Dave Canty: Celebrating One of our Industry's Most Respected Leaders (#797)

Paula: Hello and welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV, a show for loyalty marketing professionals.

Paula: I’m Paula Thomas, the founder and CEO of Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV, where we feature insightful conversations with loyalty professionals from the world’s leading brands.

Paula: Today’s episode is hosted by Amanda Kromhoush, the founder of Truth Loyalty, an international loyalty consultancy.

Paula: She’s also the author of the book, Blind Loyalty, 101 Loyalty Concepts Radically Simplified, and the founder of the Blind Loyalty Trust.

Amanda: Welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV.

Amanda: This is a show for loyalty marketing professionals, where we highlight insightful conversations all about loyalty from all around the globe.

Amanda: I am Amanda Cromhout, the CEO and founder of Truth Loyalty, and the author of my book, Blind Loyalty, 101 Loyalty Concepts Radically Simplified.

Amanda: Today’s guest on Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV is Dave Canty.

Amanda: He is the Senior Vice President, Head of Loyalty and Partnerships at Bilt Rewards.

Amanda: He has recently been crowned the International Loyalty Awards Personality of the Year, and today’s show highlights how his three decades of experience in the loyalty industry has chased activities that have never been done before, bringing real innovation to the world of loyalty.

Amanda: If you work in Loyalty Marketing, join us weekly for the latest insights and conversations all about loyalty brought to you from around the world.

Amanda: So Dave, welcome, welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty, Loyalty TV.

Amanda: You’ve been with us before on a Let’s Talk Loyalty show, but it’s extra special to welcome you today because since then, you have been celebrated as International Loyalty Personality of the Year for 2026.

Amanda: So we’re now talking to a celebrity.

Amanda: Hi, Dave, welcome.

Dave: Hi, Amanda, how are you?

Dave: It’s great to see you again.

Amanda: It’s wonderful to see you and it’s always great to connect.

Amanda: So it’s just amazing stories that we’ve always had whenever we’ve spoken.

Amanda: So I’m really looking forward to sharing those with the incredible audience that follows Loyalty TV and Let’s Talk Loyalty.

Amanda: And as you know, we’ve got a favorite first question.

Amanda: And it’s just to break the ice a little bit and get to know you a little bit outside of pure loyalty.

Amanda: So what would you say is your favorite book?

Amanda: It doesn’t have to be a loyalty book.

Amanda: It might be a loyalty book.

Dave: Yeah.

Dave: It’s a book I read some time ago and I loved it at the time.

Dave: It’s by Ken Robinson.

Dave: And it’s The Element, How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything.

Dave: It really speaks about kind of the intersection of what you’re good at or what your skills are versus what’s your passion.

Dave: And sometimes you’ll find that what you’re passionate about makes you happier versus what you’re good at.

Dave: And thankfully, I think I’m good at loyalty, but I’m very passionate about it.

Dave: So it’s served me well.

Dave: I think there’s some great examples in there.

Amanda: You’re not alone in thinking you’re good at loyalty, so don’t worry.

Amanda: Hence your award that I’ll come to in a moment.

Amanda: But I love listening to the answers to this question because the other day I was listening to another, the same podcast, Loyalty TV with another host.

Amanda: And I wrote that there were two guests.

Amanda: I wrote down both books and immediately ordered them on Amazon and this one is going to be one.

Amanda: I’m going to do the same to you.

Amanda: So I’ve really got amazing book recommendations from just this podcast alone.

Amanda: So thank you for sharing that.

Amanda: Super.

Dave: I hope you enjoy it.

Amanda: Yeah, well, I’ll let you know how I get on with it.

Amanda: So to Dave, before we just talk a little bit about the award that you picked up a couple of months ago, I’ve really enjoyed understanding more about your career because it’s so varied.

Amanda: And I also share a passion for the airline industry, having been in the airline industry.

Amanda: But just so the audience across Loyalty TV, which spans around the world, know a little bit more about who is Dave, please, can you give us a synopsis of your career?

Dave: Sure, I’ll try and keep it as brief as I can.

Dave: But essentially, I’m approaching almost three decades in Loyalty.

Dave: Spent a lot of it in hospitality.

Dave: And then I moved from hospitality into retail very briefly.

Dave: Found that I wanted to kind of get back into travel, so I moved into the airline space with JetBlue.

