California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) has been delighting diners for four decades, but as the brand celebrates its 40th anniversary, Chief Marketing Officer Dawn Keller, is focused not on nostalgia but on reinvention. At the helm of marketing, culinary, digital, and menu innovation, Keller is bringing a deeply personal connection to the brand—and a bold, modern vision for its future.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Turning 40 isn't just a milestone.
It's a moment of truth.
In today's hyper-competitivelandscape, brands hitting the
40-year mark either evolve orrisk fading into irrelevance.
It's no longer just aboutnostalgia it's about reinvention
.
Smart brands use this moment toreintroduce themselves to the
(00:24):
market, sharpening theirpositioning, doubling down on
customer experience andlaunching bold marketing
campaigns that re-engagecustomers and reignite loyalty.
One brand doing exactly thatCalifornia Pizza Kitchen.
As CPK celebrates its 40thanniversary, it's not slowing
down.
(00:44):
It's turning up the heat With afresh brand voice, fearless
marketing and an unwaveringfocus on customer loyalty.
The brand is rewriting what alegacy brand can't be.
And at the center of it all isDon Keller, their dynamic new
CMO.
Who's leading the charge, don,we're excited to speak with you
(01:06):
today.
Thank you very much for takingthe time to join us on the
Leaders in Customer Loyaltyseries.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I'm great, Mark.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I'm doing well.
Thank you very much for takingthe time to speak with us today.
First off, we'd like to startthese with a little background
and, for those who may not know,can you give us a short
introduction to California PizzaKitchen.
What's the backstory of thecompany?
Why was it started?
We'd love to know that.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Oh sure, I'd be happy to.
So California Pizza Kitchen,more affectionately known as CPK
, as we're going to talk aboutlater, we're celebrating our
40th anniversary.
So the brand and the restaurantwas founded in 1985 in Beverly
Hills, california, somewhatfamously, by two former lawyers
(01:51):
who had a passion for food andhad taken a look at the
landscape, decided they wantedto do something more interesting
and saw some of the emerging, Ithink, california cuisine
trends that were happening in LAat the time in some fine dining
spaces and decided that theywanted to take a huge leap of
(02:12):
faith and bring high qualityingredients and creativity from
a culinary perspective inspiredby global trends and fine dining
to the masses, essentiallythrough a casual dining
experience.
So California pizza kitchen wasborn in Beverly Hills.
That first restaurant stillexists today.
I was just there not recently,you know, not that long ago and
(02:34):
our kind of you know twist onglobal flavors with the
California spin and freshnessand creativity really resonated.
We really hit the map with thebarbecue chicken pizza, which
really built the brand and isstill the number one selling
pizza at CPK today, even thoughit's been copied the world
(02:55):
around and the rest is sort ofhistory.
We've been in the restaurantbusiness for 40 years with a
global footprint, and for about25 of those years we've also
been a national brand at yourfavorite grocery store in the
(03:16):
frozen food aisle with highquality frozen pizzas and
additional product categoriesthat have come later.
So people know CPK, sometimesfor both and sometimes just one
or the other, depending on whereyou've lived.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Okay, excellent when you look at your role chief
marketing officer fairly newwithin the organization.
We'd love to know a little bitmore about your role, what
you're in charge with atCalifornia Pizza Kitchen and
maybe what led you to the roleyou have now.
How did you get into marketing?
How did you get into customerexperience?
It'd be great to know that.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Sure, okay, so I joined CPK just over a year ago
as a CMO and I oversee sort ofall facets of marketing, as you
would expect, and digital, andalso culinary right or R&D and
menu development.
So it's a broad, robust butexciting role that allows me to
(04:11):
have a lot of impact and helpdrive the company forward.
So you know, in terms of how Igot here, there's sort of the
professional track and thenthere's a little bit of the
personal story too and they sortof dovetail of the personal
story too and they, they, theysort of dovetail.
You know, professionally Idon't.
(04:32):
I always say I don't have themost traditional CMO career path
, but lots of people say that,right, because CMOs are a
diverse bunch now, because ofthe demands of the of the role,
as you know.
So I, prior to coming to CPK, Iwas the chief marketing officer
at Lou Malnati's Pizzeria inChicago.
So I mean, it's one of thoselegendary brands, if you know.
You know, famous for deep dish,been in business for over 50
(04:54):
years, both their restaurantbusiness and their direct to
consumer e-commerce business,which they've had forever too.
So, and prior to that, I ledglobal digital and e commerce
and parts of US marketing forKrispy Kreme donuts for several
years.
So I've been in the foodbusiness for a while, but
previous to that, for many years, you know, I've been in and out
(05:16):
of the restaurant industry.
So spent many years in big boxretail in companies such as Best
Buy, staples and CVS Health,doing a variety of functional
leadership roles across strategy, customer service, customer
experience, marketing, digital,omni-channel strategy I don't
(05:40):
know, you name it.
And my first foray into foodand the restaurant space where I
really kind of got the bugright and realized what a
fantastic industry it is, was atCaribou Coffee out of the Twin
Cities and I led the strategyand P&L for the food category
(06:02):
and then later took overinnovation, all innovation
across their retail business.
So you know, and my firstcareer was in the television
industry.
So I've kind of been here, hereand there and everywhere.
But you know, I like to thinkthat that diverse path, both in
terms of industry and functionalroles, has all kind of helped
(06:25):
me be kind of the well-roundedCMO that I hope to be today and
I know that might be somethingwe just talk about later right,
which is how we see this rolekind of evolving.
Right For the modern marketer,the personal, oh, go ahead, and
then I'll just tell you onequick.
This is very interesting, thepersonal sort of hook that got
(06:47):
me to CPK, which I always loveto talk about, and I've been so
fortunate to work at reallyiconic and great brands.
Like there's no brand on my CVthat like I look at today and go
why wouldn't you want to workat that brand?
In my mind I'm biased, but CPKwas extra special because I've
been a customer of CPK fordecades for decades so like
(07:07):
literally since I don't know,the mid 90s or perhaps even
earlier than that.
And as I've moved around thecountry, which I've done a lot
of, I've always had sort of myCPK right as one of my go-to
restaurants.
So it was just so awesome whenI got the call and had the
opportunity to come, come hereright and say now I can take
(07:28):
sort of this personal you knowpassion that I have for the
brand and apply it to helpingusher in the next wave of growth
.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
And you mentioned, you have a very diverse
background, which is great.
