#264: Let's Talk Loyalty is 3 Years Old - Birthday NEWS Announcement

Today’s episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty features an exciting announcement about how we’re growing the show, now that we’re three years old and all grown up!

Let’s Talk Loyalty was launched in August 2019 and has gone from strength to strength, sharing compelling content three times a week.

This show explains the new way we will be bringing you even more exceptional content.

Joining today’s episode to announce this new partnership is Amanda Cromhout, Founder and CEO of Truth, an international loyalty consultancy firm, based in Capetown, South Africa.

Show Notes:

1) Amanda Cromhout

2) Truth

Audio Transcript

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 episode is brought to you by Collinson, worldwide leaders in loyalty. Creating and orchestrating loyalty initiatives and programs for some of the world’s biggest brands in travel, retail and financial services, doing it globally for over 30 years, want to know more? Go to collinsongroup.com.

 

Hello and welcome to today’s episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty featuring an exciting announcement about how we’re growing the show as we approach our third birthday on Monday. As many of, you know, Let’s Talk Loyalty was founded and launched in August, 2019. And since then we have gone from strength to strength. Our success is a result of many things, but most importantly, I think we have managed to get the basics right, and create consistently compelling content that is useful and relevant to all of you listening. The announcement you’ll hear today is a new way. We’ll be bringing you even more exceptional content in an exciting, new way than we’ve ever done before.

 

Joining me today to announce a new partnership is Amanda Cromhout, Founder and CEO of Truth. An international loyalty consultancy firm based in Cape Town, South Africa.

 

Paula: So Amanda, welcome back to Let’s Talk Loyalty. 

 

Amanda: Great. Thanks Paula. Great to be here as always. 

 

Paula: Yes. Yes. It’s your third time actually on the show, Amanda, I was looking back, you were one of my first guests in, uh, March 2020, episode 27, And then we did an episode about a year ago in September, 2021. So wonderful to have you back on the show.

 

Amanda: It’s amazing to be back. And I know I’m back today for a different reason from the previous two times. So I’m looking forward to sharing that with you and your listeners. 

 

Paula: For sure. For sure. So, I mean, it’s, it’s a super exciting time for us, Amanda, as you know, we’re coming up to our third birthday, so there is a very big announcement we’re going to get into discussing for the audience today. Um, but before we get into the big reveal, let’s talk about what is your favorite loyalty program, Amanda? 

 

Amanda: Well, it’s always a question we’re anticipating. And I think in this market in South Africa, I’m expected to give a South African brand. I’m actually not gonna give a South African brand, but not because there isn’t amazing loyalty programs here in South Africa, but there are enough, um, official awards or, um, research studies that announce the best brands as voted by consumers in South Africa or loyalty professionals. So I’m gonna leave that for our discussion for a bit later. Sure. My personal loyalty favorite is from a long time ago and not because I used to work there and like you used to work at British Airways many years ago, but I’ve chosen the Executive Club for a couple of reasons. One, because it’s proving that even though the brand itself is going through a super tough time as we know, with some operational big challenges at the moment, a good loyalty program should be able to ride the sort of troughs of the difficult times. And, what I found, particularly for me in the Executive Club is over the COVID period. Yeah. They extended the tier status really generously, and I’m still happy to be on a higher tier, even though I haven’t been able to fly. Yeah. And just the basics of the program to be brutally honest, the basics of it, I really value my Avios. I earn extra Avios through the help of an American Express card, which I think is a really powerful financial services partner for The Executive Club. Yeah. And, you know, the lounge access and the quality of that is it just works for me and I can consolidate a lot of programs into one by using British Airway’s Executive Club. So does go back to the heart of part of my career, which I think we may chat about later, but yeah. Um, it’s not because of that, It’s because of what it means to me now and what yeah. What I, how I enjoy it now. 

