Lee McDermott

They repeatedly point to three pressures: customers are harder to reach, inbox attention is declining, and apps are expensive to build and even harder to get people to use. The wallet, they argue, acts like a CRM channel — a place to deliver offers, memberships and notifications — rather than a novelty loyalty card.

McDermott writes that almost every brand or retailer immediately recognises the problem, and that one question keeps coming up: "Why haven't we thought about the wallet before?"

• They put the same case directly to customers elsewhere: "Your customers don't need another email.
• They need a better way to hear from you."

McDermott describes moving from more than 15 years in email marketing and CRM into mobile wallet marketing. They say the goal throughout has stayed the same: creating better customer relationships.

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Wallet messaging sits alongside existing CRM, loyalty, eCommerce and marketing platforms, launching quickly without changing the customer stack or asking customers to install anything. Framing the channel as an extra layer rather than a replacement keeps the perceived switching cost low.

The Black Friday post lists four jobs for the channel: send push notifications, deliver offers and memberships, drive online and in-store activity, and work alongside an existing CRM setup.

• It states plainly: "No new app.
• No need to rebuild your tech stack."
• A wallet-pass post makes the same point operationally: the platform integrates with major CRM, loyalty, eCommerce and marketing platforms, so it can launch without changing the existing customer stack.

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Customers see the current state of their relationship with the brand instead of a card that goes stale.

The feature list includes automatically updated points balances, instant tier upgrades, personalised rewards and offers delivered to the pass, geo-location push notifications when customers are near a store, and lock-screen notifications with no app download. A worked scenario ties the features together: a customer reaches Gold status, sees the tier update immediately, then receives a notification when near a store with a reward ready to redeem.

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The wallet is presented as a way to be present on the phone without asking customers to download anything.

Black Friday is the illustration: with inboxes and message threads crowded, a wallet notification lands on the lock screen.

• McDermott closes with "Stop competing for attention in the inbox.
• Start putting your brand where your customers already are."
• The same peak-season framing connects the message to what follows: in-store redemption and activity after a wallet offer.

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Retailers recognise the symptoms quickly, but still need to learn what the wallet channel is and what it replaces. That diagnosis shapes the writing: plain explanations, objection handling, capability lists and short customer journeys rather than persuasion.

"The biggest gap right now isn't interest.

• It's education," McDermott writes, after describing brands asking why they had not considered the wallet before.
• The Dotdigital Summit post makes the same point to a partner audience: brands are looking beyond email and SMS for new CRM channels, and can engage customers through Apple Wallet and Google Wallet without an app.

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The posts document summit attendance, joint capability announcements and event follow-ups with the marketing platforms retailers already buy from, reflecting the view that wallet marketing reaches brands through those ecosystems.

McDermott writes about attending the Bloomreach Partner Summit in Amsterdam, where the topics to be discussed included CRM and customer retention, loyalty and memberships, mobile wallet engagement, personalisation and lifecycle marketing.

• They describe working with Ecrebo to combine engagement capabilities with wallet technology, claiming connected omni-channel experiences, high-performing CRM campaigns and in-store redemption with full visibility on results.
• They also report that Litecard attended the Dotdigital Summit and was recognised as Dotdigital's Innovation Partner of the Year 2026.
• The posts tag colleagues and partner contacts by name.

Read original · Original 2 · Original 3 · Original 4

The post answers the question the others assume: what does “mobile wallet marketing” mean in practice, feature by feature?

McDermott walks through what a Litecard pass in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet can do: points balances update automatically, tier upgrades appear instantly, personalised rewards and offers arrive on the pass, geo-location pushes fire when a customer is near a store, and notifications land on the lock screen.

• The pitch: none of this requires an app download, and Litecard plugs into existing CRM, loyalty, eCommerce and marketing platforms.
• The post closes with a worked scenario: a customer reaches Gold, sees the tier update immediately, then gets a notification near a store with a reward ready to redeem.

For brands planning a campaign

The reusable unit is the scenario, not the feature list. A co-branded retail engagement playbook could focus on a few named journeys, such as a status change paired with a proximity reward, and show how they integrate with a retailer’s current stack rather than replace its app.