I think you bring a kind of avery unique perspective.
But you know, from CVS to BestBuy and some of the others you
know, when you look at the role,how do you see the role
changing and are you bringingkind of a unique perspective to
CPK that may not have existedbefore?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
You know, I think lots of people are talking about
and have written about the everevolving CMO role, right, I
think it is one of those rolesthat has evolved significantly
over the past several years.
As you know, the consumer hasevolved and as the business
landscape is evolving and astechnology becomes and data
right becomes more a centralfocus for ways to drive the
business, and I love that, Ilove the fact that you um to me,
(08:25):
to be a modern CMO, you've gotto be, um, all the marketing
things, um, and you've got to bedata-driven, you've got to
think like a CFO, you've got tobe a general and have a general
manager mindset, um, and allthose things are very appealing
to me.
Um, and I think you know, likemany other CMOs, you know a
(08:47):
diverse background similar towhat I have, but there are
plenty of other paths helps setone up to face the challenges
right in this role today,especially in an industry in the
restaurant industry, rightwhich is very dynamic and is
constantly faced with challenges.
(09:08):
You know ones that we love towork on, but challenges
nonetheless.
So, you know, I appreciate thefact that I didn't have, maybe,
a linear path getting here, andI remember years ago, earlier in
my career, maybe mid stage,somebody asking me do you want
(09:28):
to be a CMO?
And at that time I said no.
I said no because at the time Isaw it in a more narrow context
and I didn't think that I fitthe bill just given my skill,
set and interests.
But fast forward right.
Several years later now it's afantastic role and a fantastic
(09:50):
platform, you know when put atthe right brand, inside the
right organization to drivegrowth.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Excellent and we'll talk a little bit about some of
the things you have in the worksand you've rolled out recently.
But you know you talked aboutsome of the changes that you're
seeing in the industry.
It's a big topic within ourcommunity.
We've had some CMOs on the showrecently in S4P's, marketing
from Cracker Barrel and PapaJohn's and others about just how
the industry is changing rightFast casual, QSR, the more fine
(10:22):
dining restaurants.
There's a little bit ofdisruption going on within the
restaurant industry.
How do you see the fast casualindustry changing and how, maybe
, are your customers changingand how are you even adapting to
that?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
There's so many changes, how could we possibly
count them all right?
As a disruptor between you knowwhat we do in full service and
(11:04):
what the traditional QSRs doright In limited service.
And you know fast casual, ofcourse, created an opportunity
for consumers that ended uptaking from both segments, right
Above and below, and so that'sbeen a major factor that has
driven, you know, brands like usin the full service category to
(11:24):
really think about how wemodernize and streamline the
experience that we deliver tomake sure that we can also, you
know, adapt to consumers'expectations, given that they
now have all of these fastcasual experiences and brands
right to meet their needs.
Then, of course, I mean you'vegot you know the impact of COVID
(11:46):
, you know, which is hard tobelieve, was five years ago but
still is with us today right interms of those lasting impacts
Not only on the consumer andtheir expectation, but also on,
you know, how consumers like toorder and consume, right, the
sort of acceleration of digitaland then also on the labor force
(12:06):
, which impacts us quite a bitas a restaurant, you know.
Then then, of course, you'vegot the consumer themselves, who
have gone through majortransformations, both with the
technology and power that theyhave in their hands and you know
, their navigation of themacroeconomic environment, right
(12:28):
, and all of its ups and downs.
I mean, I could go on and on,and none of these things are new
, right, that's what we all talkabout all the time, but it does
, you know, keep an industrylike ours on our toes.
Because, right, this sort ofconfluence of factors that all
(12:50):
of which are fluid at any giventime, and so I think you know it
requires a certain level ofleadership now in, and decision
making in, the industry, whichis, we have to move and adapt at
such a higher, right, speedthan ever before, and that
requires change in leadershipand culture, right, um, within
(13:14):
organizations, we have to bemore data driven, and that
requires new capabilities rightinside organizations.
I could go on and on, but allof that equals amazing
opportunity and it's a fantastictime.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
It definitely is for sure.
Well, I know your company'sgetting old, right 40-year
anniversary.
I know you have a newpromotional campaign, rebranding
very exciting things thatyou're going through.
I think I saw a tagline you're40 or we're 40 and we're fine
with it.
You're looking at streetwear,fashion and culture to stay
(13:52):
connected with today's consumers.
How did that promotion comeabout?
What does it mean to the brandand how big of an undertaking
was that?
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Okay, well, first of all, I'm going to, you know,
politely contest that we're old,but I'll use that as a way to
talk about what we did in our40th anniversary campaign.
So, if you'll oblige me for aminute, I'm going to rewind.
I'm going to rewind and set thestage for the context, because
(14:23):
that will help explain why wedid what we did here recently,
you know.
So, when I came into the branda year ago or so and was taking
stock of everything, you know,one of the things I learned
right away is that the CPK brandis actually very strong still
from an awareness and, moreimportantly, equity standpoint
just a ton of positive sentimentaround the brand, you know,
(14:44):
which isn't always the case fora brand that has been around for
40 years.
Right, people know CPK and theylove CPK.
It's really sort of rooted inthese, in nostalgia and these
fond memories that many peoplehave growing up with the brand.
Okay, great, what's the problemthen?
The problem was we're not topof mind, and that's not that
(15:04):
surprising when you consider,you know, we've been around for
40 years.
There's a lot of newerrestaurants that have come
around since then and, frankly,we in recent years had not been
investing in, you know, brandmarketing, as you would call it.
We just haven't for all sortsof reasons.
So, you know, we had a littlebit of a deficit there, but I
knew that the brand didn't needto be relaunched.
(15:26):
The brand needed to berejuvenated, okay, so that was
sort of the order of business.
Then we looked ahead and wesaid, well, great, you know,
we've got.
First of all, we and there wassome press about this several
months ago we overhauled ouragency roster and we hired, for
the first time ever, a true sortof integrated creative agency.
That's also, you know, workingwith us on social strategy and
(15:50):
brand strategy.
Okay, and we had never had apartner of that scope and of
that caliber before.
So that was a big deal to helpus start to rejuvenate the brand
through these means.
Okay, so then we look ahead tothe 40th anniversary and we said
, wow, what an amazing milestonethat's coming up in March of
2025.
What are we going to do?
And though, internally we knewit was a huge milestone and
(16:14):
something to be so proud of,right, 40 years doing what we do
is amazing.