 

Paula: Yeah, no. And it’s an important distinction, Amanda, because yes, we’ve both worked in British Airways and we will talk about certainly your career now, particularly leading the Executive Club, I think across numerous European countries, but it’s a whole different bowl game, I think when on a personal basis you get the opportunity to test. Dare I say it. The proposition to benefit from the proposition. I’ve often talked about the same because living in Dubai, you know, Amanda, um, I tend to use and have the opportunity to enjoy the Skywards Program. So, um, so it very much is something that I value. So, uh, wonderful to hear the Executive Club still has a wonderful place in your heart. 

 

Amanda: Yeah, absolutely. 

 

Paula: So tell us about your loyalty career, because you did get into loyalty with British Airways, didn’t you? 

 

Amanda: Yeah, it started right back straight from university. I was fortunate enough to be part of the British Airways exec, not Executive Club, the British Airways Graduate Program. Yeah. Which was such an exciting way to start a career straight from a bus university, doing a business degree, and, within, like within six weeks I was on a team managing co-branded credit card relationships across Europe. So the BA program really threw the graduates straight into it. Yeah. And I spent my career started with that kind of FFP Executive Club background. And then it went on to other more operational roles, but a couple of other highlights with MBA, I was the project director for the launch of Oneworld. Wow. So that was extremely complex and very focused around FFP basically amongst everything else, Oneworld is. Yeah. But it really was to the heart of the complexity of mileage conversions and everything else. You can imagine that goes into the Oneworld’s launch. Yeah. Um, and then I was the area marketing manager for Africa, Middle East, India. Um, having been the general manager in South Africa, that’s what brought me to South Africa. But as an area marketing manager in Africa, middle east, India, we had the Executive Club call Centers and obviously the running of the FFP coming through to that role regionally. Yeah. So that was, that was my BA career and I absolutely loved it. I finished my BA career, not directly in, uh, loyalty, but in the BA direct team. So very much working at the time when BA.com was quite controversial in the trade and BA travel shops. Yeah. Um, but a great time to learn about channel management and channel conflict as well. Of course. So. Very, uh, I had a super career at BA, I’ll cherish it forever. It was great. 

 

Paula: For sure. And then into the retail side, if I’m not mistaken, it was, uh, Woolworths South Africa. Wasn’t it? 

 

Amanda: Yeah, so that then I, I married a South African and had St my, my surname is Cromhout. And, um, I came to live in South Africa. So I, amongst other things, I started Truth actually way before I joined the Woolworths team, but never launched it as, specialist as it is now. So then I was in Woolworths, South Africa, which is a premium retailer for people who don’t know, it’s a premium, a very similar brand positioning as Mark and Spencers from the UK. Yeah. Um, so Woolworths South Africa, it’s a very, very well-established South African retailer and food and general merchandise. And I headed up there customer division, which was everything to do with loyalty, data research, financial services, marketing, direct marketing, and the Myschool program. Um, so some great breadth of, of different disciplines within the loyalty ecosystem. Amazing. Within a great brand, you know, a super brand to work for. And yeah, very, very established here and internationally, actually, it’s not just here in South Africa. 

 

Paula: Yeah, and I do love the diversity, I guess, Amanda, of what you did in your full-time loyalty roles, as well as what you do now with Truth. So we’ll definitely be getting into talking more about that, but before we get into, uh, what Truth is doing, I guess I do want to let our listeners know why we’re having this conversation today. And I suppose from my perspective, we are coming up literally on Monday to our three-year birthday slash anniversary. I never know what is the correct term, but let’s talk loyalty is three years old on Monday, and I’ve been sitting back and thinking long and hard about lots of different things that I think the show needs. And one of the things I think it needs is other perspectives alongside my own. So other people who can bring expertise can bring incredible guests and just a new style of conversation. And when I started thinking about how I could do it and who I could do it with, you were the first person that sprang to mind, Amanda. So what we’re announcing today, I guess for listeners is that every month, uh, you are going to be doing a guest show on Let’s Talk Loyalty starting on the 7th of September. So it’s super exciting. 