Dave: And subsequently, went back into hospitality, but then ended up here at Bilt.

Dave: So and we started Bilt in, well, I was part of it from 2020.

Dave: But we kind of had a soft launch in 21 and full launch in 22.

Amanda: It’s amazing you say 2020 because the brand of Bilt itself does not feel like a new brand anymore.

Amanda: Like it’s had such a massive impact on the loyalty industry globally, even though your operations aren’t global, just for those of us who follow what you’ve done.

Amanda: And we’re definitely going to unpack that later because I always quote Bilt Rewards as one of my favorite programs to watch and the most innovative program out there.

Amanda: So can’t wait to unpack that.

Amanda: But just before we do, tell us a little bit, I mean, hospitality, retail, airline, I mean, which of the brands within those, I mean, I love the fact that behind you, you’ve got almost your career history and artifacts behind you.

Amanda: It’s so special.

Amanda: Tell us a little bit about the brands that have stood out the most for you in terms of shaping your loyalty career.

Dave: I would actually say all of them, but I’ll touch on each very briefly.

Dave: So I began at ITT Sheraton in Boston, and subsequently ITT was bought by Starwood Capital, I think, at the time.

Dave: And that was the genesis of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, the very, very beginning.

Dave: And being part of a team that created SPG, Starwood for Guest, was pretty ground breaking because it was very innovative in the hotel space at the time.

Dave: And so I spent 11 years there and then wanted to try something different and moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and joined AutoZone, which is the largest auto parts store in the United States.

Dave: The pretty cool thing about that was that they had net, they didn’t have a loyalty program.

Dave: Actually, no auto parts store in the United States had a loyalty program.

Dave: So creating something from a blank sheet of paper and launching that was very, very cool.

Dave: And it was very rewarding for me personally, because it was something that I spoke about passion, where you’re passionately looking for a solution that’s going to influence a market that you don’t really know much about.

Dave: And to see the response was very fulfilling.

Dave: But then I went into the airline space with JetBlue, and that in and of itself was a ground breaking move as well, because I wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before in the airline space and creating the first revenue based program in the United States was not only kind of doing something innovative for JetBlue, but it was challenging the industry in the United States.

Dave: And at the time, it was a bit nerve wracking, I’ll be honest with you.

Dave: But I was quite passionate about the fact that I believed it would be successful, and it would sustain the airline for years, years, and decades to come.

Dave: And I guess when it first occurred, there was a little bit of noise out there, but there’s lessons learned in that as well, in the sense that you’ve got to kind of, you’ve got to remain true to your convictions and get alignment from your senior leadership to say, look, this is actually going to work, we just got to stay the course.

Dave: And subsequently everybody followed.

Dave: So I think that was testimony.

Dave: And then of course, IHG came along, and getting into working back in the hospitality, but also a global program was something that really kind of whet my appetite to kind of see how, you know, there are nuances of how kind of propositions come to life regionally around the world.

Dave: And you’ve got to be aware of that.

Dave: So, that was very cool to do that.

Dave: And, you know, kind of look at how you can develop a luxury element of loyalty, while also having a core kind of proposition.

Dave: I think that, so I’ve continuously looked for things that are a challenge, but at the same time, I’ve kind of present opportunity.

Dave: And then, of course, Bilt.

Dave: And Bilt, it just has just been an extraordinary journey.

Dave: You know, I wish I’d done Bilt earlier, but at the same time, I’m so glad that I did everything else along the way.

Amanda: I think the standout, there’s two standout things you’ve said amongst many things then, and I don’t want to ignore the rest, but the first thing being around the global local context, because I think so many brands that we have had the opportunity to interview on Let’s Talk Loyalty, Loyalty TV, actually grapple with that.

Amanda: We’ve had some examples that really have excelled at it.

Amanda: Say, McDonald’s, who has this global brand presence and global loyalty concept, and then can actually make it relevant locally.

Amanda: And you know, what you talked about there with IHG, same challenge, but different industry, different execution, plus the luxury element.

Amanda: I’m going to come on to the other point in one second, which is about your, it feels like your aspiration and ability to do things that others haven’t done or groundbreaking works.

Amanda: I want to just come on to that as I introduce the work you’re doing at Bilt.

