When the kids go to bed, I can go back and revisit if I need to, I’ll be done in about a month. And they just prefer that flexibility. It’s also less expensive.

Paula Thomas

00:29:35

Of course, of course. And specifically on that topic, you know, for people who are listening that might be interested, I know your pricing reflects different, you know, market conditions, for example. So, so do you want to give guideline pricing or should people check your website or what’s a kind of a rough idea of what people would need to invest in order to study with you?

Mike Capizzi

00:29:57

Okay, well, it’s all on the website and it is altered by marketplace and it goes with what is the going rate for professional education in that particular piece of geography? Generally speaking, in-person CLMP workshops are around $2,000 per person, that varies dramatically by what part of the world you’re in. It is never really more than that in Ireland. It’ll be in euros in India, it’ll be deeply discounted. The other thing is the workshops are sponsored. So the sponsor will have privilege at the workshop and that privilege extends to inviting their colleagues for free because they’re a sponsor And, or offering a discounted coupon to a delegate to bring that right down, even further.

Mike Capizzi

00:30:50

And that’s, that’s up to the sponsor.

Paula Thomas

00:30:52

Okay. Okay. So lots of ways to make it work for people. And with that, I suppose it comes to certainly my final topic for today, Mike, which, you know, I’m super excited about. And today we’re announcing that you have generously agreed to give one listener of Let’s Talk Loyalty, a scholarship for a CLM piece. So first of all, I’m hugely excited and we’ve done it together once before on my first birthday as a podcast. But yeah, I think this one is in recognition of the incredible global growth that you’ve got going on. So do you want to maybe mention just from your side, this whole idea?

Mike Capizzi

00:31:33

Yeah. Well, first off Paul, you’ve got the largest and the best global loyalty audience for podcasts in the world. So you have listeners, not just in one part of the world, but in every corner of the world. And I mean, liquid recently last month, you put out a little announcement about things that were happening at LTL, and it was 80 comments of, of generous support from people all over the place. So we needed to do something globally. You and I did this once before for your anniversary. It worked very well. So let’s do it again. So we will set up a scholarship. There’ll be an entry forum on the Let’s Talk Loyalty website.

Mike Capizzi

00:32:14

That’ll be coming soon. And after everybody enters and they’ll need to put a couple of fields of information into the entry form, we may draw out of the hat, randomly one lucky winner, and they will either be able to attend in-person in one of these future cities, or there’ll be able to do it all on demand, whatever their approaches. And that’ll be courtesy of Let’s Talk Loyalty.

Paula Thomas

00:32:38

Oh my goodness. Wow. Well, it is incredibly generous, Mike, as I said, I’m from our side, everybody listening knows how much I love the Loyalty Academy working with you. And of course the wise marketeer. So this is a partnership that’s been incredibly special and for me already, and I think it’s only going from strength to strength. So I think it’s an extraordinary opportunity, as you said, no matter what corner of the world they’re in Mike, we’re going to literally give everybody the chance to sign up and to join an enter for this scholarship. So, and the website address we’re going to use is LetsTalkLoyalty.com/newsletter. And as you said, Mike will absolutely have all of the details there about this wonderful giveaway and fantastic people can choose to come in person or to study online and to get their CLMP.

Paula Thomas

00:33:30

It’s amazing.

Mike Capizzi

00:33:31

Very good. We, we like that. And we certainly look forward to it. Thanks for mentioning wise marketer. All of Paula’s podcasts are put up on the wives market, or we generally have three up at one time when one comes on, you know, we eliminate the oldest one. They’re very popular to your listeners. If they’re not wise marketers, subscribers, they should be it’s free. And then it’s the best source of global news and information about the loyalty CRM data-driven marketing space. And you can follow a Loyalty Academy. You can follow us on LinkedIn.

Paula Thomas

00:34:03

Of course, absolutely. Yeah. So plenty of resources. And certainly I would encourage anybody to reach out to me if you have any questions just from a, I suppose, a graduate perspective and Mike, I suppose it’s LinkedIn the best place for people to connect with you, or what’s the easiest for you?

Mike Capizzi

00:34:21

That’s fine. Or you can send a message to support@loyaltyacademy.org. That’s support@tolyaltyacademy.org. If I’m on the road, which I often am. One of them that colleagues will also view that message.

Paula Thomas

00:34:37

Of course. Okay. Excellent. Well, we’ll make sure to link to that in the show notes as well, Mike, so people can find us both quite easily. I think that’s all the questions from my side. Mike, is there anything else you wanted to mention before we wrap up?

Mike Capizzi

00:34:50

No, I look forward to seeing you in Ireland and tipping a pine or something with ya.

Paula Thomas

00:34:54

Oh my goodness. Super exciting. Wow. So listen, on that note, I’m just going to say huge. Thank you. And to the Dean and director of education for the Loyalty Academy, Mike peasy. Thank you so much from Let’s Talk Loyalty,

Mike Capizzi

00:35:07

Always a pleasure, Paula. You’re doing a great job in the industry. Thank you for it. So keep up the good work and we’re here to support you.

Paula Thomas

00:35:15

This show is sponsored by The Loyalty People, a global strategic consultancy with a laser focus on loyalty, CRM and customer engagement. The loyalty people work with clients in lots of different ways, whether it’s the strategic design of your loyalty program or a full service, including loyalty project execution. And they can also advise you on choosing the right technology and service partners on their website. The loyalty people also runs a free global community for loyalty practitioners and they also publish their own loyalty expert insights.

Paula Thomas

00:36:00

So for more information and to subscribe, check out theloyaltypeople.global.

Mike Capizzi

00:36:06

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty. If you’d like us to send you the latest shows each week, simply sign up for the Let’s Talk Loyalty newsletter on LetsTalkLoyalty.com. We’ll send our best episodes straight to your inbox. And don’t forget that you can follow Let’s Talk Loyalty on any of your favorite podcast platforms. And of course we’d love for you to share your feedback and reviews.

Paula Thomas

00:36:43

Thanks again for supporting the show.