 

Amanda: Yeah, I’m super happy. And thank you very much for, for approaching me to do this with you. You’ve built an absolute phenomenal brand and congratulations on your three years. Yes. Um, it’s a, it’s a great brand and I know that it really does extend the international boundaries for all loyalty professionals. I mean that, you know, I’ve seen, seen how you’ve grown it from when we first spoke through to where you are now. So it’s a real honor for me to be part of your team and to be able to do this. And there’s a number of reasons why when you approach approach me in the first discussion, I just thought, yeah, it’s a no brainer and I hope it remains so for yourself, we can grow it into whatever makes sense for your brand. Yeah. And where I can add value for you. It’s it’s very exciting. 

 

Paula: Yeah. And, and one of the reasons I suppose it felt right for me, Amanda was, I know you’re a believer in content. So, you know, from a Truth perspective, I can see, in fact, the extraordinary number of events you even have coming up in 2022, which will definitely talk about, but I wanted to ask, I suppose, when you started maybe getting this idea, because you’ve obviously done podcast. Directly yourself before. So this isn’t your first rodeo. Um, and again, we’ll talk about all of the various activities we that you do do, but what is it about content creation, I suppose, that, that you enjoy, and that gives you a reason to, to invest the time because let’s be honest, that’s one of the main benefits of course for me is, you know, it’s so time consuming to share the workload with you will be amazing. So why do you feel that that’s worthwhile, um, from your perspective. 

 

Amanda: So I think the content generation can either be looked at from, um, Almost a selfish point of view or from a broader point of view and from a broader point of view, I just, I thoroughly enjoy conversations with loyalty professionals. Like obviously you must cuz that’s what you do, totally, times every week. Yeah. But I find the relationships that we build through Truth whether it’s with clients or just with other loyalty professionals, critical for the role we do in South Africa and the rest of Africa, particularly, although we’re doing a lot of international work, not just in Africa. So, so particularly I enjoy it because it just drives powerful conversations. That then are really useful, actually, if I go back to the core of, Truth as a consultancy, a loyalty consultancy. So if I’ve had a conversation that is open sourced and everybody can listen to it. And that can add value for clients in a different discussion behind closed doors then, that’s of huge value. When I listen to, your conversations through Let’s Talk Loyalty, there’s an enormous amount of case study material that helps our clients come to some decisions. Cuz often they’ll say so Amanda, for example, this is a great example. What is the incremental uplift you can expect from a loyalty program? Yeah. So I’ll often refer to plus or minus 4 to 6%. Uh, and it’s proven in business cases galore, I’ve seen it in practice, but you can never actually attach a brand to that number because yeah. It’s confidential. Right? So, so whether it’s whether I worked in previous industries, whether it’s other clients, but plus, or minus, we’re seeing a real consistency of plus 4 to 6% incremental performance, you go to international conferences, you hear other brands say the same sort of thing. But actually, you don’t always get believed until you can say brand X says this. Yeah. Yeah. So I heard a few, probably almost a year ago now, you interviewed, a gentleman from Epsilon who talked about a plus 10% incremental. Yeah. And. So I use that, you know, saying, look on Paula’s show, we saw a 10% incrementality being stated at Truth we prefer to be more conservative. That’s okay. We can put 10% in the business case if you want, but we are not. Yeah. Actually wanting to. Yeah. And I just think by generating great content through these powerful conversations, you can help the whole industry. So there’s a few, there’s quite a few personalities in South Africa who openly talk about results. Um, you’ve interviewed a couple of them as well. It is great that there’s more transparency coming through in the marketplace. Yeah. Not just, I’m not from a selfish point of view. Obviously it helps what Truth can do from a consultancy point of view, but for the whole industry and for everybody trying to move to a better place. I think it’s much more powerful to be able to share global best practice. And I just love that. I love, I love the interaction. I do often say that if I wasn’t doing consultancy, I’d love to sort of be a teacher behind closed doors, just sharing ideas, and so on. Yeah. I just wouldn’t necessarily always have the patience to be a teacher, but, um, I’ve always agreed with you that content generation is insanely powerful. Yeah. But interestingly, I haven’t fallen to podcasting to be the main channel, so, yeah. Um, and I think, you know, what you’ve done with Let’s Talk Loyalty is because you’ve given it the focus, it needs, um, Truth isn’t a full-time content generator at the end of the day, whereas, you the brand you’ve created is. Yeah. And I think it needs that to be a purist channel, like a podcast channel in its own, right? It needs the focus that you’ve given it, which yeah. Truth is not trying to be that, we’re trying to continue as an international consultancy. But the content generation, I think, adds value to our marketplace and adds value to us as a consultancy. 

