April 29, 2025 • 33 mins
Brands are inundated with tools, touchpoints, and evolving consumer behaviors amid increasing economic uncertainty. In the current context the challenge isn't merely building loyalty, it’s operationalizing it at scale and speed. For Kyle Pretsch, President of Bambu, the solution starts with a fundamental shift in perspective: meet customers where they are, move fast, and deliver value with intent.
In this edition of Loyalty360’s Industry Voices, Pretsch shares how Bambu is redefining what it means to be “mobile-first,” why customer loyalty needs to go back to fundamentals, and how brands can build loyalty programs that are both responsive and resilient in today’s attention economy.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Good morning.
This is Ethan Perry, directorof Content at Loyalty360,
welcoming you to another editionof our Leaders in Customer
Loyalty podcast Industry VoicesSeries.
In these episodes, we talk tothe leading agencies, technology
partners and consultants incustomer channel and brand
loyalty about the technologytrends and best practices that
(00:25):
are impacting the ability ofbrands to drive unique
experiences, enhance engagementand, most importantly, foster
customer loyalty.
Today we have the pleasure ofspeaking with Kyle Prech,
president of Bamboo.
Welcome, kyle, glad you couldjoin us.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Thanks for being here , Ethan.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah, well, can you start off?
Just tell us a little bit moreabout yourself and your role
with Bamboo and your background.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Absolutely so.
You know just a little bit justabout Bamboo in general.
It stands for BusinessApplications Made by you.
It in fact has nothing to dowith the plant or the panda, and
that's, I think, reallyimportant.
I've spent my life working withcompanies and organizations on
trying to take the power oftechnology and put it in the
(01:11):
hands of, and I've now gottenthe opportunity in the later
part of my career to do that asa service provider and a
software builder, and that'sbeen incredible.
(01:32):
I've built the products, I'vebought the products and I've
built products that people buy.
My job at Bamboo is to lead ourinitiatives to create business
applications, specificallyaround member and consumer
engagement, to continue to pushour team into that market.
And look, this has just beenthe culmination of what I've
(01:55):
spent my entire career doing.
I never thought that I would,you know.
When I was younger I thought andI got my first job and I was in
retail.
I thought I wouldn't last.
I thought, you know, I wasn'tdoing something intrinsic, I
wasn't working in nonprofit, Iwasn't working in government, I
wasn't changing the world and Ihad the opportunity in one of my
first brands to see thedifference in people's lives
(02:17):
when they were able to interactwith brands that made them feel
good and made them feel sexy andmade them feel special and made
them feel sexy and made themfeel special and I realized that
it's okay to work for acommercial organization you can
still change the world and soit's really cool to get to go
work with helping people formthose relationships, because
they're meaningful and theychange people's lives Absolutely
.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
That's amazing.
As a former retail veteranmyself early in my career, I
100% agree with you and that'swhere I learned all about
customer loyalty and what ittakes to build a great brand was
through those face-to-faceinteractions.
So I fully agree with you.
So for those who may not befamiliar with how Bamboo
supports a brand's customerloyalty efforts, can you let us
(02:57):
know a little more specificallywhat you guys do and some of the
industries that you work with?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Absolutely some of the industries that you work
with, absolutely.
So, look, I hate to say this,especially on a loyalty podcast,
but loyalty has become a littlebit of a commoditized industry.
Right, we give discounts, wegive points, we give you things
for those points, and oursoftware facilitates that.
(03:23):
I'd like to say we do it with acleaner UI.
I'd like to say we do it fasterand easier for the consumer and
for the brand manager.
But what really separates us is, you know, our focus on being
truly mobile first, and I thinkthat's where you know everybody
talks about doing it andnobody's actually doing it, or
if they are doing it, they'renot doing a very good job, which
is we talk about the mobilefirst experience, and it's been,
(03:48):
you know, years of talk aboutbeing reflexive and ever
scrolling pages, and really whatwe've done is we've leaned in
very heavy into the Apple, theGoogle and now the Samsung
experiences, using native appsthat already exist on the phone,
like the wallet, to reallyenhance the experience.
And so you know, when you thinkabout what loyalty is, loyalty
is getting the right informationto your most loyal customers
(04:08):
about the opportunities thatexist within your brand.
And we talk about being mobilefirst, and so we leverage the
wallet specifically very, veryheavily to do that.
And look, we've seen thischange.
I travel a lot, so I get theopportunity to go on airplanes,
and I remember when people wouldhave 10, 15, 15, 20 people no
show for a flight, becausepeople couldn't figure out when
their flight was, where it wasdeparting from what time it was.
(04:31):
And then Apple came up with this.
You know what we call adoohickey, or you know whiz
little tool at one point, whichwas called the wallet, and you
put your boarding pass in yourphone but like there's no four
hour line at LAX anymore, right,like it just literally changed
my world and a lot of otherpeople's.
But people get to their flights.
People get around 20% of people.
(04:51):
More travel to travelexperiences improve, more people
can can move across our countryand our world because
technology has enabled that tobe easier.
And so I look at something assimple as coupons.
The brands we love are fueledby discounts and offers and the
ability to access the gifts thatwe're given for our loyalty,
and yet people have such a hardtime getting them.
They just sit in your phone andexpire.
(05:12):
They never get to your phone,and we've set out to really
change that, and that makes ameaningful difference.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Awesome.
So can you just tell us, likeyou know, how would you define
customer loyalty and what doesthat mean to your organization?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
You know I have an interesting kind of philosophy
on this and I use a very simpleacronym across our organization,
our team, and it's been myphilosophy in business, it's
been my philosophy in creatinggreat loyalty programs called
GOML.
Get on my level and I think youknow we talk a lot about
(05:52):
altering the brand experience,we talk a lot about taking
people with us into certainbrand experiences, the customer
journey.
But you are not going to takeanybody anywhere unless first
you meet them where they're at.
And so the very first step of aloyalty program is getting on
people's level, getting on theconsumer's level.
Get on my level, and it meansbuilding a relationship,
(06:16):
interacting, some form of andI'm going to go so far as to say
intimacy, like you're creatingan intimate relationship with
that person keyword person it'sa personalized relationship.
It isn't just this is our brandand this is our program, this
is where you're at, I know whoyou are and I know what you need
and want, and then I can beginthe journey.
(06:38):
And so step one is getting onyour consumer's level, and
that's different for everyperson.
It's not brand centric, it isconsumer centric.
That is step one of loyalty.
Step two is now, once you formthat relationship at the speed
they can go, taking them withyou down.
The journey that works for youboth is forming the relationship
(07:01):
and then having a set of pathsthat you work to take people
down and hopefully you speedthat path, hopefully you make
people move faster, hopefullyyou do take them with you.
But first it starts at formingan individual relationship with
the consumer and we can do thatthrough a variety of ways and we
can be effective or ineffectivewith that.
But it starts with buildingsomething that's about a group
(07:25):
of consumers ideally theconsumer and starting that
relationship.
And there's so many brands thatchoose to do that, there's
brands that don't choose to dothat and there's brands that say
they're not doing that, thatactually have done great strides
in doing so and it's just beingintentional about that effort.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Well, yeah, and that kind of leads me to, you know,
our next question about you knowbrands and how they're engaging
with customer loyalty.
