hellobighandshake@thegiftclub.io
HANDSHAKE
Gift Cards and Incentives
Brought to you by the The Gift Club
14 May 2025: Novotel, Amsterdam City Centre
For the 3rd year running, we’re back with The BIG Handshake (TBH) Gift Cards for a one day networking event in Amsterdam
CEO and Founder of The Gift Club and The BIG Handshake
An absolute must for anyone associated with gift cards, incentives and rewards in Europe and beyond
Day One, 14th May - 1pm to 7pm
Day Two, 15th May - 9am to 4pm
Novotel Hotel Amsterdam City Centre, Europaboulevard 10, 1083 AD Amsterdam, Netherlands
13 and 14 May 2025
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Meet the industry know-it alls who'll be gracing us with their presence and injecting you with knowledge and wisdom!
Meet the industry know-it alls who'll be gracing us with their presence and injecting you with knowledge and wisdom!
Workshops offer an opportunity for guests to take the first steps towards solving common real life business problems.
Hosted by an industry ambassador, attendees will have the opportunity to choose which workshops to attend after registering online.
by invitation only
Workshop: Creating a loyalty life cycle and a loyal customer from day one
This workshop will be an interactive session where we identify key stages of the ‘loyalty lifecycle’ and the things you can do at each stage to engender long-term loyalty. We will share best practice examples and discuss actionable quick wins that will make your customers more likely to buy more and stay longer.
Workshop: Making loyalty pay – subscription based loyalty schemes
In this session, you’ll learn about the benefits of paid for loyalty and discuss the key facets of creating a package of benefits that offers value to the right customers, at the right time whilst delivering fair levels of long-term profit (e.g. in line with regulatory requirements). We’ll workshop a package of benefits and a price point too.
Making loyalty pay – subscription based loyalty schemes
Supported by The Marketing Lounge Partnership
by invitation only
Workshop: Profit from the Loss ( of your customer)
Discuss points around reviewing the problem of losing customers and how a business can profit from a loss of a customer. Learn about ways to set a business up to allow for the short fall such as identifying the cost of acquiring a new loyal customer, marketing & advertising budgets and the average size of purchase per loyal customer. We’ll also cover making the exit classy and encouraging a return with personalisation strategies. You’ll learn ways to keep the door open, evaluate ‘fit’ and plan for losses.
Workshop: What’s the real value of Sustainability / ESG?
Everyone’s talking about it, but what exactly does it do for your brand?
Identify what its real value is to loyalty?
Discuss points around reviewing the problem of losing customers and how a business can profit from a loss of a customer. Learn about ways to set a business up to allow for the short fall such as identifying the cost of acquiring a new loyal customer, marketing & advertising budgets and the average size of purchase per loyal customer. We’ll also cover making the exit classy and encouraging a return with personalisation strategies. You’ll learn ways to keep the door open, evaluate ‘fit’ and plan for losses.
Please get in touch with us for sponsorship and moderation opportunities
Join the” love personalisation” crew to thrash out how to turn new data into love and friendship. Also, how can brands continue to use traditional forms of communication with customers to elicit these emotions? You’ll go away with practical knowledge on identifying new ways to engage customers through strong emotions and love for your brand.
Please get in touch with us for sponsorship and moderation opportunities
It’s a tough game to keep customers engaged with a brand, but investing in apps and machine learning personalization, reducing data collection, and NOT copying others are good risks to take. You will discuss and go away with new insights and learnings on how these innovative steps can improve the quality of your loyalty program.
Please get in touch with us for sponsorship and moderator opportunities for this workshop
Philip Shelper is the CEO of loyalty consultancy Loyalty and Reward Co. Phil is responsible for highly innovative loyalty strategies for major brands including McDonalds, UEFA, Schneider Electric, Gillette and Klarna and is the author of Amazon bestseller, ‘Loyalty Programs: The Complete Guide’.
Join Phil for this fantastic opportunity to understand the very latest trends in Loyalty through an interactive workshop and bag yourself a copy of the new edition of his book!