 

Paula: For sure. And I love those words actually insanely powerful, Amanda, I’m gonna be quoting you. Um, and, and, and it genuinely is something that clearly I have, you know, invested now as, as you’ve said, you know, full time, all of my energy and focus and, and I guess what I feel, I don’t maybe explain often enough to the audience is the purpose and intention of the show. And as you know, Amanda, every time I invite a guest on, we have briefing calls and we talk and we prepare of course, but the two words that I always emphasize are education and inspiration. And that’s exactly what I’m hearing coming through from you. I love that you used the word transparency and I think the other piece that we both have experienced, I guess as well is, um, I suppose the enhanced level of trust, because once you have spoken as openly and as frequently as both of us do about loyalty, there is just an inherent level of professional credibility. Um, so again, super thrilled that, uh, that you loved the idea as much as I did. I do think it was funny just for the audience to know when I first asked Amanda, she immediately replied very enthusiastically, but her sound cut out, so you’re.. We had a funny moment where it was like, I think she’s agreeing, but I can’t hear her. So that was, uh, that was super funny. Yeah, you’re right.  So here we are. And at the end of the show, we might announce who your first guest is going to be, Amanda. Um, but before we get into your, I suppose, show plan, uh, starting in September, I’d love to talk just a bit more about what Truth does in addition to the consultancy because, you absolutely do an extraordinary amount of work in terms of, you know, showcasing, um, reporting and I won’t even do it just as Amanda. So tell us about your events, your white papers, your reports, and all of the work the Truth does.

 

Amanda: Great. So as I said, the core of what we do is consultancy. Um, but. Well, not both, actually. What I love about the consultancy is every client is different. I know that’s a cliche of note, but some days we’re dealing with the top brands, the top banking brands, or retailer brands in South Africa or Africa, and it’s really hardcore corporate strategy discussions. And then other days we’re dealing with a soccer club with we’re we are helping, uh, pesticide B2B company in west Africa. So, and, and with that comes in a need for us to also understand that industry. So it’s also a privilege to be able to work on such diversity, to learn, learn about the industry whilst obviously being the loyalty expert, hopefully for that, those brands. Yeah. So the team and I, we, we love the diversity, you know, I’d, I’d. Dive boredom if I only had one client and it was just the same old, same old every time. Yeah. It’s the ability to bring the loyalty learning into the different industries that keeps us on our toes, um, keeps us listening to more and more content so we can learn more to be better at our jobs. So consultancy, there’s a number of brilliant consultancies out in the world. So we just do our very best as Truth we’re doing, great work we’ve been around for a long time, We’re not new. I think we’re known as consultants. But aside from that, as you say, what we do love doing, which I think helps our, helps our clients understand that we have credibility in the loyalty area is we produce an annual white paper. It’s south – It is South African focus. We do it in partnership with a company called whyfive, who run the brand map survey. And it’s an annual white paper on the loyalty landscape in South Africa. So what are South African saying about what they like, dislike, and a number of really. Some questions that come through in the annual white paper. So our next edition for 2022 is due for release in September. I can’t give the exact date yet because we’re just finalizing some bits and pieces, but that is soon that’s next month. Great. And then, um, The other events we do, as I said, we have done some podcasting, but we, we tend not to just focus, have it’s more, more webinar, so we try to produce a monthly webinar. We have one coming up. Um, that actually asks the question you ask as your first question over some south African professionals, what is this your favorite Loyalty program? Purely focused on the South African market. Um, and then a number of different webinars, for example, will we’ll talk to a brand that maybe is in their second or third loyalty birthday and ask them their progress. And it’s a great way to let the industry share their insights just as you are finding through your podcasting series. So, the webinars are, um, Extremely interesting. I’ve actually lined up a couple of international, um, speakers as well for some future webinars. And then we do run an annual event called Leaders in Loyalty, we, were honored to have you talking with us a couple of years ago. Yeah. That’s happening in mid-October. And that really is, we’re going back to a lot to a in-person event in October this year. So not all digital. Yeah. But it’s effectively as a, as a conference. We’re just not conference organizers. So, we are pulling together the best of the best of South African professionals to be able to speak openly about their, you know, their experiences, some killer questions we’re going to place in their, and then we, we finish that event every year with the announcement of the South African Loyalty Awards. So Truth is the original founder and creator of the South African Loyalty Awards brand, we’re now into the fourth year. Fourth or fifth? fourth year.  losing track of the years. Yeah. And we have an incredible lineup of entries. We, don’t have volumes of entries. We never have cuz the marketplace, whilst it is impactful in loyalty terms, isn’t massive like some of the big international markets, but the quality of entries we have every year has been absolutely outstanding. Yeah. I’m really excited about this show, cuz there’s a couple of categories that are hotly contested. The judges are being issued all of their entries to judge in the next couple of weeks. And then we announced the final results of that at the crescendo of the Leaders in Loyalty Conference, which is mid-October. Yeah. So yeah, that’s the sort of, that’s the extra stuff that we do that we hope adds value for the market, but also, um, We enjoy doing, because the relationships we hold with the key players, whether it’s in South Africa or outside of South Africa is super exciting. 