You know, in our most recentstate of customer loyalty report
, 79% of the brands we surveyedsaid they have an interest in
updating, enhancing or redoingtheir customer loyalty offerings
.
What enhancements or changesare you seeing brands be most
(08:05):
interested in incorporating intotheir programs, and do you see
any specific industries leadingthe charge in that kind of
innovation?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, that's great.
First of all, super loadedquestion.
Second of all, let me make sureI get it and feel free to like
push me back if I get off trackhere.
So so you know, of course weall want to make more money.
Like has anybody anybody seenthe S&P?
(08:34):
Like I would like to make more.
In fact, I need to make moremoney because I think my
retirement disappeared last week.
So you know, how do you do that?
Well, you, you come up withbetter offers and you raise
effectiveness, and I actuallyand I go back to this analogy of
like we talk about doing it butwe don't actually do it Like
loyalty to so many people isgetting the right rewards and
(08:56):
the right offers and the rightopportunities to the people who
want them, and so, obviously,when we talk about enhancing,
we're just talking about doing abetter job, and I think what
people forget is the tides areagainst us.
Like Google and Microsoft aredoing a better job of figuring
out how to filter out our emailsthan we are doing a better job
(09:17):
of getting people to open themRight, and that is why the open
rates are falling.
So you know, naturally, ofcourse, people want to enhance
and update and push through that.
So the question isn't like, oh,we're going to do like a new
loyalty program.
The question is, how are wegoing to meet people where
they're at and how are we goingto?
(09:38):
And it starts with a verysimple piece of information
which is sending people whatthey want to see.
If people value your content,people will read your content.
This is not an Apple or Googleissue and how they filter it out
.
This is about giving peoplewhat they want to read, and to
(09:59):
do that, you have to know whatEthan wants or what Nick wants
or what Kyle wants versussomebody else.
And so how do you get theinformation?
So to me, it becomes threethings.
And whether or not this is whatpeople want, this is what
people unfortunately need to bethinking about.
The first thing is getting thedata to make that decision right
(10:22):
.
And here's a simple example.
And just if people who arewatching this don't believe me,
I will encourage you to rememberthis October, when you go to
the post office and you open upyour mailbox, or you open up the
mailbox at your home and youget 17 things and before you
even walk in your front door orwalk out of the post office.
(10:45):
You're going to go through eachmagazine and each coupon and
you're just going to toss, toss,toss, toss, keep, toss, toss,
keep.
We've been doing this triagefiltering thing for a long time.
We're really good at it.
We can do this, we can letcomputers do it for us or we can
do it.
But again, even if it's done byAI, it's going to be training
(11:09):
to the things we want to see,the things we spend time on.
So the sooner you start sendingthe right things to the right
people, the sooner whether thatbe AI or the actual person will
start keeping your content andspending time with it, and
that's the first step.
So how do you get the data todo that and spending time with
it?
And that's the first step.
So how do you get the data todo that?
The second thing I would tell usto do is we have to think about
(11:30):
time, and this is a hugetechnology opportunity.
It's a people problem, which isI've worked in these
organizations and the marketingteams are just incredible groups
of human beings who all theytake weeks to get all the data,
all the mailer data, all theopens, all the this, all of that
(11:52):
, and then they come up with asegment and six months later
they apply a small ab change andthen six months later they take
all those ab results and theystart making an improvement to
sending people the right contentfor them.
And so this becomes the issueof time, which is those are
really good improvements andpeople spend a lot of money on
the bodies to go make them.
But you can't iterate onceevery six months or once every
(12:15):
year.
You know my most recent brandside appointment we bought one
of these voice of the customertools and it took us a year to
get it implemented.
It was actually.
It took us six months to signthe contract, six months to
fight about the contract.
We signed, a year to get itimplemented and a year to learn
how to use the data, and by then, all the data was stagnant
anyway.
So we had to kind of start theprocess over, and so three or
four years later, I don't knowif we ever actioned a piece of
(12:36):
data and when we finally did.
Yeah, that's why we were gettingbeaten out by AI and these
things.
So we have to figure out how toincrease the time.
Let's make tools, let's beeffective.
And then the third and the mostimportant thing I would say is
I think we have to say itbecause we're having a
conversation about technologyand loyalty in 2025 AI, but AI
(12:58):
to solve data analysis, ai tosolve data collection.
And if you don't understandthat you are, as an executive,
operating on a clock and thatyou need the tools to help speed
up the clock, then you can leada charge, but you will lose the
help.
Get campaigns out the door thatare quick and get you data that
(13:31):
is quick and allow you to makechanges instantly within one
week.
And so that's the last piece,which is the people who are
leading the charge are figuringout how to get data and enact a
change within one week, whichmeans they make 52 improvements
to their program a year.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Wow, yeah, thanks.
That was very comprehensive andyou answered it all of it Plus
some right.
Yeah, thanks.
That was very comprehensive andyou answered it all of it Plus
some right no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah, I mean, 2025 is a complicated year, isn't it?
and 2024 was complicated and2023 was complicated, 2022 was
complicated, and I feel likewe've gotten in a habit of just
saying, like this next year isgoing to be amazing, and then
we're just like, oh God, itcontinues.
We have to break this trend andthis is not me pushing this off
(14:33):
on Congress, this is me pushingit to brand leaders to
persevere and to break thistrend.
There are tools.
Other people are using them.
Right, and it's interesting,you know, because I go into
meetings and I listen and it'syou know, and I hate to pick on
(14:55):
the legal team, but I alwayspick on the legal team because
legal team's, like you know, myjob is to tell you how to not
get sued, and so I'm going totell you, not how to stay so far
away from the black hole ofrisk, 50,000 miles away from
risk.
It's the best way to not fallin that hole and you know, I
(15:19):
think it's interesting.
So we're anti-AI, we'reanti-sending messages to people,
we're anti-text messaging,we're triple quadruple opt-in
Okay, and we say we don't wantto use data to do anything
because people might be offended.
That's true, but keep in mindyour competitor is Google and
they are filtering out youremails to the promotions inbox
by using a consumer's data.
(15:39):
So they have figured out how todo that and they too, probably
have a legal department.
That legal department isprobably also concerned about
risk, but they have somebodywho's saying we will persevere
to improve the consumerexperience.
And I think we have to take thereins off.
And I'm not saying fire yourlawyer Please don't hear me say
that it's not my recommendationbut I am saying that we have to
(16:02):
ask the question, which is whatis the right thing to do for the
people who want to build arelationship with our brand?
And I go back to that veryfirst thing I said, which is
there is a guy out there who'sgoing to be unhappy about
something.
How do we meet them at theplace they're at, without
inhibiting our ability to gomeet the person who wants to
(16:24):
grow a relationship with ourbrand?
I should do SMS, text messaging, because there's people who
want it, and I should make itreally easy for the person who
doesn't want it to make thatrelationship known to us.
But I shouldn't do it at therisk of not being able to give
the person who wants to growthat relationship.
