This episode was recorded live at CRMC 2022 in Chicago.

In episode 356 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Erica Hood, director of global loyalty at The North Face, a VF Corporation brand, the premier exploration company in the world. Hood discusses her role and how she's impacting The North Face's global loyalty strategy (0:48), why the brand decided to redesign its XPLR Pass loyalty program (2:03), and the level of collaboration needed across the organization to execute the relaunch (3:38).

In addition, Hood shares how customer research was a foundational element of the relaunch (4:56), and how The North Face is creating awareness for its new loyalty program (6:44). She discusses the business goals in place to measure the success of the XPLR Pass program (8:00), her advice for other retailers and brands considering a loyalty program refresh (9:54), and how data and technology are integral pieces to the process (11:09).

Erica Hood’s passion for the outdoors and 16 years of professional experience in brand strategy and loyalty led her to The North Face, where she's currently the director of global loyalty. At The North Face she oversees global loyalty strategy and most recently led the program redesign and rebrand, with emphasis on new program currency and reward mechanism design, naming, tone and messaging strategy, and integration of new program benefits and features. Prior to this role, Erica led a team focused on brand strategy and governance at Southwest Airlines, partnering with teams across the organization to design and deliver customer-first, on-brand experiences across every touchpoint of their journey. In addition, Erica has also worked on brands spanning a number of industries, including Hasbro games, Samsung Mobile, Tropicana and Quaker, and Harrah’s Casinos to name a few.