Loyalty Circle Just Landed in São Paulo, And It Was Amazing

15 of Brazil's sharpest retail and banking executives, no sales pitches, some very good wine, and invaluable insights on loyalty programs. That was the first stop on Loyalty Circle (our new global event series), and if this is where we’re setting the bar, we're excited to see it keep rising.

A Peer Group of Loyalty Experts

The whole point of the Loyalty Circle events is to build a community of decision-makers through intimate gatherings. And it looks like it’s working!

The night of July 18th unfolded at Miya Wine Bar & Restaurant in São Paulo, and the theme set the tone for everything that followed: "Loyalty as a Growth Engine in the AI Era," based on insights from our recent report. It sparked a real conversation for people who live and breathe retention numbers.

Panel One: The Questions Nobody Wants to Answer on LinkedIn

Kicked off by Comarch's Luiz Paveloski alongside Juliana de Freitas Elias (Cacau Show), Gabriel Pintucci (Petlove), and Thatiana Barros (Multiplan), the first panel didn't tiptoe around anything. The questions on the table:

• Are your customers actually loyal or just loyal to convenience?
• Can AI tell you the moment a VIP perk beats a discount at keeping someone around?
• How do you convince the board that loyalty is a strategic asset, not a cost center bleeding your margins?

Executives quickly jumped in to share stories they may not say out loud in their own boardrooms. What started as a panel turned into a full-room conversation about the big loyalty questions in the best way possible.

Wine, Because Great Ideas Need a Breather

No corporate event recap is complete without admitting the wine part was a highlight. A sommelier walked our guests through pairings that matched the wines to the dishes, and it turned "networking" from an obligation into an actual, enjoyable conversation. Half the best insights of the night probably happened here, with glasses in hand.

Panel Two: Okay, But Does AI Actually Work?

Round two went deeper into the tech side, with Nicolas Kim (Leroy Merlin), Fernanda Marcondes (RD Saúde), and Danielle Chagas (Claro) joining Luiz to tackle:

• Where AI is already delivering real personalization results and where it's still just a slide in a deck.
• How brands are using predictive analytics to know what customers want before they do.
• The eternal headache of data silos (looking at you, stores that still don't talk to your app).

The big takeaway is that loyalty will be more and more about using data and actually understanding customers, then building experiences that go beyond another “15% off”.

The night closed with a chef-curated dinner and a lively conversation. It was proof that Brazil’s loyalty community has been missing a space like this.

So, Should You Join a Loyalty Circle?

If you're tired of panels that feel like ads and surface-level networking, this is the antidote. Loyalty Circle is built to be intimate, honest, and genuinely useful, wherever it lands.

And it's landing a lot of places. São Paulo was just the opener. Singapore, Mexico City, London, Amsterdam, and more cities are next on the calendar through the end of the year.

Consider this your invitation to stop reading about loyalty trends and start actually talking about them over a great glass of wine.

Find an event near you.

Loyalty Circle is a global event series bringing together top loyalty executives for honest conversations, sharp content, and genuinely good company. More cities coming soon.