And so let's get rid of thefear.
Let's figure out how toincorporate AI.
(16:44):
You know, gamification andrewards these are good things.
Zero and first party data.
Rewards these are good things.
Zero and first party data.
You must create a personalizedexperience and you will do so in
a field of risk and you canmitigate that and you can
control that.
But you will not survive unlessyou use the tools to meet
(17:06):
people with that and give themthe experience.
Otherwise, you're going to bestagnant, offering something,
expecting people to walk throughyour doors, and that is not
loyalty.
Loyalty is going to peoplewhere they're at and taking them
on a journey with you.
And so there's all these greattools and we just have to use
them, and we have to.
You know, I turn to our brandleaders to go back and say I
hear you, how do we bring thisinto our strategy?
(17:29):
How do we set a roadmap, andhow many of you watching this
have a roadmap to these subjects?
What is your roadmap togamification?
What is your roadmap to datacollection?
What is your roadmap tointegrating?
What is your roadmap to AI?
And if you don't have those, Iencourage you to go make four
slides on your desktop calledroadmaps.
And if you don't have fourslides on your desktop called.
(17:50):
You know roadmaps, and if youdon't have a roadmap for those
four things, are you leading thecharge?
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Awesome, thank you Kind of answered my next
question, all wrapped up inthere as well, but so I think
I'm going to jump to the nextthing and say you know, can you
share?
What do you think are some ofthe most critical metrics a
brand should be tracking tomeasure the success of their
loyalty program in 2025?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, I mean I'm going to go.
Oh God, this is where I getmyself in trouble.
I don't.
Can we stop talking aboutimpressions yet?
Like, have we gotten over?
This is a metric in ourindustry?
I understand social media, Iget it, um, but but this is,
(18:38):
this is trickle.
I mean, you know we, we hadthis, like us national, like
hate of this phrase trickle downeconomics.
Like we all were like this isthe end, um, and you know we, we
go, we grew very against thatphrase.
But I see that in marketingright now.
I saw that with impressions.
I was like this is just trickledown economics.
(18:59):
Let me increase the amount ofimpressions, let me throw so
much content out and if they seeit they will buy it.
That's not necessarily untrue.
You can increase your top line,but loyalty is about
effectiveness more than it isefficiency.
(19:20):
And look, you have to run apositive P&L, so you have to be
efficient, because there is adecency and there are metrics
like consumer acquisition costand ROAS that are obviously
super important.
But there's not ROAS in justputting things on social media.
You're paying people to do it,you're sending out messages.
It feels good If your loyaltyprogram is not rooted in the
(19:42):
first two circles of thebullseye and let's go back to
retail fundamentals and let'sstop leading off the
conversation in the boardroomwith impressions.
Let's start with, you know,average order value.
Like, how often do you hearthat word anymore?
It's not enough, you know.
Let's think about customerfrequency.
Let's think about lifetimevalue and using a standard
(20:05):
metric, and too many times I'veheard people say, yeah, it's
really tough to figure outlifetime value.
It's not you have to choose ametric, but like choose a metric
, apply it.
You know, maybe apply it on twodifferent segments and then and
then stick with it and measureagainst it.
Right, and that is.
You know, there.
There are no perfect metrics,but they.
But but a standard metric is isperfect in comparison to not
(20:27):
having one.
The next one's right Customeracquisition cost.
You know what is the customeracquisition cost, but that is a
secondary tier If you werepaying more during, if you were
paying more to get a consumer.
But they are a higher valuelife, higher lifetime value.
I guarantee that's a goodeconomical decision.
And so I go back to you.
Know your standard, frequency,lifetime value, aov.
(20:48):
You know margin, right, thoseneed to be the metrics that
marketers and loyalty managersmanage to, followed by ROAS and
acquisition cost.
And if we're doing anythingmore than that, that's great.
But not substituting out thosefirst six, substituting out
(21:09):
those first six, thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
So, personally, are there any programs that you
admire or that you are reallyloyal to from a customer loyalty
perspective, and what do youlike about their offerings?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Well, you know this is tough.
There are brands that I amloyal to and I'll tell you, I'm
a Banana Republic kid.
Luckily, I've promoted myselfout of the kids version of that
(21:43):
store into the adult version,but I am still a Banana Republic
guy.
Everything I wear is BananaRepublic.
There was this cartoon that wasreally going to be embarrassing
, that was called doug onnickelodeon and um, and he used
to open up his closet and he hadthe same pants, the same shirt
and the same sweater vest everysingle day.
And if I could live my lifelike that, that is how I would
live my life, and they would beall the same pair of of um, of
(22:06):
banana republic khaki pants,followed by the white button up
with the same belt and the sameugly sweater vest.
And that would like.
That would make my dreams cometrue.
And fortunately there's thisthing called like relationships
and dating that inhibit theability to have a single phased
closet, um and.
And the reason I'm a loyalbanana Republic customer, um is
(22:27):
interesting.
It's because they give a couponthat's 40, 50 and 60% off every
single week, like if you evergo to Banana Republic and
they're not 40, 50, 60% off, youprobably shouldn't go in
because it will be the next weekand what determines my purchase
is not 40, 50, or 60.
It's when I remember they're 40, 50, 60% off, like, and I, and
(22:51):
I, like I consciously knowthey're 40% off at least every
single week and I'm not sayinglike, oh, I'm going to wait out
until it's 50%.
I am always interested, I justneed that push and so I go back
to um, that is the brand I amloyal to.
But the opportunity exists forme to be in banana Republic 10
times a year.
Yeah, honestly, the opportunityprobably exists for me to be
(23:16):
there 50 to 20 times a year.
They could absolutely pentuplemy spend, which, again, would
not, would probably not be goodfor my closet.
I would.
I could order it all online, Iknow exactly what it is, but,
but I go back to that.
There's such an opportunity andI do not want to hit down on
Banana Republic because I'mobviously their biggest, biggest
(23:36):
customer and supporter.
But you know, and they sendthese cards in the mail, right,
and they say 40% off, but theycan't afford to do that every
week because it takes them sixmonths to get the data, to
figure out if they should sendme the 50% off versus the 60%
off and those things expire andthen I'm like, oh, bummer, right
, I'll wait until the next one.
And so I just think about andyet I don't read the emails
(24:00):
because I get emails that aren'tnecessarily relevant to me and
Google got to them before BananaRepublic got good content to me
that I click save.
So so I think I think that's agreat example, which is, if they
could meet me where I'm at,they could take me through a
journey where they could go fouror five 600% my spend.
You know one, one program that Ireally really like.
(24:21):
There's a couple, and I'll tellyou my other favorite brand and
this is I'm an East Coaster bytrade.
I'm like a Sheetz Wawa guy,that is if I like.
I'll admit I think I secretlytook my prom date to Sheetz
because it was like the greatestfood and the greatest price,
(24:41):
and I'm always hunting for adeal, and you know I don't live
on the East Coast anymore so Idon't always get there.
But I get their emails.
They're fun, they've gamifiedit.
They don't expire my pointsbecause they know I'm not there.
Very often they give me offersthat have longer expiration
(25:02):
dates.