Amanda: But first and foremost, before I get into that, it’s really obvious to me, it always was obvious to me when I heard that you’d won the coveted award of International Loyalty Personality for this year.

Amanda: Why you?

Amanda: I think your career history, you’ve just very briefly in a few minutes explained, very modestly as well, which is part of your absolute appeal there, David.

Amanda: But really tell us what it means to you to have picked up this award at the International Loyalty Awards.

Dave: Oh, it was a big surprise.

Dave: It’s something I’ve never done anything with the objective of getting an award.

Dave: I’ve actually, believe it or not, I’ve always felt more comfortable being behind the curtain and allowing kind of everything else to play out.

Dave: But it meant a lot because, you know, it was a bunch of my peers that were basically saying, we admire what you’ve done.

Dave: And by the way, do you know that what your career represents has had an impact on how we think about loyalty?

Dave: And especially at the award ceremony, speaking to others and listening to what they were saying.

Dave: And actually, I was surprised at how much people knew about my career.

Dave: And, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s just, it’s quite humbling, I’ll be honest with you.

Dave: I’ll be honest, it’s sometimes it makes me uncomfortable to talk about it, because it’s not something I aspire to be.

Dave: But I do want to make sure that people know I’m extremely proud of it.

Dave: And it also fell on my birthday, which was even more remarkable.

Amanda: Yeah, remarkable.

Amanda: And I think, Dave, that’s what comes across as your absolute humility.

Amanda: And that’s, you know, you said some wonderful words there that is exactly how the industry feels, is you’ve shaped this, you’ve been pioneering the shape of loyalty on a global scale.

Amanda: And that absolutely deserves the honor that you’ve got.

Amanda: So I understand why you want to be behind the curtains about it, but wear it loud and proud is what I’d say.

Amanda: But the other piece I wanted to pick up when you’re describing your career history, you said around and I want to do new things.

Amanda: I’ve always wanted to go into working with brands that are doing new things like JetBlue and the revenue-based loyalty.

Amanda: And it reminded me of an acronym that our sales director or my sales director at Brashewers used to say, NBDB, never been done before.

Amanda: And we talked about this last week, DelMoss, and it’s such a wonderful acronym.

Amanda: So let’s talk about this huge NBDB that you’re involved in in Bilt Rewards.

Amanda: So you’re part of it since the foundation.

Amanda: Tell us why.

Amanda: I think it’s maybe super obvious why, but let’s hear it from you.

Dave: Sometimes the greatest ideas are right in front of your face, and you don’t take much notice of them.

Dave: But I got an outreach from the founder and CEO of Bilt, What Became Bilt, saying, I have an idea, and I’d like to talk to you about it.

Dave: Is there a way that we can get together?

Dave: And honestly, I was a little bit skeptical about it initially, and then I actually went and met him.

Dave: And anybody who’s ever met Uncle Jane will understand what that means, because Ankur is the epitome of passion about something.

Dave: And he generally starts with understanding what’s the problem we’re trying to solve, which kind of aligns very much with where I usually come from as well.

Dave: And he was quite passionate about seeing if there’s a way in which we can help a younger generation get on the ladder towards foam ownership.

Dave: And we were supposed to have an hour meeting.

Dave: That hour meeting became a three hour whiteboard session that ultimately then led into a four hour dinner.

Dave: And I remember saying to him at the time at dinner that this is extraordinary.

Dave: It could be an onion.

Dave: There’s so many layers to this that if we get it right, I actually do think it can be not just groundbreaking, but it can change the lifestyle for young people for generations to come.

Dave: So that’s where it happened.

Dave: And I’ve had no regret since.

Dave: And it’s been an extraordinary journey, you know?

Dave: Yeah, that’s all.

Amanda: As you say, six years, but it feels longer not because it’s like, oh, goodness, longer.

Amanda: It feels longer just because so much has been achieved.

Amanda: So I think let’s almost take a step back and explain to the listeners of Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV, what is Bilt Rewards.

Amanda: I mean, I know it just because I follow what you’re doing so intently, and some other loyalty professionals will feel the same passionately watching the successes.

Amanda: But for the broader audience, and particularly those outside of the US, they might not be as familiar.

Amanda: So can you talk us through what the actual value proposition is of Bilt Rewards?

Dave: Yeah.

Dave: So Bilt essentially is loyalty for where you live.

Dave: It starts with housing, so whether you rent or whether you pay a mortgage.

