Issue #15: Loyalty Partnerships: The Great, the Good, the Slop

Loyalty partnerships have exploded over the past 10 years, and overall, that’s a good thing.  There is immense power in non-competing but complementary brands getting together.  

But while there are more partnerships, I don’t think there are enough good partnerships. And we are also at an inflection point where some brands have so many, we might as well call it partnership slop. Or worse,  we’ve oversold customers on partnerships that sound great in a PR headline but do nothing to improve member satisfaction. 

Some products are designed around partnerships, such as Bilt and most credit cards that allow transferring of points to most brands. Those work. They increase value through choice and flexibility. But for individual brand programs, the focus still seems squarely around a closed-loop loyalty ecosystem of earn and burn within the proverbial 4 walls. And that’s a mistake.

Here’s my take on who's doing it right, what I want to see more of, and pray we see less of.  

Big partnerships require big dollars to pull off. Think tech integrations, digital updates, seamless movement of loyalty currency and reciprocal benefits.  

These also require one key principle: choose wisely.   When you get into bed with your partner in this way, the sheets are tucked super tight.  They are harder to unwind (see: the Target + Ulta breakup).  Exclusivity matters. So does finding customers that overlap—but not so much that there’s no incremental value left.

A big partnership I’m loving? The JetBlue/United announcement in 2025. You can earn and redeem points across both programs directly—no transfers required. Plus, shared status perks.

The downside? More crowding for elites. A “Mosaics may now board” call in Boston is already half the plane. Add United elites to that? Mosh pit. Airlines already struggle to deliver elite benefits. This only makes it harder.

What I want to see more of? Integrations outside the travel industry. Restaurants that cover different dayparts. Retailers with non-overlapping core products.  True cross-sector pairings

Wish list ideas 🤞 : Peloton + Sweetgreen, Domino’s + Netflix, IKEA + Barnes & Noble.

Redemption-only partnerships are a way to get points off your books to a partner.  And they come with real advantages.

Travel has done this for years, but we’re finally seeing it expand. McDonald’s tested redemption with Booking.com and PacSun. Limited, yes—but a step in the right direction.  Sephora has long nailed this model. Points for samples create a win-win: brands drive trial, customers try risk-free, and Sephora protects margin.

And most recently, GAP’s Encore program announced a curated partner marketplace. TBD on value, but directionally, this is right—moving from discount engine to lifestyle ecosystem. More of this, please!

The watch-out? Avoid straight point transfers. Transfers push the most satisfying moment—the redemption—onto someone else’s brand.  Keep that moment. Build a rewards store. Integrate partners. Let members engage with other brands but within your ecosystem.

This is where things have gone off the rails.   We’ve taken a good thing—extra ways to earn points—and turned it into more bloat point bank bloat.  Similar to my argument in Issue #14 regarding Cobrands, the consumer sees stars…er, points… in their eyes.  But more points do not equal more loyalty riches. The same brands adding more earning partnerships (hello, travel), are also devaluing their currency because (shocker!), they have too many members earning too many points.  It’s a vicious cycle.

As a consumer, I take advantage of these. Why not?  I earn Delta points with Uber all the time.  Does it make me more loyalty to Delta? No.  And if it disappeared, I’d just hook up Uber to one of many other partners that allow point earning.   There is no exclusivity.    

Then there is scale imbalance problem. Sorry to pick on Starbucks and Marriott but it’s too easy not to. The offer: earn 100 Marriott points after 3 Starbucks purchases during a “Marriott promo week”. That’s…$0.70. Are people really changing behavior for 70 cents?  Delta + Starbucks isn’t much better. Your coffee habit isn’t funding your next flight.

You might ask: “What’s the harm? Every point counts.”  I disagree. This is the loyalty hamster wheel—earn more, get less. And that’s not good for our industry.

Let’s end on a high note.  Experiential partnerships such as access, events, merch, and curated benefits, often deliver far more value than points.

This is where partnerships feel differentiated and actually memorable.

Do more Experiential Partnerships! 

Do more redemption partnerships!

If you can find one other brand to do invest in a big integration, do deep analysis ahead of time to ensure it makes sense.  Then jump in, build, and market the hell of out of it.

Earn partnerships?  We’ve gone too far. Time to pull it back.

What loyalty partnerships do you think are great and should be mimicked? What’s your take on whether earning partnerships have gone too far?