Please get in touch with us for sponsorship opportunities for this workshop
Meet the industry know-it alls who'll be gracing us with their presence and injecting you with knowledge and wisdom!
Here's the breakdown of the two days to include all networking, learning and entertainment opportunities.
Supported by The Marketing Lounge Partnership
For hand picked Heads of Loyalty and CRM from these industries – Financial Services, Insurance, Electrical, Automotive, Home Retail, DIY Retail, and Home Construction
3 course meal, Prosecco
This workshop will be an interactive session where we identify key stages of the ‘loyalty lifecycle’ and the things you can do at each stage to engender long-term loyalty. We will share best practice examples and discuss actionable quick wins that will make your customers more likely to buy more and stay longer.
Manners in Marketing- How to foster a culture of good manners. Saying Please, Thank you and Sorry to your customers
Great marketing won’t save a company with a poor culture and poor customer service….but great marketers can create a culture of customer care and provide customer facing team members with the tools to deliver great customer experiences. The simplest way to do this, is to create a culture of manners, where your teams feel empowered to say ‘please, sorry and thank you’ and take action to overcome a bad experience, make a customer feel better or by just saying thank you to a nice customer. We will discuss the ways in which you can create this culture and the benefits of doing so.
Leg stretching time and recess. Enjoy coffee, tea and biscuits in the company of your peers
Making loyalty pay - subscription based loyalty schemes
In this session, we’ll learn about the benefits of paid for loyalty and discuss the key facets of creating a package of benefits that offers value to the right customers, at the right time whilst delivering fair levels of long-term profit (e.g. in line with regulatory requirements). We’ll workshop a package of benefits and a price point too
Gen Z Loyalty - Why don't they behave like the rest of us?
Tom Peace is Managing Director of The Loyalty People, a strategy consultancy with a laser focus on loyalty, CRM and Customer Engagement. Tom will present on how Gen Zs just don’t react to loyalty in the same way as the rest of us. There is a huge generational gap in their requirements for loyalty! Join Tom for this insightful presentation on how to engage this complex demographic and find out about how we’re all becoming a little Gen Z!!
Supported by ( Sponsorship Opportunity Available)
For hand picked Heads of Loyalty and CRM from these industries -FMCG, CPG, Fashion, Beauty, Telco, Hotels, Airlines and Travel
3 course meal, Prosecco
Loyalty program optimisation - with Philip Shelper and Ryan De Boer from Loyalty & Reward Co
Participants will discuss how their existing loyalty programs rate vs best-practice principles. Advice will be provided on approaches to optimise loyalty program effectiveness using data analytics, commercial modelling and adoption of industry trends. A model will be presented which details how loyalty programs can be used to support the full digital transformation of a company with the end result being the ability to deliver omnichannel personalisation. A range of new loyalty tech innovations will be presented for discussion.
Gen Z Loyalty - Why don't they behave like the rest of us?
Tom Peace is Managing Director of The Loyalty People, a strategy consultancy with a laser focus on loyalty, CRM and Customer Engagement. Tom will present on how Gen Zs just don’t react to loyalty in the same way as the rest of us. There is a huge generational gap in their requirements for loyalty! Join Tom for this insightful presentation on how to engage this complex demographic and find out about how we’re all becoming a little Gen Z!!
Leg stretching time and recess. Enjoy coffee, tea and biscuits in the company of your peers
What’s the real value of sustainability / ESG?
Everyone’s talking about it, but what exactly does it do for your brand?
Identify what its real value is to loyalty?
Coffee, tea, pastries and some good old early morning networking
Imagine if the consumer world was 100% digital
Wallets, apps, gamification, AI, the Metaverse and personalisation. In 30 years time, perhaps the consumer world will be 100% digital. Join this relaxed discussion on how brands can market to and engage with their customers using digital loyalty in a future world where there will be no other channel of communication!
Subscriptions - Pros and Cons
Take part in this interactive discussion. We’ll throw the debate open to the audience and get you all to decide which is the most effective loyalty marketing strategy in a world of increased competition and skyrocketing customer acquisition costs. Which side of the fence do you sit in this very topical debate?