But we also had the humility tounderstand that, like, the
general consumer shouldn't anddoesn't care when brands have
birthdays and brands like tocelebrate their birthdays all
the time, right, but who cares?
I mean, you know I'm being alittle bit dramatic, but so we
(16:34):
said, okay, we are not going toapproach this in that
traditional navel gazing way.
We have to flip this on itshead.
We can use the milestone rightas a way to usher in this sort
of era of brand rejuvenation andmodernity, but, but we're not
going to do it in a traditionalway.
Okay, so fast forward.
(16:55):
And the concept that we ended upmoving forward with which we
basically just did in the lastfew weeks, is we said what is
the most human way that we canturn 40?
Maybe even the most Californiaway, because, of course, we are
a brand rooted in California.
Well, when people turn 40, whathappens?
(17:16):
They kind of want to deny it,right, Because no one really
loves turning 40 and some peopleeven may have a bit of a
midlife crisis.
So that's what we did.
We said we want to be relatable, right, we want to humanize the
brand.
We want to do something and saysomething that has personality.
We want to get people talkingabout cpk.
(17:37):
Get people talking about CPK.
So the idea was we're going tofeign a midlife crisis and the
midlife crisis would eventuallybe resolved to reveal our true
brand campaign.
But the midlife crisis, we didfor three days and we literally
designed, created and launched,with all seriousness, a fake
(18:00):
rebrand.
And the fake rebrand was um.
What a lot of people, a lot ofpeople, saw um starting on march
21st and a lot of peoplereacted to and it was streetwear
culture inspired and it was.
You know, it was harsh and itwas young and it was a little
(18:20):
off kilter and it waspreposterous and it was
definitely not CPK and itcreated the buzz and, honestly,
confusion that we intended andwe saw that play out in social
and in media, et cetera, etc.
(18:42):
Well, three days later, we, youknow, revealed that it was a
ruse and we came out with ourtrue sort of first brand
campaign of this 40thanniversary year, which had the
tagline that you said, mark,we're 40 and fine with it.
And the way that we got therewas through a partnership with I
know we'll talk about, you know, actor and CPA superfan, busy
Phillips.
You know, actor and CPK superfan, busy Phillips, who was the
(19:06):
hero of the campaign toessentially usher us in to our
40th anniversary in a place ofpeace, and not just peace but
positivity about right,reminding us and everybody why
CPK was great in the first place.
And it was a way for us to saythat's what we do.
What we do is unique andrelevant still and we're going
(19:26):
to keep doing it.
But now you sort of see us withthis new personality that
engages people, particularlyyounger demos, in a different
way and that will persist goingforward.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Okay, so you teased it a little bit.
The partnership with BusyPhillips looks like she has a
history with the brand, which isalso something great to have
from an authenticity perspective.
How did the partnership withBusy Phillips come about and
what did that mean to you?
And kind of the bigger pictureof the rebrand the not the
rebrand, just the buzz that youwere driving so significantly
(20:02):
for the brand.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Busy Phillips.
I mean, I really don't thinkyou could come up with a better
partner, a better celebritypartner for a brand, and brands
use celebrities all the time,right, it's like they've done it
for decades in advertising.
Cpk has not really done it, butyou couldn't find something
better because her connectivityto the brand and, as you said,
mark, her authenticity is sortof through the through the
(20:26):
through the roof, and that'sreally what is needed today with
modern consumers, right, whojust aren't interested in slick
advertising campaigns that talkto you even if they have
celebrities in front of them.
They're right, they wantauthenticity and relatability.
So Busy Phillips was a CPKemployee before.
She was a famous actor and shewas a CPK employee twice, not
once, but twice in high schoolin Arizona and then later in
(20:49):
college in LA, and she worked atthe brand Okay.
And then, secondly, since then,she has continued as a super
fan of the brand, which is crazy.
We didn't even realize just howmuch of a fan she was until we
really got in into thisarrangement with her.
But she loves CPK, she stillgoes to CPK, she knows who the
(21:12):
founders are, she knows thethings on the menu today and
yesterday she's got a lot to sayOkay.
Third, we looked at her assomebody who, as a woman in
their forties which she is, butthriving, right and sort of
being in that stage of life withzest and, you know,
(21:34):
achievements and positivity, shewas like a great Sherpa, if you
will, right For a brand movinginto its forties.
And then, lastly, her sense ofhumor and sarcasm played very
well into basically the campaign, which was a mockumentary style
, and so we couldn't have castanyone better than her.
(21:55):
So you know, the fit wasfantastic.
She's been a fantastic partnerwho's gone above and beyond to
promote the partnership.
We still have more elements ofit coming to market in the
coming weeks.
We haven't even releasedeverything.
It's been great, I think, forthe brand and just a really
(22:19):
fantastic fit.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
That's awesome.
So when you look at thepartnership, customer loyalty,
authenticity, customerexperience are very important to
you.
You know how does customerloyalty and customer experience
what does it mean to you first,and how does it fit in with
everything that you're doing atCBK?
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Yeah, oh gosh, okay, Well, it's such a robust and
rich topic.
Of course, as you know, this isyour area of expertise.
You know, I think customerloyalty is so much I mean I'm
preaching to the choir now, mark, I know but it's so much more
than loyalty programs.
(22:56):
People always want to talkabout loyalty programs, and we
definitely do and we can talkabout that, but it's so much
more than that.
Right, that's a thing that weoffer, but loyalty is really
what lives inside the customer'shearts and minds.
Right, with respect to a brandthat drives behaviors that maybe
are, you know, over and abovetheir behaviors with other
(23:17):
brands and perhaps even go intostages of irrational right
decision making.
Right, because there'semotional connection.
So when we think about you know,all the ways to garner or
cultivate customer loyalty.
It's multifaceted and we haveto be working on those and
measuring those all the time.
(23:38):
You know it starts in therestaurant, with the experience
that we deliver.
Right, and how we treat ourguests and how we treat them
like they're the most importantguest.
Right, whether they're aloyalty member or not, whether
it was their first visit ortheir 25th visit, and that is
something we have to do everyday as a building block to
(23:58):
earning loyalty, right, andservice and hospitality, but
also, you know, the food itself,right, because at the end of
the day, that's the core of theexperience.
You know, we certainly thinkabout how we make the experience
of CPK to our guests morerelevant and more personalized.
(24:22):
Again, every brand is talkingabout this and pursuing it in
different ways, but we know itis so critical towards again
building those loyal emotionsand loyal behaviors.