The post opens by telling readers their customers don’t need another email, then sets the scene at Black Friday, when shoppers are already being hit with emails, SMS and ads from every retailer they have ever bought from.

• It lists four things a wallet channel can do: send push notifications, deliver offers and memberships, drive online and in-store activity, and sit alongside an existing CRM setup.
• The offer is an added channel, not a rebuild: “No new app.
• No need to rebuild your tech stack.”

For brands planning a campaign

The additive framing makes it easy to slot into a campaign alongside a retailer’s existing email or SMS programme. For a peak-season playbook, the post supplies both the argument and the timing.

McDermott says they moved from more than 15 years of email marketing and CRM into mobile wallet marketing.

• The post describes the reaction they keep hearing from brands: almost every retailer recognises the problem, and the recurring question is “Why haven't we thought about the wallet before?”
• It names three pressures: customers are harder to reach, inbox attention is declining, and apps are expensive to build and hard to get used.
• McDermott’s diagnosis: the gap is education, not interest.

For brands planning a campaign

This post combines the credential and the angle: translating email and CRM practice into a newer channel. An education-led collaboration—a webinar, explainer series or retailer-facing guide—fits how McDermott already positions the work better than a product announcement.

McDermott reports that Litecard attended the Dotdigital Summit and was recognised as Dotdigital's Innovation Partner of the Year 2026.

• The post says the day’s conversations reinforced that brands are looking beyond email and SMS for new CRM channels.
• It also repeats the mechanics: personalised push notifications delivered to mobile wallets without an app, covering loyalty updates, offers, memberships and rewards.
• Partner and colleague names are tagged directly in the post.

For brands planning a campaign

McDermott already uses a clear partner-marketing format: event presence, an award or recognition, co-tagged participants and a repeated technical message. A co-branded asset could build on that format, with the Dotdigital relationship as the most visible point of entry.

McDermott announces a collaboration with Ecrebo, combining Ecrebo's engagement capabilities with Litecard's wallet technology.

• The stated outcome is that brands can turn everyday customer interactions into ongoing relationships without asking for another app download.
• The post claims connected omni-channel experiences, “high-performing CRM campaigns” and seamless in-store redemption “with full visibility on results”.
• Colleagues from both sides are tagged.

For brands planning a campaign

In-store redemption tied back to wallet campaigns is the measurable claim a retailer would want tested first. Agree upfront which figures a partner is willing to publish or share.

Ahead of the Bloomreach Partner Summit in Amsterdam, McDermott lists the areas they want to discuss: CRM and customer retention, loyalty and memberships, mobile wallet engagement, personalisation and lifecycle marketing, and faster, lower-friction customer experiences. The post frames partnerships as a Litecard focus as more brands connect online and offline engagement through wallet experiences.

For brands planning a campaign

Use this list as a working agenda. It maps the modules a retailer-facing playbook would need and shows which subjects McDermott already discusses fluently with partners.

Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, they argue, give retailers a direct channel customers already carry.

• In one post, they describe moving from more than 15 years in email marketing and CRM into mobile wallet marketing, and say brands most often ask why they had not considered the wallet before.
• The pitch is additive, not a replacement: wallet messaging works alongside a brand's existing CRM setup rather than requiring a rebuilt stack.

Channel comparison framed as a category shift, with the wallet presented as an additional layer on top of an existing CRM stack.

For brands planning a campaign

A retail loyalty platform assessing McDermott for a co-branded playbook should expect channel comparison — wallet versus inbox and app — to lead the argument. A brief asking for a side-by-side explanation of when wallet messaging beats email, SMS or an app would build on the strongest recurring theme rather than restate it.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

McDermott writes that wallet passes integrate with major CRM, loyalty, eCommerce and marketing platforms. One post walks through a worked scenario: a customer reaches Gold status, sees the tier update immediately, then gets a notification near a store with a reward ready to redeem.

Feature lists in bullet form, paired with a short customer-journey example showing the features in sequence.