So I actually am like, oh, Imight keep this.
They let me put it in my wallet, which means it's in my phone,
in case I end up on the EastCoast and they will always win
me over Wawa and I love both ofthe brands.
But they figured out how to getthe coupon into my phone and
they figured out how to get meto download it.
And they figured out who I am.
And when you look at the otherpeople's experiences, they're
(25:24):
different.
They figured out how to meet mewhere they met and they figured
out how to draw me into theirphysical locations.
They've even figured out how toget me to shop online and I'm
not sure why you ever shop for agas station online, but they
figured out how to do it.
So I give them the the massiveaward there as well awesome
thanks.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Those are two great examples um.
So what do you see as the nextbig thing in customer loyalty?
Speaker 2 (25:48):
um, there was this movie a long time ago I'm gonna
age myself here called angels inthe outfield, um and uh, and it
was was with Danny Glover, andlike two thirds of the movie he
screams like we're going back tofundamentals and I've always
remembered that because, youknow everybody had this dejected
(26:10):
.
Look on their face.
But, like, the next big thingin customer loyalty is using
tools and going and fixing thefundamentals.
And you know I look at thespends and the P&Ls on we're
going to spend money on this.
We're going to spend money onthat.
We're going to, like, justdrive all this cost into these
areas.
That we're going to get bettercreative and like, people don't
(26:33):
open the email.
Like, great, you're going toimprove .00001 bottom line
performance.
Go figure out top line.
Go figure out how to dothat.
I think you're going to alsosee a giant slimming down of
relationships.
I think you're going to seesocial media is ready for the
algorithms to call and focus.
I think we're going to see somerestrictions in how people
(26:57):
drive brand relationships.
And so you know, I think the, Ithink the future, I see the big
thing is I see this all comingto a head and I see people
having to get really good andreally focused on winning.
And I see brands.
I see people not havingrelationship with 20 brands.
I see them going to their fiveor six brands.
I see them choosing thatrelationship.
(27:18):
I also see co-brandedsponsorships being really huge
Payment cards, gift cards, thisaccessibility to give people
discounts for shopping withcertain
brands.
I think here's the bottom linewhen we are able to get
discounts in people's walletsmore effectively and if you look
at the numbers, 70% of ourdecisions are made by discounts
and 1% of them get into ourhands when we are able to solve
(27:41):
that 1% problem, people will getto choose the brands they love
and have the relationships theywant.
And we're going to see a littlebit of a culling on the brands
and we're going to see peopleinnovate product, and that's
what I'm excited to see.
I'm excited to see brands startat the end of customer loyalty.
It's brands changing what theymake to meet the consumer demand
, and that's when loyalty runsfull circle, when you get the
(28:02):
data, you respond to people andyou put the right product in the
right place for the rightconsumer.
And that's when it all likethat's nirvana AI is going to
enable us to do the basics right, the fundamentals right, that
allow us to then feed that intothe machine and change the
products we make to meet thenext expectation of the consumer
.
That's what makes me excited.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Awesome.
So, more specifically, what'snext for Bamboo as we move
forward in 2025?
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Oh, my God, what a year we are having.
What a year we had, you know, Ijust it's been, it's been
incredible so far this year.
Our Q1 was was insane.
Our Q2 is is shaping up to bemore.
So, you know, so we're superexcited.
We are, you know, quicklyforming more relationships with
(28:52):
brands.
We are really focusing on quickwins, quick go to markets, quick
campaigns, and so when I thinkabout what's next for us this
year, we are going to focus on,you know, getting every brand to
appreciate the statistics thatgo along with being truly mobile
first, and we are going to makeit super quick for brands to be
(29:13):
able to get something out thedoor and start building those
relationships.
And we are going to focus on avery simple metric, which is
time, and with our capabilitieswe can get, you know, at the end
of the day, changing a person'sbehavior, which is after you
build the relationship you gotto take them on that journey.
It's about 23 touches, right?
That's like standard.
Every marketer knows that ittakes you got to touch people a
(29:35):
certain number of times to beable to change your behavior.
Great, 23 touches.
Okay, we've built the technologyto get people 23 touches with a
hundred percent adoption ratewithin a week.
We can change people's behaviorin a week.
We're just taking brands sixmonths to three years to do one
iteration of.
We can do it in a week and weare going to start showing
people that, we continue to showpeople that and we are going to
(29:58):
start showing those.
You know, we are going to startwinning the foot race again
with ai and against ai andagainst the things that are are
trying to push us out, and so,um, we're super excited to take
brands through that journey withus that sounds amazing.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
We'll have to have you uh back on the podcast later
this year to hear more abouthow it's going.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Awesome.
Well, that brings us to ouramazing quickfire set of
questions we like to do to getto know you better.
We just try to limit theanswers to these to one short
word, or one word or shortphrase, so I will jump right
into it.
How would you describe yourwork life?
So I will jump right into it.
How would you describe yourwork life?
Speaker 2 (30:40):
That suggests there is no other life.
I'm 100% work.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
If you have a day or a week off from work, what are
you doing?
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I would never take a day let alone a week off from
work.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
If you could live in any city or country, where would
you want to live?
Speaker 2 (30:56):
In American Airlines 757, so I can be connecting with
my customers each week.
Nice, the airport.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
If you could go back to school, what would you?
Speaker 2 (31:07):
study.
I did go back to school.
I changed and started to studyeconomics.
It was the greatest decision Iever made.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
What facet of your job would you like to know more
about?
I want to know how to motivatethe brand manager to go have
that aspiration of the firstyear they were in the business.
You know that person who's beenthere for 25 years.
What is the thing I say?
To go make them feel like it'syear one again and we're focused
(31:40):
on trying to move up the AOV by$2.
And remember that like recklessabandon, that's what I'm
focused on.
That's what I want to learn howto do.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Awesome.
What facet of your job wouldyou like to know less about?
Speaker 2 (31:53):
God, we all have a CFO, don't we?
Speaker 1 (31:57):
So what motivates you when you're tackling challenges
at Bamboo?
Speaker 2 (32:02):
IT is a powerful thing, but empowering a business
user to be able to go affectchange without having to get in
line, that's what motivates me.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Awesome.
What do you draw inspirationfrom?
What lights your fire?
Speaker 2 (32:16):
I am scared shitless of failure.
There's people who like to win.
There's people who hate to lose.
I am scared of losing, so Imust win awesome.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
What is your favorite sport or hobby?
I was a soccer player, but mytrue passion is in aviation and
what do you typically thinkabout at the end of the day?
Speaker 2 (32:42):
I mean, if your day never ends, it's just kind of a
circular process back to myfirst answer.
But really I go to bed thinkingabout how can I get and start
my day off with something thatis productive and affects our
business.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Awesome.
Well, kyle, thank you so muchfor taking the time to speak
with us today.
We really appreciate you comingon Leaders in Customer Loyalty.
It was great getting yourperspective on the customer
loyalty industry and thelandscape, and we look forward
to learning more from you andthe team at Bamboo throughout
the rest of the year.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Can't wait.