So you know, there's all sortsof things that we are working on
to drive relevancy so that whenwe're showing up and talking to
(24:46):
consumers or talking to ourguests or even delivering the
experience, whether digital orin real life, you know that it's
their experience Right, it'snot a one size, one size fits
all and they can really feellike this is a brand for me that
knows me and gets me, you know.
And then the rewards programitself, you know, is a mechanism
(25:07):
, right, a mechanism on top ofall of those things or, in some
cases, a way to help deliver onthose things.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Absolutely.
And customer loyalty is notjust the program, as you
mentioned right.
It's kind of a more holisticapproach to the customer,
customer centricity.
And we see that there'sbifurcation between brands who
truly focus on the customer, whotruly listen to and understand,
tailor offerings to them, andthose who don't.
And there also is kind of abifurcation right now when they
(25:38):
look at customer loyalty andcustomer experience as is it a
cost.
Is it investment and is itpriorit cost?
Is it investment and is itprioritized organization?
Yeah, you look at this.
How is customer loyaltyprioritized within your
organization?
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, you know, before I answer that, I just
wanted to make one other comment, which is, you know, I think
one of the things that gives meso much positivity about CPK and
that would feel very fortunateis that we are a brand that has
sort of such embedded loyaltyalready.
Remember, at the beginning Iwas talking about the emotional
(26:11):
connection people have with thebrand, the fact that it's rooted
in nostalgia, the fact that alot of people grew up with it
and have been coming to CPK overthe various cycles of their
life, because that's just theway that the brand has played
out.
We already kind of have thefoundational loyalty as a brand,
(26:32):
you know, and one that is notas transactional, so it's a
great foundation to build upon.
Okay, so you were asking abouthow it's prioritized.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, I mean right now.
It's actually, I would say,both at the broad level that we
(26:53):
talked about a minute ago and inthe specific context of loyalty
program or loyalty marketing.
We're putting a very significantpriority on the space right now
and on the first hand, when wethink about and talk about all
(27:14):
of those different methods bywhich we garner consumer loyalty
and guest loyalty.
You know, all of those areas.
We have specific KPIs andmeasures right that we focus on
constantly, all the way from ourcorporate office down to every
general manager.
So we're monitoring right andmeasuring all sorts of things
(27:37):
around guest sentiment andloyalty and behavior and so on
and so forth.
And then in the specificcontext of, you know, loyalty
programming, this is a hugeeffort and focus area for us
right now and is something we'reworking on behind the scenes
(27:59):
and you know we can talk aboutthat more at a future date, of
course.
But we're taking a fresh lookand you know I can certainly
talk about our current rewardsprogram today.
We're taking a fresh look at it.
It's been around for, I mean,more than 11 years, okay, and
has been a good program for CPK,but, in all candor, it's a
(28:20):
legacy program and it's a verytraditional program and it's a
one size fits all program andthose things are not the way of
the future and do not align withour go forward strategy.
So we're doing a lot of greatwork now strategy and design
work to reimagine what that canlook like to be a win-win for
our guests and for the businessand growth and profitability,
(28:46):
and I'm really excited aboutsome of the things we're working
on in that space.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
High level.
I know we've touched on anumber of different things today
.
High level how are you lookingat reimagining the Customer
Experience, Customer LoyaltyProgram?
How has the program actuallyevolved today and how do you see
it going forward?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
You know.
I mean, I don't purport to havethe full history from the 13
years or whatever that it's beenaround, but it hasn't evolved
that much, to be honest.
The program's gone through acouple of tweaks over the years,
but it's essentially sort ofthe same kind of program we've
had for a while and again, it'snot that there's anything wrong
with it.
It actually, you know, sort ofoperates like a lot of
(29:26):
restaurant loyalty programs.
It's point-based right.
You earn a dollar, you earn apoint for every dollar you spend
and every time you hit acertain threshold in our case
it's 75 points you get a $5kickback right To use on an
upcoming visit.
We have tiers.
You know you can, by yourpoints achievement, you can
unlock different tiers ofmembership which come with
(29:47):
additional benefits.
We've got an app right thathelps you with your experience,
but you don't have to be an appuser and it's the same for every
guest.
So, fundamentally right, aswe've been thinking about what a
loyalty program that is fit forpurpose in today's day and age,
(30:07):
both for the business and theguests, looks like, a lot of
those things will look differentat cpk in the future.
Most notably, you know, onesize fits all um, we want to
simplify for the guest.
Simplify for guests.
I don't want them to have to gothrough all sorts of mental
gymnastics to figure out whatthey have to do or what they're
(30:27):
going to get at a restaurantthat they may only come to.
Right, but a handful of times ayear, right, if that?
So simplify.
We want it to feel like everyguest has a chance at getting
value back, not just those whocome 16 times a year, and we
(30:49):
want a program that is notfeeling transactional.
We want it to feel like it'struly us appreciating our guests
and giving them something ofvalue right when they come in,
and giving them something ofvalue right when they come in
and as a mechanism for us totreat them as individuals, with
personalization and relevantexperiences.
So all of that and more isbeing baked into what we're
(31:13):
designing, and I'm excited forit.
I just I see a lot of cookiecutter.
I'd love to talk to you aboutthis, because you see more than
I do.
I see a lot of cookie cutter.
I'd love to talk to you aboutthis, because you see more than
I do.
I see a lot of me, too, and alot of cookie cutter in the
marketplace in terms of loyaltyprograms and yet a lot of hype
about them, and I think we wantto kind of cut through the hype
(31:34):
and make sure that we're reallydoing something that is unique
and meaningful and it's going todrive the business.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Well, this has been a fabulous interview, dawn.
It's great to get to know you,great to get to know a little
bit about the program, some ofthe 40th anniversary pieces that
you've rolled out and arerolling out, but, most
importantly, kind of thereimagining of the program.
Your passion, your vision youhave for the offering is great
to hear.
That doesn always exist, but,uh and but I think brands, as
(32:02):
you mentioned earlier, yeah,that have a focus on customer
centricity, have a true focusand understanding the customer
or at least an interest inhaving that understanding and
keeping up with the customer.
you know they set the pace, theyset the bar within this, uh,
this industry and you bet youguys are doing some great things
and looking forward to learningmore uh in in the coming year.
For sure that would be great.
All All right, great Well.
(32:23):
Thank you everyone also forjoining us today.