The posts describe benefits and integrations in general terms but provide no performance figures, test results or named retailer outcomes. Ask for measured case evidence before treating these claims as proven results.

For brands planning a campaign

This material can support a co-branded retail engagement playbook because it maps wallet features to specific loyalty moments — enrolment, tier change, proximity and redemption. Ask for the same worked-scenario treatment using the platform's own tier and reward structure, so the output shows the mechanics on a real programme rather than listing capabilities.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4

The framing ties wallet campaigns to periods of intense retail inbox competition and the in-store redemption moments that follow.

For brands planning a campaign

Seasonal retail moments offer a natural hook for co-branded content. Scheduling the playbook around a peak trading window and asking how wallet notifications complement, rather than duplicate, an existing peak-season email plan fits the way McDermott frames the category.

Examples: Source 1

They document attending the Bloomreach Partner Summit in Amsterdam and the expected conversations about CRM, retention, loyalty, memberships and personalisation; working with Ecrebo on wallet-based retailer engagement; meeting the Dotdigital team in London to combine wallet passes with their engagement capabilities; and Dotdigital recognising Litecard as its Innovation Partner of the Year 2026. The consistent theme is that wallet marketing reaches retailers through existing marketing-platform ecosystems.

The posts state these relationships and recognitions as they were described at the time; they do not set out commercial terms, and a partner mention should not be read as payment or a formal agreement beyond what each post says.

For brands planning a campaign

For a loyalty platform considering a partnership, McDermott's visible track record is in partner-facing, ecosystem-led content: summit attendance, joint capability announcements and event follow-ups. Specify whether the co-branded playbook is a market-facing educational piece or a partner-facing enablement asset; the existing material shows more experience with the latter.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4

Brands and retailers, they say, quickly understand the problem but still ask why they had not considered the wallet. The posts aim to close that gap, explaining the channel in plain terms and answering obvious objections about reach, apps and integration.

For brands planning a campaign

For a co-branded engagement playbook, take an educational, claim-by-claim approach rather than a promotional one: explain what the wallet channel is, what it replaces, what it leaves alone and where it fits in a lifecycle programme. Ask for direct answers to retailers' first objections — app fatigue, data ownership and integration effort.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The posts describe in-store redemption with visibility on results, tying the channel to measurable campaign activity rather than presenting it as a standalone gadget.

For brands planning a campaign

A playbook can cover deployment mechanics: what a retailer needs in place, what the wallet layer adds and how redemptions are tracked. Ask for an implementation section, not just a strategy section, to match the operational detail McDermott already publishes.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

Posts regularly tag colleagues and partner contacts and carry dense retail, CRM and loyalty hashtag sets.

For brands planning a campaign

Plan for concise, benefit-led sections with concrete examples rather than long-form essays, and expect co-authored or partner-credited output. Confirm current activity and themes before setting a commissioning timeline.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4 · Source 5 · Source 6 · Source 7

They write in the first-person plural about Litecard’s offer to retailers: personalised wallet push notifications, loyalty updates, memberships and offers, all delivered without an app download. The posts present Litecard’s product story, partnerships and partner awards from inside the business.

View example

They describe Litecard as a Dotdigital ecosystem partner.

• Litecard was recognised as Dotdigital’s Innovation Partner of the Year 2026 at the Dotdigital Summit.
• The posts cover both the announced collaboration and the award.

View example

The joint offer lets retailers deliver offers, memberships and loyalty experiences by wallet, with in-store redemption and campaign visibility. The post presents an ongoing offer, not a one-off mention.

View example

They called partnerships a major focus for Litecard. The post describes attending the event and exploring collaboration, not an existing partnership between Litecard and Bloomreach.

View example

Both connect wallet loyalty to how younger customers manage brand relationships through notifications rather than inboxes, and both discuss Litecard's wallet technology directly.

Peace writes as a loyalty-industry commentator and interviews others in the field, including in a video conversation with Litecard.

• McDermott writes from inside wallet marketing, describing channel capabilities, integrations and partner meetings.
• Peace tends to open with a blunt challenge to the reader, while they open with the retail customer's situation and then list the capabilities that answer it.