Dave: And then we’ve built out the platform to really connect you with your neighborhood as well.

Dave: So while we reward you for your largest outgoing expense, we also connect you with local dining, with local fitness, with ride share, and multiple other things, pharmacy and so forth.

Dave: And we’re continuing to build that out, that neighborhood element.

Dave: And underpinning that is an opportunity for us to work with local merchants to enable them to connect back to the local community as well.

Dave: So it goes both ways.

Dave: On the dining side, we’re now kind of like the back office, essentially, we’re kind of like the platform that allows you to learn a little bit more about your neighbors.

Dave: And invite them in.

Dave: And Bilt is a platform that also allows us to kind of put offers in front of you that are relevant to you.

Dave: So it’s becoming very much a community element.

Dave: But I like to kind of think about it from the perspective of hospitality is at the center of everything.

Dave: And how you’re made to feel, whether it be in your own home or whether it be in your local restaurant or your local gym, should be the same as when you walk into a five-star hotel and be their top member, where you can call down to the concierge and say, hey, can you book me a local restaurant?

Dave: Can you organize transportation to and from?

Dave: That all happens now within the Bilt ecosystem.

Dave: We have a Bilt concierge that takes care of all of that.

Dave: And rewarding your largest expense with housing, housing is always going to be at the center, but that’s why we like to say it’s loyalty where you live.

Dave: And by the way, Amanda, it will probably be something bigger again next week.

Dave: You know, it continues to change on a daily basis.

Dave: You know, we’re continuously shipping stuff every single day that improve the product and improve the experience.

Dave: And beyond that, we’ve also built out like a travel ecosystem as well, and that’s continuing to evolve.

Dave: So if you think about just being able to travel the world by paying your rent or your mortgage, that’s a pretty cool idea.

Dave: And for the younger generation as well, we’re not only just rewarding them, but we are building their credit scores because we’re reporting their payments to the credit agencies.

Dave: And that in the long term is setting them up for a very rewarding lifestyle that they can afford to pay them down a home and get a mortgage and so forth easily.

Dave: So we’re quite proud of that.

Amanda: You described it as like on your first ideation session with Anker around it being an onion that just, you peel back the layers and the layers and the layers.

Amanda: And just in that quick synopsis of what the program is today, I’ve heard from when I first heard about Bilt, how it’s advanced so extensively beyond pay your rent, get rewards.

Amanda: I think what is most impressive is the ability that you’ve created this enormous ecosystem and community, but it’s localized, which is so unique.

Amanda: And over and above that, as you’re rewarding that biggest monthly expenditure, that’s not just the youngsters of today, that’s the most painful sort of monthly outgoing expenditure.

Dave: Right.

Dave: And then obviously, while we’ve got the localized elements, we’re also opening the expanse of the globe through our travel.

Amanda: Yeah, absolutely.

Amanda: So you’re taking…

Dave: And making that accessible.

Amanda: Yeah, my little coffee shop downstairs versus being able to travel the world.

Amanda: It’s really special.

Amanda: It’s a very unique proposition.

Amanda: I mean, I really enjoy hearing more and more from you because I know, as you said, and you said this when we met the other day around, the lead times are not long.

Amanda: We’re recreating with innovation every single day.

Amanda: And that comes across in the culture that you’ve helped to build with Anchor.

Amanda: It’s very special.

Amanda: Which leads me to my next question actually around innovation.

Amanda: So you have, you term the phrase rent day and have come up with some really creative, innovative ways with engaging with your members and audiences.

Amanda: Can you tell us about the rent day proposition you have with say superstars like Madonna?

Dave: Yeah, so and just to be clear, I’m not the one who came up with rent day, but there’s a whole team at Bilt that is extremely talented and they work extremely hard in coming up with great opportunities on a monthly basis.

Dave: So rent day is all about, if you think about rent day as kind of the one day you don’t look forward to every month because you’ve got to pay.

Dave: We’ve tried to kind of flip that on its head and make it more of an enjoyable day, a day that you can look forward to.

Dave: And in doing that, we work with our partners in coming up with extraordinary offers.

Dave: And examples of that can be up to 150% transfer bonus for that one day to a partner.

Dave: There are community things that are going on, whether it be the Bilt neighborhood comedy shows, whether there be Bilt dining experiences happening.