Love to join you again andthanks for having us, Ethan.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Awesome, and thank you everyone for tuning in to
our Leaders in Customer Loyaltypodcast series.
If you haven't already, pleasebe sure you subscribe and follow
us on YouTube and LinkedIn, anddon't forget to come back every
Tuesday for another episode ofIndustry Voices.
If you have questions, don'thesitate to reach out.
Good morning.
This is Ethan Perry, directorof Content at Loyalty360,
welcoming you to another editionof our Leaders in Customer
Loyalty podcast Industry VoicesSeries.
In these episodes, we talk tothe leading agencies, technology
partners and consultants incustomer channel and brand
loyalty about the technologytrends and best practices that
(00:25):
are impacting the ability ofbrands to drive unique
experiences, enhance engagementand, most importantly, foster
customer loyalty.
Today we have the pleasure ofspeaking with Kyle Prech,
president of Bamboo.
Welcome, kyle, glad you couldjoin us.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Thanks for being here , Ethan.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah, well, can you start off?
Just tell us a little bit moreabout yourself and your role
with Bamboo and your background.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Absolutely so.
You know just a little bit justabout Bamboo in general.
It stands for BusinessApplications Made by you.
It in fact has nothing to dowith the plant or the panda, and
that's, I think, reallyimportant.
I've spent my life working withcompanies and organizations on
trying to take the power oftechnology and put it in the
(01:11):
hands of, and I've now gottenthe opportunity in the later
part of my career to do that asa service provider and a
software builder, and that'sbeen incredible.
(01:32):
I've built the products, I'vebought the products and I've
built products that people buy.
My job at Bamboo is to lead ourinitiatives to create business
applications, specificallyaround member and consumer
engagement, to continue to pushour team into that market.
And look, this has just beenthe culmination of what I've
(01:55):
spent my entire career doing.
I never thought that I would,you know.
When I was younger I thought andI got my first job and I was in
retail.
I thought I wouldn't last.
I thought, you know, I wasn'tdoing something intrinsic, I
wasn't working in nonprofit, Iwasn't working in government, I
wasn't changing the world and Ihad the opportunity in one of my
first brands to see thedifference in people's lives
(02:17):
when they were able to interactwith brands that made them feel
good and made them feel sexy andmade them feel special and made
them feel sexy and made themfeel special and I realized that
it's okay to work for acommercial organization you can
still change the world and soit's really cool to get to go
work with helping people formthose relationships, because
they're meaningful and theychange people's lives Absolutely
.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
That's amazing.
As a former retail veteranmyself early in my career, I
100% agree with you and that'swhere I learned all about
customer loyalty and what ittakes to build a great brand was
through those face-to-faceinteractions.
So I fully agree with you.
So for those who may not befamiliar with how Bamboo
supports a brand's customerloyalty efforts, can you let us
(02:57):
know a little more specificallywhat you guys do and some of the
industries that you work with?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Absolutely some of the industries that you work
with, absolutely.
So, look, I hate to say this,especially on a loyalty podcast,
but loyalty has become a littlebit of a commoditized industry.
Right, we give discounts, wegive points, we give you things
for those points, and oursoftware facilitates that.
(03:23):
I'd like to say we do it with acleaner UI.
I'd like to say we do it fasterand easier for the consumer and
for the brand manager.
But what really separates us is, you know, our focus on being
truly mobile first, and I thinkthat's where you know everybody
talks about doing it andnobody's actually doing it, or
if they are doing it, they'renot doing a very good job, which
is we talk about the mobilefirst experience, and it's been,
(03:48):
you know, years of talk aboutbeing reflexive and ever
scrolling pages, and really whatwe've done is we've leaned in
very heavy into the Apple, theGoogle and now the Samsung
experiences, using native appsthat already exist on the phone,
like the wallet, to reallyenhance the experience.
And so you know, when you thinkabout what loyalty is, loyalty
is getting the right informationto your most loyal customers
(04:08):
about the opportunities thatexist within your brand.
And we talk about being mobilefirst, and so we leverage the
wallet specifically very, veryheavily to do that.
And look, we've seen thischange.
I travel a lot, so I get theopportunity to go on airplanes,
and I remember when people wouldhave 10, 15, 15, 20 people no
show for a flight, becausepeople couldn't figure out when
their flight was, where it wasdeparting from what time it was.
(04:31):
And then Apple came up with this.
You know what we call adoohickey, or you know whiz
little tool at one point, whichwas called the wallet, and you
put your boarding pass in yourphone but like there's no four
hour line at LAX anymore, right,like it just literally changed
my world and a lot of otherpeople's.
But people get to their flights.
People get around 20% of people.
(04:51):
More travel to travelexperiences improve, more people
can can move across our countryand our world because
technology has enabled that tobe easier.
And so I look at something assimple as coupons.
The brands we love are fueledby discounts and offers and the
ability to access the gifts thatwe're given for our loyalty,
and yet people have such a hardtime getting them.
They just sit in your phone andexpire.
(05:12):
They never get to your phone,and we've set out to really
change that, and that makes ameaningful difference.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Awesome.
So can you just tell us, likeyou know, how would you define
customer loyalty and what doesthat mean to your organization?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
You know I have an interesting kind of philosophy
on this and I use a very simpleacronym across our organization,
our team, and it's been myphilosophy in business, it's
been my philosophy in creatinggreat loyalty programs called
GOML.
Get on my level and I think youknow we talk a lot about
(05:52):
altering the brand experience,we talk a lot about taking
people with us into certainbrand experiences, the customer
journey.
But you are not going to takeanybody anywhere unless first
you meet them where they're at.
And so the very first step of aloyalty program is getting on
people's level, getting on theconsumer's level.
Get on my level, and it meansbuilding a relationship,
(06:16):
interacting, some form of andI'm going to go so far as to say
intimacy, like you're creatingan intimate relationship with
that person keyword person it'sa personalized relationship.
It isn't just this is our brandand this is our program, this
is where you're at, I know whoyou are and I know what you need
and want, and then I can beginthe journey.
(06:38):
And so step one is getting onyour consumer's level, and
that's different for everyperson.
It's not brand centric, it isconsumer centric.
That is step one of loyalty.
Step two is now, once you formthat relationship at the speed
they can go, taking them withyou down.
The journey that works for youboth is forming the relationship
(07:01):
and then having a set of pathsthat you work to take people
down and hopefully you speedthat path, hopefully you make
people move faster, hopefullyyou do take them with you.
But first it starts at formingan individual relationship with
the consumer and we can do thatthrough a variety of ways and we
can be effective or ineffectivewith that.
But it starts with buildingsomething that's about a group
(07:25):
of consumers ideally theconsumer and starting that
relationship.
And there's so many brands thatchoose to do that, there's
brands that don't choose to dothat and there's brands that say
they're not doing that, thatactually have done great strides
in doing so and it's just beingintentional about that effort.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Well, yeah, and that kind of leads me to, you know,
our next question about you knowbrands and how they're engaging
with customer loyalty.
You know, in our most recentstate of customer loyalty report
, 79% of the brands we surveyedsaid they have an interest in
updating, enhancing or redoingtheir customer loyalty offerings
.