Coffee, tea, biscuits and some good old late morning networking
Loyalty strategy best practice - Philip Shelper, CEO, Loyalty & Reward Co
Phil is the CEO of the fast growing loyalty strategy firm Loyalty and Rewards Co based out of Australia and expanding globally. Phil is responsible for highly innovative loyalty strategy for major global brands such as McDonalds, Flybuys and Klarna. He is also the author of ‘Loyalty Programs: The Complete Guide’. Join Phil for this fantastic opportunity to understand the very latest trends in loyalty through an interactive workshop.
Pushing customer loyalty into the centre of your business led by Dave Allen and Ralph Browning at Epsilon
Loyalty should be a key indicator of business success, right ? Yet often it is not viewed in this light. This workshop, aimed towards Loyalty leaders, will cover best practices and practical tools to put your programme at the core of your business and guarantee C-Suite attention and bigger budgets.
Topics will include:
Dine on some delicious dishes with your peers and take a well earned break
Getting data to work for you, emotionally.
Join the” love personalisation” crew to thrash out how to turn data into love and friendship. You’ll go away with practical knowledge on identifying new ways to engage customers through strong emotions and love for your brand.
Introducing smart risks to loyalty innovation
It’s a tough game to keep customers engaged with a brand, but investing in apps and machine learning personalization, reducing data collection and investing time in good segmentation are good risks to take. We’ll discuss how these innovative marketing steps can improve the quality of a loyalty program.
Digital Psychology: Online persuasion for loyalty marketing
What is digital and cyber psychology? We discuss the science of online persuasion in an attempt to digitally transform loyalty programs. - Is psychological insight just as valuable as technological advancements?
NFT’s in Loyalty. Success or fail?
A few brands, such as Starbucks, have leapt at the opportunity to engage their members with NFTs, but NFTs don’t seem to have made the impact in Loyalty schemes that was initially promised. Listen to our panel of experts discuss the opportunity for NFTs and debate whether this is a slow-burn or not a new strategy that works for loyalty.
Coffee, tea, more biscuits and pastries PLUS some more good old late afternoon networking
Women in Loyalty
Embracing female leadership. Our accomplished panellists will share their journeys, challenges, workplace breakthroughs and the future for women in the industry.
Time to unwind and relax and turn up the beat of the business conversations
“A BIG Thank You to you for making our day so spectacular. The work put into making it happen must have been immense and the organisation was top notch. The day itself was excellent – the content, the venue, the tone and the people all made it what it was – and everyone seemed to enjoy it, learned lots and made loads of human connections – exactly how we discussed! You tried to give MLP as much value as possible both prior and throughout the day and the little off the cuff ideas like following the cow on wheels to the bar for the networking drinks, really worked! Thank you again!”
Simon Jamieson, Managing Director at The Marketing Lounge Partnership. Lead Sponsor for Day 1 at the BIG Handshake Loyalty, Amsterdam
Here's the breakdown of your day to include all networking, learning and entertainment opporunities.
Supported by Blackhawk Network Europe
Coffee, Tea, Pastries
With Hadie Perkas, CEO of The BIG Handshake and The Gift Club
" Joyalty " - happiness that resonates through a business from leadership to employee to customer.
Discover the scientific link between employee engagement and customer loyalty and how a remarkable correlation can impact this relationship and the business outcomes. Explore the role of leadership in creating employee happiness. Customers can feel if an employee is happy or not based on the experience they have. And learn how business can positively impact that by keeping a close eye on the employees’ level of engagement. Join us for insights on cultivating a holistic approach to promoting business values for sustained success.