Dave: And then there are collaborations, obviously, with worldwide kind of superstars.

Dave: Recently, we had Mr.

Dave: Beast join Encre.

Dave: I don’t know if you know Mr.

Dave: Beast.

Dave: I think everybody else in the world does.

Amanda: I’m going to totally embarrass myself.

Dave: Well, look him up afterwards, but he’s got an extraordinary following that really taps into the younger generation.

Dave: So, and it’s cool.

Dave: But most recently, you mentioned it, we did a collaboration with Madonna.

Dave: And actually, I do have it here.

Dave: So this is Madonna’s latest album.

Amanda: Yeah, super.

Dave: And if you turn it around here, you’ll see the Bilt brand.

Dave: I hope you can see that there.

Amanda: Yeah, beautiful.

Dave: So Madonna actually came in and met with Ankur.

Dave: And what these celebrities generally do is we play a game where it’s kind of, it’s like a quiz, but it’s, you know, based on the responses of the Bilt membership base, what are the most popular answers and so forth.

Dave: And then we kind of put those questions to the celebrities.

Dave: And based on how many you get right, we would then generally pay the rent for that many people for that month.

Dave: But Madonna very kind of graciously wanted to pay rent for a facility in New York that is really focusing on young upcoming poor artists.

Dave: And I use the word poor liberally there.

Dave: But people who are just kind of starting out in the music industry get to live rent free for a month.

Dave: It was pretty cool.

Dave: So we do that on a monthly basis.

Dave: So rent day is something that we work a lot with our partners on.

Dave: And we create a lot of buzz within the Bilt community around it as well.

Dave: Oh, and we have the Bilt Cafe.

Dave: And on every rent day, it’s free coffee for everybody in the neighborhood.

Dave: And it’s extraordinary how many people kind of line up around the block.

Dave: To have their free coffee at the Bilt Cafe.

Amanda: That’s incredible.

Amanda: How many coffee shops are there?

Amanda: How many Bilt coffee shops?

Dave: We just have one right now.

Dave: So it started in Bond Street in our old office, on the ground floor.

Dave: And we’ve subsequently just moved our office to the Meatpacking District in New York City.

Dave: And while we’re building out a bigger kind of coffee shop and social space, we actually have a mobile coffee shop that sits there on rent day.

Amanda: Amazing.

Amanda: Very, very cool.

Amanda: Actually, listening to your story about Madonna and her choice of paying for the artists, upcoming artists, it reminded me, I did read her biography years ago.

Amanda: And that’s how she started.

Amanda: She said, you know, as an overnight success after 10 years underground.

Paula: That’s right.

Amanda: It’s just wonderful to hear that.

Amanda: How special.

Amanda: Amazing.

Dave: She’s an extraordinary lady.

Dave: I mean, hugely talented, but she hasn’t forgotten where she’s come from.

Amanda: Yeah, sounds like it.

Amanda: Amazing.

Amanda: That’s actually gave me goosebumps when you said that.

Amanda: So with all this innovation, I mean, it’s really incredible.

Amanda: But just before I unpack some more, a little challenging question on, I’m sure it hasn’t always been smooth sailing.

Amanda: But what’s next for Bilt Rewards?

Amanda: Like, what’s the next exciting thing we can anticipate to hear about?

Dave: Honestly, it’s hard for me to look into the crystal ball because it’s changing by day.

Dave: I think we are focused very much on making sure the hospitality element comes to life in everything that we do.

Dave: We’re working with our real estate partners to ensure that Bilt powers one in four rent payments in the United States.

Dave: Wow.

Dave: So when you’re fully integrated with your real estate partners, you’re giving them a platform that allows them to create an extremely personal experience with their residents.

Dave: And then, us directly to the residents are also creating a proposition that allows them to stay connected to the community.

Dave: So I think we’re going to continue to evolve that and make sure that we’re executing it flawlessly.

Dave: There’s always going to be some challenges along the way.

Dave: And you learn from not the failures, but the weak points, the weaker points.

Dave: And what I love about Bilt and the team at Bilt is we never stop listening.

Dave: Even on the ground in every conversation, when we’re out socially, somebody might turn around and say, I believe you’re working with Bilt, Or ironically enough, I just went to a dinner.

Dave: I was in a meeting with friends, and they had another friend at the dinner, it was at their house.

