Updated Dec. 8
St. Louis-based Maritz has created two overtly defined and branded businesses, called Maritz Loyalty Marketing and Maritz Motivation Solutions, effectively dividing up the former Maritz Loyalty and Motivation business. A result of recent company realignment efforts, the two businesses will exist as more independently run units and get more targeted investments and resources to aid their respective client markets.
The Loyalty Marketing business is specializing in consumer loyalty programs for North America-based clients, while the Motivation Solutions business is working with companies on employee and channel recognition and incentive programs and with marketers to provide reward strategy and fulfillment for consumer loyalty programs and promotions.
Jim Menadier is leading the Motivation Solutions brand as its president. The business—as before, under Maritz Loyalty and Motivation—provides points-based, full-service global motivation solutions, which include employee recognition programs, sales incentive programs, and channel loyalty programs. Also, Motivation Solutions has a rewards division, headed by Mike Donnelly, that handles the merchandise, gift and prepaid card, and experiential services fulfillment portion of the business. The business has a new website, www.maritzmotivationsolutions.com.
Paula Godar, brand communication director for Maritz Motivation Solutions, says clients will be seeing essentially a seamless transition process, although, internally, the company saw a need to split up Maritz Loyalty and Motivation.
"There were enough differences between how consumer loyalty and employee engagement programs are being designed and operated" to warrant the restructuring, says Godar, even though Maritz Loyalty and Motivation saw useful "cross-pollination benefits." She says "it made sense to focus two different teams on the two spaces" and that their benefits to respective clients will be greater.
Godar also notes that another impetus behind the realignment was the growing consumer loyalty and marketing knowledge base out of Maritz's Toronto office. Thus, the Loyalty Marketing division is being based there, providing traditional points-based rewards programs as well as brand strategy and creative strategy solutions, consumer analytics, consumer learning and gamification, engagement marketing, and digital marketing for corporate clients in the United States and Canada. "Consumer loyalty clients will be directed to the Loyalty Marketing group in Toronto and benefit from newer solutions like digital engagement," Godar notes.
Maritz has tapped Bob Macdonald, president and CEO of Maritz Canada, to head Loyalty Marketing. He will retain the Maritz Canada titles. The business' website is
www.maritzloyaltymarketing.com.
So, besides being more independent operations, the two businesses have focused thought leadership in place, which will be able to react more quickly to market changes and demands. Meanwhile, Maritz’s two other business operations, Maritz Travel, headed by ex-San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau chief David Peckinpaugh as its president, and Maritz Research, remain intact. Their respective websites are www.maritztravel.com and www.maritzresearch.com.
The four businesses, especially Motivation Solutions, will continue to tap into the Maritz Institute, the company’s network of scientists, academics, and business leaders, to come up with program innovations in their respective spaces. Some areas of work at Maritz Institute are game science and game mechanics, digital and social media research, and program participant research.
"Michelle Pokorny [solutions manager at parent company Maritz Inc.] is our leader in developing new solutions that use game science and understanding how people are motivated and the differences between loyalty and engagement," Godar says. "There just continues to be so much demand for new solutions on complete motivation with an emphasis on human science. The entire experience of a program for participants is really resonating with our clients, and gamification continues to be a very interesting area."