As brands face mounting pressure to create deeper, more sustainable connections with their customers, the role of loyalty strategy has evolved from transactional tactics to enterprise-wide engagement. For Michelle Sequeira Yee, Vice President of Consulting at Bond, this evolution isn’t just necessary, it’s urgent. Drawing on her experience leading customer and digital strategy at large national Canadian retailers, and on the agency side at McCann and Havas, Sequeira Yee now helps brands reimagine loyalty as a driver of business growth, using data, technology, and emotional relevance to build meaningful relationships across the customer base.
“Our focus is to help brands across their entire known customer base,” Sequeira Yee says, highlighting that loyalty strategy must now encompass more than just traditional program members. "It’s not just through formalized loyalty. All brands have identifiable members right now, be that through ecommerce, mobile app usage, web single sign-on, contesting, etc."
That broadened lens reflects the shift Sequeira Yee sees across the industry: loyalty is no longer just a marketing function or a line item in a CRM plan. It must be embedded into enterprise strategy. In her work with Bond, she supports brands in aligning engagement strategies with growth goals by focusing on data orchestration, optimized technology usage, and designing experiences that foster genuine emotional connections.
Sequeira Yee draws on deep experience across brand and agency roles, including more than a decade of leading customer and digital strategy at Canadian retailers such as Loblaws and Indigo. At Bond, that brand-side experience informs her consulting approach that recognizes the importance of loyalty as both behavior and outcome.
“Loyalty, at its core, is about emotional connection from positive sentiment all the way to devotion and irrational behavior,” she says. “When we work with brands, we’re not just thinking about repeat transactions. We're thinking about the optimal conditions that help customers choose your brand repeatedly, even when you're not the cheapest or most convenient option.”
That emotional connection is being activated in different ways depending on the industry. Sequeira Yee sees apparel and lifestyle brands, who’ve long been the stewards of loyalty best practices, taking a leadership role in deepening brand engagement through value-based experiences. She points to Patagonia, REI, and Lululemon as examples of brands that are using loyalty programs to reinforce lifestyle alignment, whether through outdoor workshops, repair programs, or wellness content.
“They’re transforming their programs to become connectors of lifestyle,” she explains. “These brands are embedding their values into loyalty in a way that reflects back on the customer’s identity.”
In the grocery sector, a different kind of innovation rooted in data is underway. As a commoditized space, grocers are expanding their loyalty value propositions through strategic partnerships and broader ecosystem engagement.
“We’ve seen grocers evolve from fuel partnerships to now include financial services and even aspirational rewards like travel into their loyalty program offering,” Sequeira Yee notes. “There’s also a bigger focus on nutrition, wellness, and dynamic communication strategies, all powered by the rich data these programs generate.”
Yet turning that data into action remains a key challenge for many brands. Despite having access to loyalty, POS, e-commerce, and CRM data, Sequeira Yee finds that most brands are still dealing with fragmented systems that limit their ability to execute real-time personalization.
“They have the data, but it’s not usable in real time because it's spread across too many silos,” she explains. “It’s not just about access—it's about orchestration. How do you marry insights with action, and ensure the technology you already have supports that?”
An essential aspect of orchestrating success, she emphasizes, involves brands strategically optimizing their systems and identifying the right partnerships that achieve synergy between technology and operating systems. “Without the right strategy and enablers, loyalty mechanics such as gamification become a mere tactic,” she says. “Especially as we think of the increase in zero-party data and how fundamental that is becoming to integrating and personalizing loyalty experiences.” Furthermore, leveraging AI as an enabler is crucial, once a strategy is firmly established. “AI can be incredibly powerful, especially for activating zero-party data, but it has to support a broader customer data strategy.”
Sequeira Yee points to Bath & Body Works as a brand that is getting loyalty right. With 39 million members and growing, the retailer has fully integrated its loyalty strategy into the broader business rather than treating it as a standalone program.
“They’re seeing growth across categories and higher retention because loyalty is embedded in the brand strategy,” she says. “They also stay culturally relevant with partnerships that resonate, like recent collaborations with Disney and Stranger Things. That kind of brand relevance drives emotional connection.”
Loblaws, she notes, is another example of loyalty as an enterprise strategy. “It’s the nucleus of their offer generation, their content, and even their retail media network. Loyalty informs every aspect of the business.”
This kind of full integration, according to Sequeira Yee, is essential for brands hoping to navigate the increasingly volatile consumer landscape in 2025 and beyond.
“There is so much uncertainty right now—economic, political, and competitive,” she says. “What worked even six months ago may not be enough anymore. Brands have to stay close to customer needs, align those to growth goals, and create cross-functional execution plans that deliver consistently across every touchpoint.”
That consistency is critical, especially in an environment where customer expectations are being shaped outside of category lines. “We’re seeing grocers compared to Netflix in terms of experience,” Sequeira Yee explains. “Customers don’t care what industry you're in. They care about ease, personalization, and value.”
Looking ahead to the remainder of 2025, Sequeira Yee emphasizes the need for rigor in both customer experience and operational planning.
“Think about your data strategy across your known customer base. Think about how you’re forecasting your P&L,” she advises. “Loyalty strategy today isn’t just about engagement. It’s about managing risk, measuring impact, and creating a connected experience that aligns customer needs with business outcomes.”
That level of discipline, paired with a human-centered approach, is where Sequeira Yee believes loyalty strategy can deliver its greatest value.
“Ultimately, we want to help brands achieve sustainable, sticky growth,” she says. “And that starts with understanding the customer and designing every element of engagement around them.”
To learn more about how Bond is supporting their clients in the pursuit of customer loyalty, listen to the entire interview on Leaders in Customer Loyalty.