Direct Marketing Magazine

Zsuzsa Kecsmar is the Co-Founder of Antavo AI Loyalty Cloud, one of the leading SaaS platforms in the world, and co-author of the Antavo Global Customer Loyalty Report. Practically every company these days feels the need to have a loyalty program of some kind. Anything to keep customers coming back. With so many programs out there, all more or less cut from the same cloth, loyalty fatigue often sets in amongst customers.

Any enterprise team can now ask questions and get trusted answers from complete, real-time behavioral data, without moving data outside their environment, in the AI client they already use LONDON, UK–Celebrus, a global leader in first-party behavioral data and digital identity resolution, today announced the launch of Celebrus AI — a new conversational analytics capability that allows business users to ask questions directly against Celebrus’ real-time, identity-resolved customer data and...

Ten women-owned small businesses receive a $10,000 grant, mentorship and resources to drive business success TORONTO, ON–Mastercard revealed its latest recipients of the Mastercard Small Business Fund. Now in its fourth year, the program supports women-owned small businesses by providing critical resources to help them scale and succeed.

HubSpot Service Hub, Freshdesk, HelpDesk, and Zoho Desk Named ARLINGTON, VA–The 2026 Customer Service Management Data Quadrant Report from Info-Tech Research Group, powered by SoftwareReviews, recognizes HubSpot Service Hub, Freshdesk, HelpDesk, and Zoho Desk as Champions across the enterprise and Midmarket segments.

The launch establishes a new benchmark for loyalty ecosystems in the Nordics, connecting millions of members across leading travel, hospitality, and retail brands LONDON, UK–Loyalty Juggernaut, creator of GRAVTY, the world’s leading cloud-native, enterprise growth platform, today announced at the Loyalty Summit EMEA the successful go-live of Spenn, Norwegian Reward, and Strawberry on GRAVTY, enabling one of the most ambitious loyalty ecosystem initiatives in the Nordics.

Blue Rewards members can earn Blue Points on qualifying purchases made at participating Dollarama locations nationwide with a linked BMO payment card; BMO Blue Rewards credit cardholders can earn 10x the Points at participating Dollarama locations; Members can access exclusive promotional offers on eGift Cards available through Blue Rewards TORONTO, ON–Blue Rewards signed a multi-year exclusive strategic partnership with Dollarama to help Canadians make real financial progress by offering...

Verndale brings Sitecore expertise and practical AI programs that help marketers move faster, create more relevant content, and deliver more connected customer experiences BOSTON, MA–Verndale announced its participation in Sitecore’s Velocity Program, strengthening its collaboration with Sitecore to help brands get more value from SitecoreAI. SitecoreAI gives marketers a trusted enterprise platform to plan, create, personalize, and deliver content across every channel.

OTTAWA, ON–Canada stands as a proud and independent power, defined by diverse identities, a federal parliamentary system, and strong institutions. But did you know that many of these foundations were forged in response to a war south of the border?

By Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek For most of my career, the website was our most important asset. It’s where we expected the brand relationship to begin in earnest. It’s where campaigns pointed and where journeys unfolded, where we tested messages, optimized conversion paths, measured engagement, and tried to understand what was working. We built teams, tools, dashboards, and operating models around that reality. And many of us became very good at managing it.

by Erin Lutenski, Head of Marketing, Decentriq Canadian brands invested roughly $11 billion in advertising in 2024, with growth projected to continue through 2026. Much of that spend is going into artificial intelligence (AI)-powered personalization, loyalty program, and campaign optimization. Fewer than 30 per cent of AI leaders say their chief executives are satisfied with those returns, according to Gartner’s 2025 Hype Cycle for Artificial Intelligence.