On the Leaders in CustomerLoyalty series.
Make sure you join us everyThursday for a new episode and
until then, we look forward tohaving you back.
Thank you, Thanks.
Turning 40 isn't just a milestone.
It's a moment of truth.
In today's hyper-competitivelandscape, brands hitting the
40-year mark either evolve orrisk fading into irrelevance.
It's no longer just aboutnostalgia it's about reinvention
.
Smart brands use this moment toreintroduce themselves to the
(00:24):
market, sharpening theirpositioning, doubling down on
customer experience andlaunching bold marketing
campaigns that re-engagecustomers and reignite loyalty.
One brand doing exactly thatCalifornia Pizza Kitchen.
As CPK celebrates its 40thanniversary, it's not slowing
down.
(00:44):
It's turning up the heat With afresh brand voice, fearless
marketing and an unwaveringfocus on customer loyalty.
The brand is rewriting what alegacy brand can't be.
And at the center of it all isDon Keller, their dynamic new
CMO.
Who's leading the charge, don,we're excited to speak with you
(01:06):
today.
Thank you very much for takingthe time to join us on the
Leaders in Customer Loyaltyseries.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I'm great, Mark.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I'm doing well.
Thank you very much for takingthe time to speak with us today.
First off, we'd like to startthese with a little background
and, for those who may not know,can you give us a short
introduction to California PizzaKitchen.
What's the backstory of thecompany?
Why was it started?
We'd love to know that.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Oh sure, I'd be happy to.
So California Pizza Kitchen,more affectionately known as CPK
, as we're going to talk aboutlater, we're celebrating our
40th anniversary.
So the brand and the restaurantwas founded in 1985 in Beverly
Hills, california, somewhatfamously, by two former lawyers
(01:51):
who had a passion for food andhad taken a look at the
landscape, decided they wantedto do something more interesting
and saw some of the emerging, Ithink, california cuisine
trends that were happening in LAat the time in some fine dining
spaces and decided that theywanted to take a huge leap of
(02:12):
faith and bring high qualityingredients and creativity from
a culinary perspective inspiredby global trends and fine dining
to the masses, essentiallythrough a casual dining
experience.
So California pizza kitchen wasborn in Beverly Hills.
That first restaurant stillexists today.
I was just there not recently,you know, not that long ago and
(02:34):
our kind of you know twist onglobal flavors with the
California spin and freshnessand creativity really resonated.
We really hit the map with thebarbecue chicken pizza, which
really built the brand and isstill the number one selling
pizza at CPK today, even thoughit's been copied the world
(02:55):
around and the rest is sort ofhistory.
We've been in the restaurantbusiness for 40 years with a
global footprint, and for about25 of those years we've also
been a national brand at yourfavorite grocery store in the
(03:16):
frozen food aisle with highquality frozen pizzas and
additional product categoriesthat have come later.
So people know CPK, sometimesfor both and sometimes just one
or the other, depending on whereyou've lived.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Okay, excellent when you look at your role chief
marketing officer fairly newwithin the organization.
We'd love to know a little bitmore about your role, what
you're in charge with atCalifornia Pizza Kitchen and
maybe what led you to the roleyou have now.
How did you get into marketing?
How did you get into customerexperience?
It'd be great to know that.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Sure, okay, so I joined CPK just over a year ago
as a CMO and I oversee sort ofall facets of marketing, as you
would expect, and digital, andalso culinary right or R&D and
menu development.
So it's a broad, robust butexciting role that allows me to
(04:11):
have a lot of impact and helpdrive the company forward.
So you know, in terms of how Igot here, there's sort of the
professional track and thenthere's a little bit of the
personal story too and they sortof dovetail of the personal
story too and they, they, theysort of dovetail.
You know, professionally Idon't.
(04:32):
I always say I don't have themost traditional CMO career path
, but lots of people say that,right, because CMOs are a
diverse bunch now, because ofthe demands of the of the role,
as you know.
So I, prior to coming to CPK, Iwas the chief marketing officer
at Lou Malnati's Pizzeria inChicago.
So I mean, it's one of thoselegendary brands, if you know.
You know, famous for deep dish,been in business for over 50
(04:54):
years, both their restaurantbusiness and their direct to
consumer e-commerce business,which they've had forever too.
So, and prior to that, I ledglobal digital and e commerce
and parts of US marketing forKrispy Kreme donuts for several
years.
So I've been in the foodbusiness for a while, but
previous to that, for many years, you know, I've been in and out
(05:16):
of the restaurant industry.
So spent many years in big boxretail in companies such as Best
Buy, staples and CVS Health,doing a variety of functional
leadership roles across strategy, customer service, customer
experience, marketing, digital,omni-channel strategy I don't
(05:40):
know, you name it.
And my first foray into foodand the restaurant space where I
really kind of got the bugright and realized what a
fantastic industry it is, was atCaribou Coffee out of the Twin
Cities and I led the strategyand P&L for the food category
(06:02):
and then later took overinnovation, all innovation
across their retail business.
So you know, and my firstcareer was in the television
industry.
So I've kind of been here, hereand there and everywhere.
But you know, I like to thinkthat that diverse path, both in
terms of industry and functionalroles, has all kind of helped
(06:25):
me be kind of the well-roundedCMO that I hope to be today and
I know that might be somethingwe just talk about later right,
which is how we see this rolekind of evolving.
Right For the modern marketer,the personal, oh, go ahead, and
then I'll just tell you onequick.
This is very interesting, thepersonal sort of hook that got
(06:47):
me to CPK, which I always loveto talk about, and I've been so
fortunate to work at reallyiconic and great brands.
Like there's no brand on my CVthat like I look at today and go
why wouldn't you want to workat that brand?
In my mind I'm biased, but CPKwas extra special because I've
been a customer of CPK fordecades for decades so like
(07:07):
literally since I don't know,the mid 90s or perhaps even
earlier than that.
And as I've moved around thecountry, which I've done a lot
of, I've always had sort of myCPK right as one of my go-to
restaurants.
So it was just so awesome whenI got the call and had the
opportunity to come, come hereright and say now I can take
(07:28):
sort of this personal you knowpassion that I have for the
brand and apply it to helpingusher in the next wave of growth
.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
And you mentioned, you have a very diverse
background, which is great.
I think you bring a kind of avery unique perspective.