 

Paula: Yeah. And actually just as we were preparing for today’s conversation, Amanda, I did look at all of your upcoming events. And unfortunately, I can’t make it down to South Africa for the leaders and loyalty in October, but I can tell you next year I will be hoping to be there. Um, in person, I only need an extra nudge anytime to visit South Africa. It’s an incredible country. So please God will let, we’ll get to do something like that together in the future. But, but what I will say in a serious note as well, As you said, Amanda, you mightn’t have the quantity of programs that maybe other markets have, but I have said it so many times for our listeners that I really believe the South African mentality around loyalty is extraordinary. So the depth of, um, integrity, I will say around some of the propositions that come through in the programs in South Africa, are head and shoulders above, I think most other markets around the world. And I haven’t quite figured out why it seems to be so exceptional. Like, do you have a view on that yourself, Amanda, because you know, there’s just so many, you know, whether it’s the vitality program or My School, My Village, My Planet, there’s some extraordinary work being done that really is very compelling. And as I said, it feels like it has more integrity there in, the South African market than many other countries seem to be able to deliver for their, their members. 

 

Amanda: I think you’ve, um, you’ve touched on a couple of the programs that, or maybe not, it’s certainly My School, My Village, My Planet has been recognized internationally by the International Loyalty Awards. And then this year we saw, um, FNB eBucks recognize that the International Loyalty Awards. So we are seeing some of the brands that we have one in the past at the South African Loyalty Awards pick up recognition internationally, which is great because it just, as you say, backs up what you said. I can’t actually pinpoint exactly why the caliber is higher, but, and I’m not saying it’s higher than, I think what we’re fi what I see when I look at the international markets is just mass volume of loyalty programs. Yeah. And maybe there just has to be a basic intro, in basic level of hygiene that because everyone is the same. And then I’m hoping they differentiate themselves in their sort of covert engagement activity because you can’t really see it on the surface. what we are seeing is some great technology innovation coming through. I have said in the last few times I’ve been asked about this question. I’ve always said, I think without question, the South African brands are as competitive,  in a quality type point of view from their structure of their program. But I think they’re lacking in the quality of the engagement, that’s sort of the covert activity. And I, I feel that has made a diff,  the last couple of years, I’ve seen that change quite considerably, particularly in the retailing environment where, yeah. The classic sort of personalized vouchers, personalized offers, yeah. Are now consistently coming through. What I’m not seeing is that enough in the other industries necessarily. So what you see on the surface, I think is by far… yeah. You know, incredible caliber. I would like to see a little bit more of that sort of almost coming through in the stuff you can’t necessarily see. Sure. But in what the consumer experiences. So that’s the challenge I put to the South African marketplace to let’s our anti in the covert activity, not just in the overt programs that, that everybody can see and are launched above the line.