It is challenging to meet business goals in the current economic climate and to keep employees and customers engaged. Gift cards have the potential to go beyond their traditional role and become a tool for engagement, productivity, and growth. By adjusting our perspective, gift cards can be the driver of employee satisfaction, customer loyalty and organizational success Presented by Chris Ronald, VP EMEA B2B, Blackhawk Network
Get ready for some fast talking, close-up conversation ( mints and business cards / QR codes at the ready!). We invite everyone to enjoy The BIG Handshake’s first BIG speed networking session on Day One. In this session, you’ll have 3 minutes each to introduce your products or services to the person sitting opposite you before moving along to the next delegate. Listen out for the bell and our MC’s instructions
Delegate voting for the best pitch followed by The BIG Handshake’s best pitch presentation and awards
Coffee, Tea, Pastries sponsored by EZ PIN
Wendy Trienen, Senior Operations Manager at Blackhawk Network in The Netherlands and Chair of the BVCNL, will open the second day of the conference. She will talk about the mission and vision of the BVCNL and the great achievements the BVCNL as industry association has achieved since its founding. Furthermore a key summary of the BVCNL market data will be shared giving insights in the size of the Dutch gift card market and its audience.
Win Win Win - Cashfront vs Cashback, a unique gift card use case for targeted sampling in collaboration with retailers, intersolve and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners NL.
Focus: Building a new digital industry standard for driving trail of new products, growing existing user (fan)base and rotation of products on shelf. While driving traffic (buyers) to physical retail outlets at the same time. All connected with the fast growing “Digitizing the Path to Purchase” focus of brands and retailers. Win Win Win: Consumer, Retailer, Brand.
Presented by Marc van Venrooij, Head of Digital Marketing and Innovation at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and sponsored by Intersolve
Marketing: Can it make or break your gift card programme
Inadequate marketing efforts can lead to low sales. Investing in smart and effective strategies will raise awareness and incentivise gift card and gifting purchases. From making better processing decisions to diverse digital or physical approaches this panel will also delve into how the consumer will most likely respond to them.
The Art of B2B Partnership selling
Do you think selling a product or service is easy?. What about selling the idea of a concept? The BIG Handshake invites our audience to join this 45 minute practical workshop that will challenge what you think you know about securing new partnerships whilst learning a new type of sales skill. Is partnership selling an art or a science or a whole new ball game entirely?
How to create a fast-selling, brand new gift card
We invite our guests to join Annemijn Borsten, MD of Wonderbox in The Dam. She’ll be sharing what her 14 year B2B product journey has taught her about launching and marketing the fastest growing gift card in the Netherlands.
Brighten Brand Experience and Customer Retention by Turning Your Gift Card Product into a Loyalty Proposition
With more and more customers seeking distinctive shopping adventures, our panel will question the necessity of designing a unique “brand experience” to influence purchasing behaviour. Will the investment engender retention of the new world consumer with ever-increasing expectations? Through the lens of the gift card buying customer, they’ll debate the lengths companies should go (or not) to delight and reward customers and employees in an attempt to cement loyalty.
Using real life examples, they’ll look at brand retention strategies such as digital experiences, play tech solutions (gamification), immersive and sensory dimensions personalisation, eco-credentials and sustainability…
Gift Card and Incentives IQ Showdown
Find your team, secure your seats, and brace yourselves for the ultimate industry showdown of the year with our interactive multiple-choice inter-table quiz. This challenge will put your industry expertise and attentive listening to the test! While it's more than just a game, there are exciting prizes awaiting the victorious team.
Meet the industry know-it alls who'll be gracing us with their presence and injecting you with knowledge and wisdom!
Regional Vice President B2B at Blackhawk Network, One4all Ireland, Netherlands & DACH, Blackhawk Network
Meet the industry know-it alls who'll be gracing us with their presence and injecting you with knowledge and wisdom!
Regional Vice President B2B at Blackhawk Network, One4all Ireland, Netherlands & DACH, Blackhawk Network
Senior Account Director (Partnerships) & Sustainability Lead at Mando-Connect
Senior Operations Manager at Blackhawk Network in The Netherlands and Chair of the BVCNL
In May 2024 The BIG Handshake in Amsterdam attracted over 87 companies and 140 attendees.
Check out below to see what our past attendees have to say about their experience.
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If you need more information about the event, please don't hesitate to contact us. We are happy to answer any questions you may have and provide you with additional details.
Novotel Hotel Amsterdam City Centre, Europaboulevard 10, 1083 AD Amsterdam, Netherlands