But you know, from CVS to BestBuy and some of the others you
know, when you look at the role,how do you see the role
changing and are you bringingkind of a unique perspective to
CPK that may not have existedbefore?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
You know, I think lots of people are talking about
and have written about the everevolving CMO role, right, I
think it is one of those rolesthat has evolved significantly
over the past several years.
As you know, the consumer hasevolved and as the business
landscape is evolving and astechnology becomes and data
right becomes more a centralfocus for ways to drive the
business, and I love that, Ilove the fact that you um to me,
(08:25):
to be a modern CMO, you've gotto be, um, all the marketing
things, um, and you've got to bedata-driven, you've got to
think like a CFO, you've got tobe a general and have a general
manager mindset, um, and allthose things are very appealing
to me.
Um, and I think you know, likemany other CMOs, you know a
(08:47):
diverse background similar towhat I have, but there are
plenty of other paths helps setone up to face the challenges
right in this role today,especially in an industry in the
restaurant industry, rightwhich is very dynamic and is
constantly faced with challenges.
(09:08):
You know ones that we love towork on, but challenges
nonetheless.
So, you know, I appreciate thefact that I didn't have, maybe,
a linear path getting here, andI remember years ago, earlier in
my career, maybe mid stage,somebody asking me do you want
(09:28):
to be a CMO?
And at that time I said no.
I said no because at the time Isaw it in a more narrow context
and I didn't think that I fitthe bill just given my skill,
set and interests.
But fast forward right.
Several years later now it's afantastic role and a fantastic
(09:50):
platform, you know when put atthe right brand, inside the
right organization to drivegrowth.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Excellent and we'll talk a little bit about some of
the things you have in the worksand you've rolled out recently.
But you know you talked aboutsome of the changes that you're
seeing in the industry.
It's a big topic within ourcommunity.
We've had some CMOs on the showrecently in S4P's, marketing
from Cracker Barrel and PapaJohn's and others about just how
the industry is changing rightFast casual, QSR, the more fine
(10:22):
dining restaurants.
There's a little bit ofdisruption going on within the
restaurant industry.
How do you see the fast casualindustry changing and how, maybe
, are your customers changingand how are you even adapting to
that?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
There's so many changes, how could we possibly
count them all right?
As a disruptor between you knowwhat we do in full service and
(11:04):
what the traditional QSRs doright In limited service.
And you know fast casual, ofcourse, created an opportunity
for consumers that ended uptaking from both segments, right
Above and below, and so that'sbeen a major factor that has
driven, you know, brands like usin the full service category to
(11:24):
really think about how wemodernize and streamline the
experience that we deliver tomake sure that we can also, you
know, adapt to consumers'expectations, given that they
now have all of these fastcasual experiences and brands
right to meet their needs.
Then, of course, I mean you'vegot you know the impact of COVID
(11:46):
, you know, which is hard tobelieve, was five years ago but
still is with us today right interms of those lasting impacts
Not only on the consumer andtheir expectation, but also on,
you know, how consumers like toorder and consume, right, the
sort of acceleration of digitaland then also on the labor force
(12:06):
, which impacts us quite a bitas a restaurant, you know.
Then then, of course, you'vegot the consumer themselves, who
have gone through majortransformations, both with the
technology and power that theyhave in their hands and you know
, their navigation of themacroeconomic environment, right
(12:28):
, and all of its ups and downs.
I mean, I could go on and on,and none of these things are new
, right, that's what we all talkabout all the time, but it does
, you know, keep an industrylike ours on our toes.
Because, right, this sort ofconfluence of factors that all
(12:50):
of which are fluid at any giventime, and so I think you know it
requires a certain level ofleadership now in, and decision
making in, the industry, whichis, we have to move and adapt at
such a higher, right, speedthan ever before, and that
requires change in leadershipand culture, right, um, within
(13:14):
organizations, we have to bemore data driven, and that
requires new capabilities rightinside organizations.
I could go on and on, but allof that equals amazing
opportunity and it's a fantastictime.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
It definitely is for sure.
Well, I know your company'sgetting old, right 40-year
anniversary.
I know you have a newpromotional campaign, rebranding
very exciting things thatyou're going through.
I think I saw a tagline you're40 or we're 40 and we're fine
with it.
You're looking at streetwear,fashion and culture to stay
(13:52):
connected with today's consumers.
How did that promotion comeabout?
What does it mean to the brandand how big of an undertaking
was that?
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Okay, well, first of all, I'm going to, you know,
politely contest that we're old,but I'll use that as a way to
talk about what we did in our40th anniversary campaign.
So, if you'll oblige me for aminute, I'm going to rewind.
I'm going to rewind and set thestage for the context, because
(14:23):
that will help explain why wedid what we did here recently,
you know.
So, when I came into the branda year ago or so and was taking
stock of everything, you know,one of the things I learned
right away is that the CPK brandis actually very strong still
from an awareness and, moreimportantly, equity standpoint
just a ton of positive sentimentaround the brand, you know,
(14:44):
which isn't always the case fora brand that has been around for
40 years.
Right, people know CPK and theylove CPK.
It's really sort of rooted inthese, in nostalgia and these
fond memories that many peoplehave growing up with the brand.
Okay, great, what's the problemthen?
The problem was we're not topof mind, and that's not that
(15:04):
surprising when you consider,you know, we've been around for
40 years.
There's a lot of newerrestaurants that have come
around since then and, frankly,we in recent years had not been
investing in, you know, brandmarketing, as you would call it.
We just haven't for all sortsof reasons.
So, you know, we had a littlebit of a deficit there, but I
knew that the brand didn't needto be relaunched.
(15:26):
The brand needed to berejuvenated, okay, so that was
sort of the order of business.
Then we looked ahead and wesaid, well, great, you know,
we've got.
First of all, we and there wassome press about this several
months ago we overhauled ouragency roster and we hired, for
the first time ever, a true sortof integrated creative agency.
That's also, you know, workingwith us on social strategy and
(15:50):
brand strategy.
Okay, and we had never had apartner of that scope and of
that caliber before.
So that was a big deal to helpus start to rejuvenate the brand
through these means.
Okay, so then we look ahead tothe 40th anniversary and we said
, wow, what an amazing milestonethat's coming up in March of
2025.
What are we going to do?
And though, internally we knewit was a huge milestone and
(16:14):
something to be so proud of,right, 40 years doing what we do
is amazing.
But we also had the humility tounderstand that, like, the
general consumer shouldn't anddoesn't care when brands have
birthdays and brands like tocelebrate their birthdays all
the time, right, but who cares?