 

Paula: Wonderful. Well, no doubt, you’ll be keeping us up to date Amanda, now, as we start to hear you, I suppose, reporting both locally and internationally, of course, with the incredible guests. So I guess my final question then about this wonderful partnership we’re announcing is, do you want to share with our listeners who you’re planning to interview, uh, for your first show on the 7th of September?

 

Amanda: Yes. I’ll talk about the first two, if you like. So the first show on 7th of September will be with Pieter Twine, who is the general manager of My School, My Village, My Planet. There’s a few reasons we asked Peter and you and I discussed it and agreed upon this is, um, Consistently My School, My Village, My Planet has won in the South African Loyalty Awards. In fact, last year they picked up two of their own awards and then the judges nominated Peter and his entire team to win best loyalty team of the year. We sometimes go with best person of the year, personality like leading the, the industry or best team and Peter and his team were nominated and won an award for the best team. So, no question, and that’s been a consistent, and, as I said, they’ve picked up international awards at the International Loyalty Awards, which was the loyalty magazine awards then. Yeah. Um, and what’s different about My School, My Village, My Planet is it isn’t a traditional loyalty program at all. It actually is a CSI or CSR, depending on how you define it or environmental cause. But the loyalty, the emotional loyalty it generates within its members is second and none. Yeah. So Peter will be talking about that. I do know Peter, we work together in my, in my Woolworths days. Um, but that’s not the reason I chose the, My School program. It really is. Um, yeah. A phenomenal program. I mean, we had, um, We’ve had different judges on the South African loyalty awards, some international judges who have said that, like they absolutely love this program. And they’ve seen, they’ve been up with judges as well on the International Loyalty Awards. So yeah, I think it’ll be a really interesting discussion cuz it’s not your traditional earn and burn and yeah, you usual transactional loyalty program is incredibly around that emotional attachment that you can create if it’s done well, sure. And then the, the second, uh, the second show, which will air in October, we’ll time it to be after the announcement of the South African Loyalty Awards. So I’ll bring in yeah, one or two of our judges and ask them questions over who’s won. Why have they won, what’s happening in the industry to share the, to share those awards with the broader, broader audience that you have through Let’s Talk Loyalty. And what are the findings from the South African loyalty awards that could be of interest for your global audience?

 

Paula: For sure. Amanda. Yeah. I mean, I, I always love to see who comes out as the winners of your awards. It’s I know exceptionally difficult to choose for the judges, given the quality of the entrance that we’ve talked about, but for me, it just gives that kind of inspiration piece around what are the trends, you know, what is happening and what consumer propositions are landing with consumers, so. Definitely. And as I said to you before, um, I really wanted Pieter Twine on the show for a long time. So thrilled you’re gonna be launching that with him. So, um, you heard it here first guys. So September the seventh and October, the 19th are the first two shows that Amanda will be hosting for Let’s Talk Loyalty. Um, so with all of that said, Amanda, I think we’ve done a great job of announcing our partnership. As you know, one of the things I really wanted to do was to make sure we announced it in our podcast format next week, of course, on LinkedIn, we’ll be sharing the press release and telling everybody, you know, maybe a bit more detailed, but on the professional front, I think this is going to be exceptionally successful, I think for, for everybody and obviously for the audience. And I suppose my, my final piece, then I wanted to just touch base with you on is I know you’ve had a difficult year. Um, you actually did have a critical illness and did leave you blind in one eye. So it’s been quite traumatic for you. And what has amazed me is that you have found a way to, to channel that experience into something that could be actually incredibly powerful, uh, to support people who might have had the medical care that you did, uh, to get you through that experience. So will you tell us a bit about that experience, Amanda? Just for everybody listening. 