Dave: And he goes, Oh, you work for Bilt?

Dave: And I said, Yeah.

Dave: And he goes, Oh, my son just joined Bilt.

Amanda: Fabulous.

Dave: As an employee.

Dave: Oh, right.

Paula: Not just as a member.

Dave: No, no, no, no, not just a member.

Dave: So and that like really hit home, because I was meeting members all the time, but to find somebody who actually had their son or was was joining and the Bilt.

Dave: team was pretty cool.

Dave: So I think we’re going to just focus in on making sure that we do, we execute flawlessly.

Dave: We’re never going to lose sight of what’s core to how we started.

Dave: But we also want to make sure that now that extends and the connected commerce across the community, I think, is something that we’re working with local merchants to bring to life.

Amanda: Yeah, stunning.

Amanda: Absolutely stunning.

Amanda: So let’s maybe pause for a second, Dave, and think, well, I’m sure it hasn’t always been plain sailing.

Amanda: What’s been genuinely hard in this journey?

Amanda: What have been some of the things that you can share that other practitioners could learn from?

Dave: There’s been a couple of things that have been heard.

Dave: I mean, initially, regardless of how amazing your idea is, and believe me, the Bilt idea was an amazing idea.

Dave: Selling it out to the real estate community, selling it out to the travel community initially, when we didn’t exist, we were basically saying, this is what we’re building, and we’d love you to come on the journey with us.

Dave: That takes a lot of trust for somebody to kind of make the bet on you.

Dave: And thankfully, we’ve had people on the real estate side kind of say, look, we believe in what you’re doing, and they trusted us.

Dave: We had a number of people on the travel side say, we actually think that you’ll pull it off, and we’re willing to back you.

Dave: And to become part of the built kind of ecosystem from the beginning was a challenge, but it was something that Ankur, myself and others on the team worked tirelessly in kind of pounding the pavement, having calls, and having dinners, and long, long days and nights to try and get us up and running.

Dave: But the fruit of your labor is kind of ultimately what you build.

Dave: And I think being true to your promise, I think is something that you’ve got to make sure you never veer from that.

Dave: You know, we promise the real estate community that we would build the most amazing platform that would allow them to not just kind of bring people into their buildings, but reward people afterwards as well, and then also build internal relationships.

Dave: You know, really kind of igniting the hospitality flame within those has been a great journey.

Dave: But it hasn’t been without challenges.

Dave: But you know, you’ve got to persevere.

Dave: And if you really believe in it, I think that’s the key.

Amanda: A little bit going straight back to my first question about The Element.

Amanda: You know, if the passion is there, you’re going to make a success of it.

Amanda: So obviously it has guided you in so many ways.

Amanda: Incredible.

Amanda: I mean, I know how difficult it is to pull off a coalition program without the added complexity of what you were trying to do to change the way everyone sees rent.

Amanda: You’ve very, very gently dropped a stat in the conversation around one in four rents are part of the Bilt system.

Amanda: That is in the US.

Amanda: That is remarkable.

Amanda: That’s remarkable.

Amanda: Incredible.

Amanda: Thank you.

Dave: Yeah, it’s extraordinary.

Dave: I think when we first start, that kind of speaks to the evolution of going from just being a program to a platform.

Amanda: Yeah.

Dave: You know, we really kind of started to understand that, look, we need to be much more than what we were at the very beginning.

Dave: And I think the other thing as well about loyalty and as a whole, and I think not just loyalty, actually, but for any company, there isn’t really a destination.

Dave: It’s a continuous journey, and you’ve got to be continuously looking for ways to make that journey easy for people.

Amanda: Yeah.

Dave: And I think that’s what we do.

Amanda: It is extraordinary.

Amanda: Lovely.

Amanda: Thank you for sharing.

Amanda: So I actually have two questions left because we’re running out of time.

Amanda: My two questions now are a little bit more personal.

Amanda: So back to Dave rather than Bilt.

Amanda: And my penultimate question is, what’s next for you?

Amanda: Like, maybe you’ve still got a long journey ahead with Bilt, but share a little bit about the next foreseeable future for you.

Dave: I hope I still have quite a journey with Bilt.

Dave: I think there’s still a lot to accomplish.

Dave: But I am, I’m always interested in speaking to others in the space.