I mean, you know I'm being alittle bit dramatic, but so we
(16:34):
said, okay, we are not going toapproach this in that
traditional navel gazing way.
We have to flip this on itshead.
We can use the milestone rightas a way to usher in this sort
of era of brand rejuvenation andmodernity, but, but we're not
going to do it in a traditionalway.
Okay, so fast forward.
(16:55):
And the concept that we ended upmoving forward with which we
basically just did in the lastfew weeks, is we said what is
the most human way that we canturn 40?
Maybe even the most Californiaway, because, of course, we are
a brand rooted in California.
Well, when people turn 40, whathappens?
(17:16):
They kind of want to deny it,right, Because no one really
loves turning 40 and some peopleeven may have a bit of a
midlife crisis.
So that's what we did.
We said we want to be relatable, right, we want to humanize the
brand.
We want to do something and saysomething that has personality.
We want to get people talkingabout cpk.
(17:37):
Get people talking about CPK.
So the idea was we're going tofeign a midlife crisis and the
midlife crisis would eventuallybe resolved to reveal our true
brand campaign.
But the midlife crisis, we didfor three days and we literally
designed, created and launched,with all seriousness, a fake
(18:00):
rebrand.
And the fake rebrand was um.
What a lot of people, a lot ofpeople, saw um starting on march
21st and a lot of peoplereacted to and it was streetwear
culture inspired and it was.
You know, it was harsh and itwas young and it was a little
(18:20):
off kilter and it waspreposterous and it was
definitely not CPK and itcreated the buzz and, honestly,
confusion that we intended andwe saw that play out in social
and in media, et cetera, etc.
(18:42):
Well, three days later, we, youknow, revealed that it was a
ruse and we came out with ourtrue sort of first brand
campaign of this 40thanniversary year, which had the
tagline that you said, mark,we're 40 and fine with it.
And the way that we got therewas through a partnership with I
know we'll talk about, you know, actor and CPA superfan, busy
Phillips.
You know, actor and CPK superfan, busy Phillips, who was the
(19:06):
hero of the campaign toessentially usher us in to our
40th anniversary in a place ofpeace, and not just peace but
positivity about right,reminding us and everybody why
CPK was great in the first place.
And it was a way for us to saythat's what we do.
What we do is unique andrelevant still and we're going
(19:26):
to keep doing it.
But now you sort of see us withthis new personality that
engages people, particularlyyounger demos, in a different
way and that will persist goingforward.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Okay, so you teased it a little bit.
The partnership with BusyPhillips looks like she has a
history with the brand, which isalso something great to have
from an authenticity perspective.
How did the partnership withBusy Phillips come about and
what did that mean to you?
And kind of the bigger pictureof the rebrand the not the
rebrand, just the buzz that youwere driving so significantly
(20:02):
for the brand.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Busy Phillips.
I mean, I really don't thinkyou could come up with a better
partner, a better celebritypartner for a brand, and brands
use celebrities all the time,right, it's like they've done it
for decades in advertising.
Cpk has not really done it, butyou couldn't find something
better because her connectivityto the brand and, as you said,
mark, her authenticity is sortof through the through the
(20:26):
through the roof, and that'sreally what is needed today with
modern consumers, right, whojust aren't interested in slick
advertising campaigns that talkto you even if they have
celebrities in front of them.
They're right, they wantauthenticity and relatability.
So Busy Phillips was a CPKemployee before.
She was a famous actor and shewas a CPK employee twice, not
once, but twice in high schoolin Arizona and then later in
(20:49):
college in LA, and she worked atthe brand Okay.
And then, secondly, since then,she has continued as a super
fan of the brand, which is crazy.
We didn't even realize just howmuch of a fan she was until we
really got in into thisarrangement with her.
But she loves CPK, she stillgoes to CPK, she knows who the
(21:12):
founders are, she knows thethings on the menu today and
yesterday she's got a lot to sayOkay.
Third, we looked at her assomebody who, as a woman in
their forties which she is, butthriving, right and sort of
being in that stage of life withzest and, you know,
(21:34):
achievements and positivity, shewas like a great Sherpa, if you
will, right For a brand movinginto its forties.
And then, lastly, her sense ofhumor and sarcasm played very
well into basically the campaign, which was a mockumentary style
, and so we couldn't have castanyone better than her.
(21:55):
So you know, the fit wasfantastic.
She's been a fantastic partnerwho's gone above and beyond to
promote the partnership.
We still have more elements ofit coming to market in the
coming weeks.
We haven't even releasedeverything.
It's been great, I think, forthe brand and just a really
(22:19):
fantastic fit.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
That's awesome.
So when you look at thepartnership, customer loyalty,
authenticity, customerexperience are very important to
you.
You know how does customerloyalty and customer experience
what does it mean to you first,and how does it fit in with
everything that you're doing atCBK?
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Yeah, oh gosh, okay, Well, it's such a robust and
rich topic.
Of course, as you know, this isyour area of expertise.
You know, I think customerloyalty is so much I mean I'm
preaching to the choir now, mark, I know but it's so much more
than loyalty programs.
(22:56):
People always want to talkabout loyalty programs, and we
definitely do and we can talkabout that, but it's so much
more than that.
Right, that's a thing that weoffer, but loyalty is really
what lives inside the customer'shearts and minds.
Right, with respect to a brandthat drives behaviors that maybe
are, you know, over and abovetheir behaviors with other
(23:17):
brands and perhaps even go intostages of irrational right
decision making.
Right, because there'semotional connection.
So when we think about you know,all the ways to garner or
cultivate customer loyalty.
It's multifaceted and we haveto be working on those and
measuring those all the time.
(23:38):
You know it starts in therestaurant, with the experience
that we deliver.
Right, and how we treat ourguests and how we treat them
like they're the most importantguest.
Right, whether they're aloyalty member or not, whether
it was their first visit ortheir 25th visit, and that is
something we have to do everyday as a building block to
(23:58):
earning loyalty, right, andservice and hospitality, but
also, you know, the food itself,right, because at the end of
the day, that's the core of theexperience.
You know, we certainly thinkabout how we make the experience
of CPK to our guests morerelevant and more personalized.
(24:22):
Again, every brand is talkingabout this and pursuing it in
different ways, but we know itis so critical towards again
building those loyal emotionsand loyal behaviors.
