Editor’s Note: This article has been originally published by Tomasz Makaruk, CLMP, Chairman of the Board and Co-Owner of i360. Tomasz attended the Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional™ workshop in Dubai and offers a recap of his experience below. With upcoming workshops Bombay, Dublin and Fort Lauderdale later this year, we also encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities to make your own connections (in person!) with the global and diverse group of passionate loyalty professionals who populate the CLMP community.
By: Tomasz Makaruk, CLMP, i360
CLMP™, or Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional, is a 3-day seminar covering a wide range of loyalty programs, culminating in an exam and certification process. The whole event is held in a truly American style, which means that at first glance, the logos on the invitation will make your head ache. There are 6. In addition to the three sponsors and the local partner, there are also the logos of the organizers, which are The Loyalty Academy and The Wise Marketer.
A CLMP workshop is an event that brings together an international audience and is held in different parts of the world. On their website, the organizers write about the event as follows:
the dubai is a three-day interactive experience designed to provide an in-depth assessment of the strategic principles and best practices that govern loyalty marketing programs. The workshop will provide this assessment from the perspective of consumer and B2B customer relations.
Through a combination of lectures, discussions, case studies and the use of specific loyalty and retention assessment tools, this workshop aims to broaden participants’ knowledge and understanding of available techniques. used worldwide by loyalty and relationship marketing professionals. The loyalty workshop in Dubai is intended for marketers and decision makers in consumer and B2B markets, including agencies and service providers who support customer loyalty programs.
2022 seminars are taking place in Dubai, Dublin, Mumbai and Fort Lauderdale. The event, which I had the pleasure of attending in March of this year, was hosted by a loyalty program market veteran, long-time consultant and speaker – Michael T. Capizzi, Director of Studies and Dean from Loyalty Academy, an American of Italian descent (with a Sicilian sense of humor). Eccentric and full of charisma, brimming with gentlemanly energy. Supporting speakers were Manav Fernandez, CLMP, and Chayya Bassi, CLMP and board member, representing QBF consulting – a local partner of the event.
Like any seasoned practitioner, Mike Capizzi – a veteran with an academic bent – is a seasoned strategist to whom you listen with interest. The three days we spent together in the conference room showed that his strengths lie in the strategic aspects of setting up and improving the operation of B2C loyalty programs and in the financial aspects of this issue.
The program is divided into three days and is based on the commonly used technique of teaching through case studies. The consequence of this state of affairs is that even though the lessons started at 9:00 am, the preparation required sitting in front of a computer around 6:00 am to prepare for the lessons and actively participate in the day-long session interspersed with discussions between the participants. . The latter is one of the highlights of the whole event.
In the room with me were about 30 people literally from all over the world: Australia, Kuwait, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and others. This is an opportunity to share experiences and gain insight into “how they do it on another continent”, which is one of the most important values of a CLMP workshop and worth planning. three days to attend one of the upcoming events.
Although not an entry requirement, most attendees had more than ten years of experience running B2C loyalty programs — the market segment this event is dedicated to. The average age of the audience was around 35.
The culmination of the event is a written exam consisting of dozens of multiple-choice questions. The difficulty lies in the fact that several answers can be correct, which poses a problem for some participants. The exam is sent directly from the conference room to the given address, and the result is received by e-mail after a few hours. In my case it was like this:
Hi Tomasz, I reviewed your final exam, and you did well!!! Bravo and congratulations, you have succeeded!!! Here are my comments on your review: You had ZERO errors, and that’s fantastic! — 100%
Cheers,
Margaret Meraw, MBA
Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional™ (CLMP)
Senior Faculty Member
The Loyalty Academy
It was worth the time and money!