What enhancements or changesare you seeing brands be most
(08:05):
interested in incorporating intotheir programs, and do you see
any specific industries leadingthe charge in that kind of
innovation?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, that's great.
First of all, super loadedquestion.
Second of all, let me make sureI get it and feel free to like
push me back if I get off trackhere.
So so you know, of course weall want to make more money.
Like has anybody anybody seenthe S&P?
(08:34):
Like I would like to make more.
In fact, I need to make moremoney because I think my
retirement disappeared last week.
So you know, how do you do that?
Well, you, you come up withbetter offers and you raise
effectiveness, and I actuallyand I go back to this analogy of
like we talk about doing it butwe don't actually do it Like
loyalty to so many people isgetting the right rewards and
(08:56):
the right offers and the rightopportunities to the people who
want them, and so, obviously,when we talk about enhancing,
we're just talking about doing abetter job, and I think what
people forget is the tides areagainst us.
Like Google and Microsoft aredoing a better job of figuring
out how to filter out our emailsthan we are doing a better job
(09:17):
of getting people to open themRight, and that is why the open
rates are falling.
So you know, naturally, ofcourse, people want to enhance
and update and push through that.
So the question isn't like, oh,we're going to do like a new
loyalty program.
The question is, how are wegoing to meet people where
they're at and how are we goingto?
(09:38):
And it starts with a verysimple piece of information
which is sending people whatthey want to see.
If people value your content,people will read your content.
This is not an Apple or Googleissue and how they filter it out
.
This is about giving peoplewhat they want to read, and to
(09:59):
do that, you have to know whatEthan wants or what Nick wants
or what Kyle wants versussomebody else.
And so how do you get theinformation?
So to me, it becomes threethings.
And whether or not this is whatpeople want, this is what
people unfortunately need to bethinking about.
The first thing is getting thedata to make that decision right
(10:22):
.
And here's a simple example.
And just if people who arewatching this don't believe me,
I will encourage you to rememberthis October, when you go to
the post office and you open upyour mailbox, or you open up the
mailbox at your home and youget 17 things and before you
even walk in your front door orwalk out of the post office.
(10:45):
You're going to go through eachmagazine and each coupon and
you're just going to toss, toss,toss, toss, keep, toss, toss,
keep.
We've been doing this triagefiltering thing for a long time.
We're really good at it.
We can do this, we can letcomputers do it for us or we can
do it.
But again, even if it's done byAI, it's going to be training
(11:09):
to the things we want to see,the things we spend time on.
So the sooner you start sendingthe right things to the right
people, the sooner whether thatbe AI or the actual person will
start keeping your content andspending time with it, and
that's the first step.
So how do you get the data todo that and spending time with
it?
And that's the first step.
So how do you get the data todo that?
The second thing I would tell usto do is we have to think about
(11:30):
time, and this is a hugetechnology opportunity.
It's a people problem, which isI've worked in these
organizations and the marketingteams are just incredible groups
of human beings who all theytake weeks to get all the data,
all the mailer data, all theopens, all the this, all of that
(11:52):
, and then they come up with asegment and six months later
they apply a small ab change andthen six months later they take
all those ab results and theystart making an improvement to
sending people the right contentfor them.
And so this becomes the issueof time, which is those are
really good improvements andpeople spend a lot of money on
the bodies to go make them.
But you can't iterate onceevery six months or once every
(12:15):
year.
You know my most recent brandside appointment we bought one
of these voice of the customertools and it took us a year to
get it implemented.
It was actually.
It took us six months to signthe contract, six months to
fight about the contract.
We signed, a year to get itimplemented and a year to learn
how to use the data, and by then, all the data was stagnant
anyway.
So we had to kind of start theprocess over, and so three or
four years later, I don't knowif we ever actioned a piece of
(12:36):
data and when we finally did.
Yeah, that's why we were gettingbeaten out by AI and these
things.
So we have to figure out how toincrease the time.
Let's make tools, let's beeffective.
And then the third and the mostimportant thing I would say is
I think we have to say itbecause we're having a
conversation about technologyand loyalty in 2025 AI, but AI
(12:58):
to solve data analysis, ai tosolve data collection.
And if you don't understandthat you are, as an executive,
operating on a clock and thatyou need the tools to help speed
up the clock, then you can leada charge, but you will lose the
help.
Get campaigns out the door thatare quick and get you data that
(13:31):
is quick and allow you to makechanges instantly within one
week.
And so that's the last piece,which is the people who are
leading the charge are figuringout how to get data and enact a
change within one week, whichmeans they make 52 improvements
to their program a year.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Wow, yeah, thanks.
That was very comprehensive andyou answered it all of it Plus
some right.
Yeah, thanks.
That was very comprehensive andyou answered it all of it Plus
some right no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah, I mean, 2025 is a complicated year, isn't it?
and 2024 was complicated and2023 was complicated, 2022 was
complicated, and I feel likewe've gotten in a habit of just
saying, like this next year isgoing to be amazing, and then
we're just like, oh God, itcontinues.
We have to break this trend andthis is not me pushing this off
(14:33):
on Congress, this is me pushingit to brand leaders to
persevere and to break thistrend.
There are tools.
Other people are using them.
Right, and it's interesting,you know, because I go into
meetings and I listen and it'syou know, and I hate to pick on
(14:55):
the legal team, but I alwayspick on the legal team because
legal team's, like you know, myjob is to tell you how to not
get sued, and so I'm going totell you, not how to stay so far
away from the black hole ofrisk, 50,000 miles away from
risk.
It's the best way to not fallin that hole and you know, I
(15:19):
think it's interesting.
So we're anti-AI, we'reanti-sending messages to people,
we're anti-text messaging,we're triple quadruple opt-in
Okay, and we say we don't wantto use data to do anything
because people might be offended.
That's true, but keep in mindyour competitor is Google and
they are filtering out youremails to the promotions inbox
by using a consumer's data.
(15:39):
So they have figured out how todo that and they too, probably
have a legal department.
That legal department isprobably also concerned about
risk, but they have somebodywho's saying we will persevere
to improve the consumerexperience.
And I think we have to take thereins off.
And I'm not saying fire yourlawyer Please don't hear me say
that it's not my recommendationbut I am saying that we have to
(16:02):
ask the question, which is whatis the right thing to do for the
people who want to build arelationship with our brand?
And I go back to that veryfirst thing I said, which is
there is a guy out there who'sgoing to be unhappy about
something.
How do we meet them at theplace they're at, without
inhibiting our ability to gomeet the person who wants to
(16:24):
grow a relationship with ourbrand?
I should do SMS, text messaging, because there's people who
want it, and I should make itreally easy for the person who
doesn't want it to make thatrelationship known to us.
But I shouldn't do it at therisk of not being able to give
the person who wants to growthat relationship.
And so let's get rid of thefear.
Let's figure out how toincorporate AI.
(16:44):
You know, gamification andrewards these are good things.
Zero and first party data.
Rewards these are good things.
Zero and first party data.
You must create a personalizedexperience and you will do so in
a field of risk and you canmitigate that and you can
control that.