So you know, there's all sortsof things that we are working on
to drive relevancy so that whenwe're showing up and talking to
(24:46):
consumers or talking to ourguests or even delivering the
experience, whether digital orin real life, you know that it's
their experience Right, it'snot a one size, one size fits
all and they can really feellike this is a brand for me that
knows me and gets me, you know.
And then the rewards programitself, you know, is a mechanism
(25:07):
, right, a mechanism on top ofall of those things or, in some
cases, a way to help deliver onthose things.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Absolutely.
And customer loyalty is notjust the program, as you
mentioned right.
It's kind of a more holisticapproach to the customer,
customer centricity.
And we see that there'sbifurcation between brands who
truly focus on the customer, whotruly listen to and understand,
tailor offerings to them, andthose who don't.
And there also is kind of abifurcation right now when they
(25:38):
look at customer loyalty andcustomer experience as is it a
cost.
Is it investment and is itpriorit cost?
Is it investment and is itprioritized organization?
Yeah, you look at this.
How is customer loyaltyprioritized within your
organization?
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, you know, before I answer that, I just
wanted to make one other comment, which is, you know, I think
one of the things that gives meso much positivity about CPK and
that would feel very fortunateis that we are a brand that has
sort of such embedded loyaltyalready.
Remember, at the beginning Iwas talking about the emotional
(26:11):
connection people have with thebrand, the fact that it's rooted
in nostalgia, the fact that alot of people grew up with it
and have been coming to CPK overthe various cycles of their
life, because that's just theway that the brand has played
out.
We already kind of have thefoundational loyalty as a brand,
(26:32):
you know, and one that is notas transactional, so it's a
great foundation to build upon.
Okay, so you were asking abouthow it's prioritized.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, I mean right now.
It's actually, I would say,both at the broad level that we
(26:53):
talked about a minute ago and inthe specific context of loyalty
program or loyalty marketing.
We're putting a very significantpriority on the space right now
and on the first hand, when wethink about and talk about all
(27:14):
of those different methods bywhich we garner consumer loyalty
and guest loyalty.
You know, all of those areas.
We have specific KPIs andmeasures right that we focus on
constantly, all the way from ourcorporate office down to every
general manager.
So we're monitoring right andmeasuring all sorts of things
(27:37):
around guest sentiment andloyalty and behavior and so on
and so forth.
And then in the specificcontext of, you know, loyalty
programming, this is a hugeeffort and focus area for us
right now and is something we'reworking on behind the scenes
(27:59):
and you know we can talk aboutthat more at a future date, of
course.
But we're taking a fresh lookand you know I can certainly
talk about our current rewardsprogram today.
We're taking a fresh look at it.
It's been around for, I mean,more than 11 years, okay, and
has been a good program for CPK,but, in all candor, it's a
(28:20):
legacy program and it's a verytraditional program and it's a
one size fits all program andthose things are not the way of
the future and do not align withour go forward strategy.
So we're doing a lot of greatwork now strategy and design
work to reimagine what that canlook like to be a win-win for
our guests and for the businessand growth and profitability,
(28:46):
and I'm really excited aboutsome of the things we're working
on in that space.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
High level.
I know we've touched on anumber of different things today
.
High level how are you lookingat reimagining the Customer
Experience, Customer LoyaltyProgram?
How has the program actuallyevolved today and how do you see
it going forward?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
You know.
I mean, I don't purport to havethe full history from the 13
years or whatever that it's beenaround, but it hasn't evolved
that much, to be honest.
The program's gone through acouple of tweaks over the years,
but it's essentially sort ofthe same kind of program we've
had for a while and again, it'snot that there's anything wrong
with it.
It actually, you know, sort ofoperates like a lot of
(29:26):
restaurant loyalty programs.
It's point-based right.
You earn a dollar, you earn apoint for every dollar you spend
and every time you hit acertain threshold in our case
it's 75 points you get a $5kickback right To use on an
upcoming visit.
We have tiers.
You know you can, by yourpoints achievement, you can
unlock different tiers ofmembership which come with
(29:47):
additional benefits.
We've got an app right thathelps you with your experience,
but you don't have to be an appuser and it's the same for every
guest.
So, fundamentally right, aswe've been thinking about what a
loyalty program that is fit forpurpose in today's day and age,
(30:07):
both for the business and theguests, looks like, a lot of
those things will look differentat cpk in the future.
Most notably, you know, onesize fits all um, we want to
simplify for the guest.
Simplify for guests.
I don't want them to have to gothrough all sorts of mental
gymnastics to figure out whatthey have to do or what they're
(30:27):
going to get at a restaurantthat they may only come to.
Right, but a handful of times ayear, right, if that?
So simplify.
We want it to feel like everyguest has a chance at getting
value back, not just those whocome 16 times a year, and we
(30:49):
want a program that is notfeeling transactional.
We want it to feel like it'struly us appreciating our guests
and giving them something ofvalue right when they come in,
and giving them something ofvalue right when they come in
and as a mechanism for us totreat them as individuals, with
personalization and relevantexperiences.
So all of that and more isbeing baked into what we're
(31:13):
designing, and I'm excited forit.
I just I see a lot of cookiecutter.
I'd love to talk to you aboutthis, because you see more than
I do.
I see a lot of cookie cutter.
I'd love to talk to you aboutthis, because you see more than
I do.
I see a lot of me, too, and alot of cookie cutter in the
marketplace in terms of loyaltyprograms and yet a lot of hype
about them, and I think we wantto kind of cut through the hype
(31:34):
and make sure that we're reallydoing something that is unique
and meaningful and it's going todrive the business.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Well, this has been a fabulous interview, dawn.
It's great to get to know you,great to get to know a little
bit about the program, some ofthe 40th anniversary pieces that
you've rolled out and arerolling out, but, most
importantly, kind of thereimagining of the program.
Your passion, your vision youhave for the offering is great
to hear.
That doesn always exist, but,uh and but I think brands, as
(32:02):
you mentioned earlier, yeah,that have a focus on customer
centricity, have a true focusand understanding the customer
or at least an interest inhaving that understanding and
keeping up with the customer.
you know they set the pace, theyset the bar within this, uh,
this industry and you bet youguys are doing some great things
and looking forward to learningmore uh in in the coming year.
For sure that would be great.
All All right, great Well.
(32:23):
Thank you everyone also forjoining us today.
On the Leaders in CustomerLoyalty series.
Make sure you join us everyThursday for a new episode and
until then, we look forward tohaving you back.
Thank you, Thanks.
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