Dave: And, you know, while I’ve been passionate about it my whole career, I want to make sure that others are inspired to kind of come into the space and understand that there’s opportunity there.

Dave: So, you know, if I could help anybody by giving back and kind of advising or giving kind of my perspectives, I’m happy to do that.

Dave: But I still think there’s a lot to accomplish at Bilt.

Dave: I’m spending most of my time now more on the relationship side.

Dave: We have an amazing team that’s running the program and the platform on a daily basis.

Dave: I’m kind of out there now speaking to a lot of our partners, you know, partners who trusted us from the very beginning to kind of like…

Dave: And I think that’s very important because no matter what you do from a technology enablement perspective, you’ve got to remember that the human element and the personal touch is really core to everything that we do.

Amanda: Yeah.

Dave: And, you know, I’ve always believed in the relationship side, not just with our customers, but with our partners and our team members.

Dave: And I think kind of making sure that you never lose sight of that, set you up for success.

Dave: So I want to make sure that whoever comes into the community, and I say I use community as the loyalty community globally.

Dave: Yeah.

Dave: If there are things that I can help them with, I’m happy to kind of give a perspective.

Dave: I’m never going to give you a competitive leg up, just to be clear, but I will give you a perspective on what I think will work and what I think you should kind of watch out for.

Amanda: You may well be inundated after that.

Amanda: You might have opened a huge can of worms just to pre-warn you because everyone will be watching you as the awarded International Loyalty Personality.

Amanda: So my last question is…

Dave: Just to be clear, I’m not going to be able to help everybody, but I will always try to at least acknowledge.

Dave: And if I can, I will.

Amanda: So actually, let’s leave this podcast with one last question for myself.

Amanda: If you could leave a parting piece of advice for young, aspiring, innovative loyalty leaders, what would it be?

Dave: I’ve said this before to a few people, but be brave.

Dave: You know, you’ve got to make sure that you don’t get caught up in the idea of copying something that’s just out there and kind of putting your skin on it.

Dave: I think having the courage to look beyond what’s there and seeing if there’s a way in which you can actually have a completely new stab at it, I think that presents so much opportunity.

Dave: And by the way, that will come with trepidation and excitement because it allows you to actually start to understand a little bit more about you.

Dave: And when you start to kind of, when your proposition starts to reveal itself, that’s when you start to really see that it was worth kind of thinking about this slightly differently.

Dave: You know, that doesn’t mean to say that people shouldn’t look at what are the good things in other programs.

Dave: They should.

Dave: But don’t be afraid to kind of, if you’ve got a simple idea and you kind of think, you know, this has never been done before, go for it.

Dave: It’s like, you know, the reason it hasn’t been done before is because it’s not because it hasn’t been thought of, it’s because people haven’t had the courage are found a way to make it happen.

Amanda: Yeah, absolutely stunning.

Amanda: I love this cycle back to NBDB never been done before.

Dave: There you go.

Amanda: And I love, I absolutely love what you’ve just said from a personal point of view, because I live one of my personal mantras is if it doesn’t scare you, it’s not worth doing.

Amanda: So it sounds like you’ve lived by that for your whole, whole career.

Dave: So I have, and I, yeah, I feel it.

Dave: You know, but it’s been it’s been it’s been a great journey.

Dave: And, you know, I’m looking forward to continuing it.

Amanda: Dave Canty, thank you so much for sharing your insights.

Amanda: And from everyone in the loyalty community worldwide, congratulations on your very well deserved award.

Amanda: And thank you again for sharing the incredible story, A, of your career, but B, of Bilt Rewards.

Amanda: It’s really great to connect.

Amanda: Thank you for being with us.

Dave: Thanks, Amanda.

Paula: This show is sponsored by Wise Marketeer Group, operating the Wise Marketeer and Loyalty Academy.

Paula: For nearly 25 years, the Wise Marketer is the industry’s longest serving publication and source for news, information and insights, which now includes its own branded industry research, insights and advice.

Paula: For global coverage of customer engagement and loyalty, check out thewisemarketer.com and become a Wise Marketer member or subscriber.

Paula: The Loyalty Academy sets a global industry standard for loyalty education, with its Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional or CLMP designation, which has created a community of more than 1200 marketing executives and professionals across more than 50 countries.

Paula: Learn more about global loyalty education for individuals or corporate training at loyaltyacademy.org Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty.

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