But you will not survive unlessyou use the tools to meet
(17:06):
people with that and give themthe experience.
Otherwise, you're going to bestagnant, offering something,
expecting people to walk throughyour doors, and that is not
loyalty.
Loyalty is going to peoplewhere they're at and taking them
on a journey with you.
And so there's all these greattools and we just have to use
them, and we have to.
You know, I turn to our brandleaders to go back and say I
hear you, how do we bring thisinto our strategy?
(17:29):
How do we set a roadmap, andhow many of you watching this
have a roadmap to these subjects?
What is your roadmap togamification?
What is your roadmap to datacollection?
What is your roadmap tointegrating?
What is your roadmap to AI?
And if you don't have those, Iencourage you to go make four
slides on your desktop calledroadmaps.
And if you don't have fourslides on your desktop called.
(17:50):
You know roadmaps, and if youdon't have a roadmap for those
four things, are you leading thecharge?
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Awesome, thank you Kind of answered my next
question, all wrapped up inthere as well, but so I think
I'm going to jump to the nextthing and say you know, can you
share?
What do you think are some ofthe most critical metrics a
brand should be tracking tomeasure the success of their
loyalty program in 2025?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, I mean I'm going to go.
Oh God, this is where I getmyself in trouble.
I don't.
Can we stop talking aboutimpressions yet?
Like, have we gotten over?
This is a metric in ourindustry?
I understand social media, Iget it, um, but but this is,
(18:38):
this is trickle.
I mean, you know we, we hadthis, like us national, like
hate of this phrase trickle downeconomics.
Like we all were like this isthe end, um, and you know we, we
go, we grew very against thatphrase.
But I see that in marketingright now.
I saw that with impressions.
I was like this is just trickledown economics.
(18:59):
Let me increase the amount ofimpressions, let me throw so
much content out and if they seeit they will buy it.
That's not necessarily untrue.
You can increase your top line,but loyalty is about
effectiveness more than it isefficiency.
(19:20):
And look, you have to run apositive P&L, so you have to be
efficient, because there is adecency and there are metrics
like consumer acquisition costand ROAS that are obviously
super important.
But there's not ROAS in justputting things on social media.
You're paying people to do it,you're sending out messages.
It feels good If your loyaltyprogram is not rooted in the
(19:42):
first two circles of thebullseye and let's go back to
retail fundamentals and let'sstop leading off the
conversation in the boardroomwith impressions.
Let's start with, you know,average order value.
Like, how often do you hearthat word anymore?
It's not enough, you know.
Let's think about customerfrequency.
Let's think about lifetimevalue and using a standard
(20:05):
metric, and too many times I'veheard people say, yeah, it's
really tough to figure outlifetime value.
It's not you have to choose ametric, but like choose a metric
, apply it.
You know, maybe apply it on twodifferent segments and then and
then stick with it and measureagainst it.
Right, and that is.
You know, there.
There are no perfect metrics,but they.
But but a standard metric is isperfect in comparison to not
(20:27):
having one.
The next one's right Customeracquisition cost.
You know what is the customeracquisition cost, but that is a
secondary tier If you werepaying more during, if you were
paying more to get a consumer.
But they are a higher valuelife, higher lifetime value.
I guarantee that's a goodeconomical decision.
And so I go back to you.
Know your standard, frequency,lifetime value, aov.
(20:48):
You know margin, right, thoseneed to be the metrics that
marketers and loyalty managersmanage to, followed by ROAS and
acquisition cost.
And if we're doing anythingmore than that, that's great.
But not substituting out thosefirst six, substituting out
(21:09):
those first six, thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
So, personally, are there any programs that you
admire or that you are reallyloyal to from a customer loyalty
perspective, and what do youlike about their offerings?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Well, you know this is tough.
There are brands that I amloyal to and I'll tell you, I'm
a Banana Republic kid.
Luckily, I've promoted myselfout of the kids version of that
(21:43):
store into the adult version,but I am still a Banana Republic
guy.
Everything I wear is BananaRepublic.
There was this cartoon that wasreally going to be embarrassing
, that was called doug onnickelodeon and um, and he used
to open up his closet and he hadthe same pants, the same shirt
and the same sweater vest everysingle day.
And if I could live my lifelike that, that is how I would
live my life, and they would beall the same pair of of um, of
(22:06):
banana republic khaki pants,followed by the white button up
with the same belt and the sameugly sweater vest.
And that would like.
That would make my dreams cometrue.
And fortunately there's thisthing called like relationships
and dating that inhibit theability to have a single phased
closet, um and.
And the reason I'm a loyalbanana Republic customer, um is
(22:27):
interesting.
It's because they give a couponthat's 40, 50 and 60% off every
single week, like if you evergo to Banana Republic and
they're not 40, 50, 60% off, youprobably shouldn't go in
because it will be the next weekand what determines my purchase
is not 40, 50, or 60.
It's when I remember they're 40, 50, 60% off, like, and I, and
(22:51):
I, like I consciously knowthey're 40% off at least every
single week and I'm not sayinglike, oh, I'm going to wait out
until it's 50%.
I am always interested, I justneed that push and so I go back
to um, that is the brand I amloyal to.
But the opportunity exists forme to be in banana Republic 10
times a year.
Yeah, honestly, the opportunityprobably exists for me to be
(23:16):
there 50 to 20 times a year.
They could absolutely pentuplemy spend, which, again, would
not, would probably not be goodfor my closet.
I would.
I could order it all online, Iknow exactly what it is, but,
but I go back to that.
There's such an opportunity andI do not want to hit down on
Banana Republic because I'mobviously their biggest, biggest
(23:36):
customer and supporter.
But you know, and they sendthese cards in the mail, right,
and they say 40% off, but theycan't afford to do that every
week because it takes them sixmonths to get the data, to
figure out if they should sendme the 50% off versus the 60%
off and those things expire andthen I'm like, oh, bummer, right
, I'll wait until the next one.
And so I just think about andyet I don't read the emails
(24:00):
because I get emails that aren'tnecessarily relevant to me and
Google got to them before BananaRepublic got good content to me
that I click save.
So so I think I think that's agreat example, which is, if they
could meet me where I'm at,they could take me through a
journey where they could go fouror five 600% my spend.
You know one, one program that Ireally really like.
(24:21):
There's a couple, and I'll tellyou my other favorite brand and
this is I'm an East Coaster bytrade.
I'm like a Sheetz Wawa guy,that is if I like.
I'll admit I think I secretlytook my prom date to Sheetz
because it was like the greatestfood and the greatest price,
(24:41):
and I'm always hunting for adeal, and you know I don't live
on the East Coast anymore so Idon't always get there.
But I get their emails.
They're fun, they've gamifiedit.
They don't expire my pointsbecause they know I'm not there.
Very often they give me offersthat have longer expiration
(25:02):
dates.
So I actually am like, oh, Imight keep this.
They let me put it in my wallet, which means it's in my phone,
in case I end up on the EastCoast and they will always win
me over Wawa and I love both ofthe brands.
But they figured out how to getthe coupon into my phone and
they figured out how to get meto download it.
And they figured out who I am.