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Both write short posts that use a concrete retail scenario and a named technology to argue that engagement, not transactional selling, earns repeat business.

Prasad's examples focus on AI in retail operations and customer service, such as a multilingual drive-thru assistant handling orders and upsells, and claims about cost reduction.

• The channel is conversational AI rather than the mobile wallet.
• McDermott stays on one channel, explaining what a wallet pass does inside a loyalty programme instead of surveying AI's overall effect on retail.

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Both write to help loyalty practitioners do their jobs more effectively and use a structured model with a small number of named components to explain how programmes work.

Guinand's material, drawn from a book chapter, covers programme economics and the internal case: retention versus acquisition engines, key performance indicators, and how to present loyalty budgets to a chief financial officer. McDermott's material covers the delivery channel: what a wallet pass carries, how it integrates with the systems a retailer already runs, and why brands have not used the wallet before.

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The posts make that case from the customer’s side: the wallet people already carry isn’t the retailer’s app; apps are expensive to build and harder still to get downloaded; and Gen Z manages brand relationships through notifications rather than inboxes.

• The same post promotes a video conversation with Litecard, so the wallet-versus-app framing has already been delivered in interview form.
• Peace also brings a usable model, not just an opinion: the Bowtie of Personalisation, introduced in Chapter 6 of Rasmus Houlind’s Hello $Firstname, ties customer insight to content choice.
• The post argues that first-party and zero-party data matter more than ever in loyalty and CRM.
• A platform that wants its co-branded asset to open with the channel argument and then explain personalisation would get both from this material.

The material stops at the argument.

• There’s no detail on wallet implementation — tier updates, pass behaviour, offer delivery or how a pass fits alongside an existing CRM stack — which is the substance of the playbook the platform is commissioning.
• Peace makes the case for choosing the wallet channel; McDermott explains the mechanics that follow.
• If the deliverable is judged on working journeys rather than positioning, this is the weaker pairing.
• Ask McDermott for implementation examples before commissioning.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The two posts target loyalty program managers making the financial case and supply figures with named sources: members who redeem rewards spend 6.3 times more over their lifetime, and 80% of companies report positive ROI from loyalty programs, both from Antavo’s 2023 Global Customer Loyalty Report; Starbucks Rewards generates nearly 60% of company revenue, according to its FY 2025 investor update.

• The second post frames programs as two engines running at once — retention and efficiency on one side, acquisition and growth on the other — and cites the dual-economics chapter of Guinand’s own book, Strategic Loyalty.
• If the wallet playbook must be pitched as strategic infrastructure rather than a marketing cost, this framing does work the wallet material can’t do alone.

The posts cover program economics and personalisation, not channel mechanics.

• They offer no Apple Wallet or Google Wallet detail, pass behaviour, integration or platform comparison, so a wallet-specific playbook would still need material from McDermott.
• The figures come from a third-party report and a company investor update, not the author’s own retailer test results.
• They strengthen the argument but don’t prove performance the platform can stand behind.
• Ask for retailer test results if measured proof is required.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

One post covers KFC in Dubai launching a multilingual AI drive-thru assistant built with Sodaclick and Intel and powered by Americana Restaurants.

• It reports that 75% of customers accept upsell suggestions, with the system switching between Arabic and English.
• The second makes the broader operational case for AI in retail — inventory, customer service, supply chain and personalisation — and cites a potential 30% reduction in operational costs.
• A platform whose wallet product sits alongside in-store redemption or conversational ordering could use this material to extend the playbook beyond the pass itself.

The posts don’t cover wallets, loyalty passes or CRM channel mechanics, so the platform would have to supply the wallet argument.

• The striking numbers describe AI ordering and general operational gains, drawing on industry coverage rather than tests the platform could verify or stand behind.
• Both posts are also the oldest in the comparison, published July and September 2025, so ask whether they reflect current priorities before commissioning.
• Pairing them with wallet content risks producing a broader retail technology piece rather than the focused wallet engagement playbook the platform needs.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2