 

Amanda: Yeah, thanks Paula. So I had this absolutely awful thing called Fusarium Keratitis those of us who speak English, don’t understand that idea who speak, speak loyalty. Don’t understand that those who speak medical will go off and start Googling it. Um, and it has, it has left me blind in one eye. There is some hope in a year that I could be operated on again to try and resume it. I’ve had a couple of transplants, cornea transplants, and it’s, It’s quite messy. So, so rather than. Wallow in the, the, the pain of just coming to terms with this. I, I often during the illness and it was two or three months of intense pain and I didn’t work, I didn’t get outta bed. Really. It was a terrible time. But during that time, I often thought to myself, how does somebody who’s not insured? Cuz I’m heavily insured from a medical insurance point of view. Yeah. And someone who can’t afford the medication to survive this because it is quite possibly the, the most painful experience I’d had. And I spoke to my surgeon about it, a gentleman called Michael Attenborough and he just said they don’t like, he does an awful lot of pro bono work, but to get corneas flown in from internationally and emergency transplants, it just doesn’t happen if you can’t afford it. Yeah. So, and the insurance, the medical insurance is necessary and I pay my premium, but some, a lot of people can’t afford that. So I’ve, we’re in the process of setting up the Blind Loyalty Trust. Excuse the name. So we thought it was quite a pun on the word, loyalty, and lies. Yeah. Let’s take advantage of the situation. And that’ll be set up very shortly. Um, details will be available on the Truth website, obviously when it’s set up, but what I want to do through that Blind Loyalty Trust there’s various different activities to raise funds that will be channeled completely through the, um, the surgeon that I, I had the privilege of helping me to help those who simply wouldn’t be able to afford this kind of treatment because without the treatment I had, I do not know how I would’ve survived and I would definitely be blind for life. Wow. It’s called the Blind Loyalty Trust, the kind of ideas I have to raise funds, obviously traditional fundraising, but, um, in the local South African market, I want to approach the South African brands to say, allow me to be a, almost a loyalty influencer for your brand, we declare that I am talking about your brand, and then you can use that content for your, your con, to drive activity for your brand. Yeah, but it’ll be done in a way that’s conversational, It won’t be selling, It’ll be. Um, did you know, what great deals you can get this week with, it’s it’s an unbelievable loyalty program. You’d be a fool not to have this card um, because of ABC and to charge a premium for that, that all goes through the Blind Loyalty Trust at the end of the day, yeah. Truth Isn’t benefiting from this. Amanda’s not benefiting, I’m trying to help those who simply couldn’t afford the treatment that I had to have. It wasn’t a luxury. It was a necessity. Yeah. So that’s, that’s I guess my way of trying to turn some horrible experience into something, hopefully a bit more positive.

 

Paula: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, again, Um, full kudos and recognition to you for at least finding a way to channel that experience into something that can benefit other people. Um, we will definitely be talking a lot more about the Blind Loyalty Trust and staying connected with you. Um, both, I suppose, even in terms of understanding what works with, uh, such a dramatic intention, um, but also just to give global visibility as well to your work, Amanda. So definitely we’ll make sure Let’s Talk Loyalty has full details on our website about all of that for you. So I think that’s everything for our, uh, last show of our, uh, coming up, as I said to our third birthday, is there anything else Amanda, you wanted to mention before we wrap up? 

 

Amanda: No. Just thanks again, Paula, for the opportunity. I didn’t actually mention, we actually knew each other via the customer strategy network, which is something we both enjoy being part of. And it’s a great, um, a great environment for loyalty professionals to help. Each other help brands, help loyalty vendors, so I’ve really enjoyed the relationship we’ve had outside of even just discussing through Let’s Talk Loyalty. Yeah. And, um, yeah, I’m really excited. I’m really excited to, I’m not trying to follow in your footsteps just to be part of the part of the brand you’ve created. And thanks again for the opportunity.

 

Paula: Wonderful stuff. Well, listen, um, it’s, it’s a real privilege. I’m delighted that we’re gonna be working together like this. So Amanda Cromhout, Founder and CEO of Truth in South Africa. Thank you so much from Let’s Talk Loyalty. 

 

Amanda: Thanks Paula. 

 

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 as certified loyalty marketing professionals. For more information, check out thewisemarketer.com and loyaltyacademy.org

 

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