And when you look at the otherpeople's experiences, they're
(25:24):
different.
They figured out how to meet mewhere they met and they figured
out how to draw me into theirphysical locations.
They've even figured out how toget me to shop online and I'm
not sure why you ever shop for agas station online, but they
figured out how to do it.
So I give them the the massiveaward there as well awesome
thanks.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Those are two great examples um.
So what do you see as the nextbig thing in customer loyalty?
Speaker 2 (25:48):
um, there was this movie a long time ago I'm gonna
age myself here called angels inthe outfield, um and uh, and it
was was with Danny Glover, andlike two thirds of the movie he
screams like we're going back tofundamentals and I've always
remembered that because, youknow everybody had this dejected
(26:10):
.
Look on their face.
But, like, the next big thingin customer loyalty is using
tools and going and fixing thefundamentals.
And you know I look at thespends and the P&Ls on we're
going to spend money on this.
We're going to spend money onthat.
We're going to, like, justdrive all this cost into these
areas.
That we're going to get bettercreative and like, people don't
(26:33):
open the email.
Like, great, you're going toimprove .00001 bottom line
performance.
Go figure out top line.
Go figure out how to dothat.
I think you're going to alsosee a giant slimming down of
relationships.
I think you're going to seesocial media is ready for the
algorithms to call and focus.
I think we're going to see somerestrictions in how people
(26:57):
drive brand relationships.
And so you know, I think the, Ithink the future, I see the big
thing is I see this all comingto a head and I see people
having to get really good andreally focused on winning.
And I see brands.
I see people not havingrelationship with 20 brands.
I see them going to their fiveor six brands.
I see them choosing thatrelationship.
(27:18):
I also see co-brandedsponsorships being really huge
Payment cards, gift cards, thisaccessibility to give people
discounts for shopping withcertain
brands.
I think here's the bottom linewhen we are able to get
discounts in people's walletsmore effectively and if you look
at the numbers, 70% of ourdecisions are made by discounts
and 1% of them get into ourhands when we are able to solve
(27:41):
that 1% problem, people will getto choose the brands they love
and have the relationships theywant.
And we're going to see a littlebit of a culling on the brands
and we're going to see peopleinnovate product, and that's
what I'm excited to see.
I'm excited to see brands startat the end of customer loyalty.
It's brands changing what theymake to meet the consumer demand
, and that's when loyalty runsfull circle, when you get the
(28:02):
data, you respond to people andyou put the right product in the
right place for the rightconsumer.
And that's when it all likethat's nirvana AI is going to
enable us to do the basics right, the fundamentals right, that
allow us to then feed that intothe machine and change the
products we make to meet thenext expectation of the consumer
.
That's what makes me excited.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Awesome.
So, more specifically, what'snext for Bamboo as we move
forward in 2025?
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Oh, my God, what a year we are having.
What a year we had, you know, Ijust it's been, it's been
incredible so far this year.
Our Q1 was was insane.
Our Q2 is is shaping up to bemore.
So, you know, so we're superexcited.
We are, you know, quicklyforming more relationships with
(28:52):
brands.
We are really focusing on quickwins, quick go to markets, quick
campaigns, and so when I thinkabout what's next for us this
year, we are going to focus on,you know, getting every brand to
appreciate the statistics thatgo along with being truly mobile
first, and we are going to makeit super quick for brands to be
(29:13):
able to get something out thedoor and start building those
relationships.
And we are going to focus on avery simple metric, which is
time, and with our capabilitieswe can get, you know, at the end
of the day, changing a person'sbehavior, which is after you
build the relationship you gotto take them on that journey.
It's about 23 touches, right?
That's like standard.
Every marketer knows that ittakes you got to touch people a
(29:35):
certain number of times to beable to change your behavior.
Great, 23 touches.
Okay, we've built the technologyto get people 23 touches with a
hundred percent adoption ratewithin a week.
We can change people's behaviorin a week.
We're just taking brands sixmonths to three years to do one
iteration of.
We can do it in a week and weare going to start showing
people that, we continue to showpeople that and we are going to
(29:58):
start showing those.
You know, we are going to startwinning the foot race again
with ai and against ai andagainst the things that are are
trying to push us out, and so,um, we're super excited to take
brands through that journey withus that sounds amazing.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
We'll have to have you uh back on the podcast later
this year to hear more abouthow it's going.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Awesome.
Well, that brings us to ouramazing quickfire set of
questions we like to do to getto know you better.
We just try to limit theanswers to these to one short
word, or one word or shortphrase, so I will jump right
into it.
How would you describe yourwork life?
So I will jump right into it.
How would you describe yourwork life?
Speaker 2 (30:40):
That suggests there is no other life.
I'm 100% work.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
If you have a day or a week off from work, what are
you doing?
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I would never take a day let alone a week off from
work.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
If you could live in any city or country, where would
you want to live?
Speaker 2 (30:56):
In American Airlines 757, so I can be connecting with
my customers each week.
Nice, the airport.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
If you could go back to school, what would you?
Speaker 2 (31:07):
study.
I did go back to school.
I changed and started to studyeconomics.
It was the greatest decision Iever made.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
What facet of your job would you like to know more
about?
I want to know how to motivatethe brand manager to go have
that aspiration of the firstyear they were in the business.
You know that person who's beenthere for 25 years.
What is the thing I say?
To go make them feel like it'syear one again and we're focused
(31:40):
on trying to move up the AOV by$2.
And remember that like recklessabandon, that's what I'm
focused on.
That's what I want to learn howto do.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Awesome.
What facet of your job wouldyou like to know less about?
Speaker 2 (31:53):
God, we all have a CFO, don't we?
Speaker 1 (31:57):
So what motivates you when you're tackling challenges
at Bamboo?
Speaker 2 (32:02):
IT is a powerful thing, but empowering a business
user to be able to go affectchange without having to get in
line, that's what motivates me.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Awesome.
What do you draw inspirationfrom?
What lights your fire?
Speaker 2 (32:16):
I am scared shitless of failure.
There's people who like to win.
There's people who hate to lose.
I am scared of losing, so Imust win awesome.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
What is your favorite sport or hobby?
I was a soccer player, but mytrue passion is in aviation and
what do you typically thinkabout at the end of the day?
Speaker 2 (32:42):
I mean, if your day never ends, it's just kind of a
circular process back to myfirst answer.
But really I go to bed thinkingabout how can I get and start
my day off with something thatis productive and affects our
business.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Awesome.
Well, kyle, thank you so muchfor taking the time to speak
with us today.
We really appreciate you comingon Leaders in Customer Loyalty.
It was great getting yourperspective on the customer
loyalty industry and thelandscape, and we look forward
to learning more from you andthe team at Bamboo throughout
the rest of the year.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Can't wait.
Love to join you again andthanks for having us, Ethan.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Awesome, and thank you everyone for tuning in to
our Leaders in Customer Loyaltypodcast series.
If you haven't already, pleasebe sure you subscribe and follow
us on YouTube and LinkedIn, anddon't forget to come back every
Tuesday for another episode ofIndustry Voices.
If you have questions, don'thesitate to reach out.
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