As part of the Augeo Luminaries Speaker Series in conjunction with the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, Augeo CMO Ken Greer recently interviewed one of his childhood friends—renowned New York Times columnist and three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tom Friedman. Tom’s career spans four decades and has carried him from the Arctic to the Amazon. He’s covered wars, famines, the COVID-19 pandemic—everything that brings him to the edge of stories.

In the first podcast from Entertainment® Rewards & Incentives, Augeo CEO David Kristal shares his perspective on the evolution of loyalty and engagement—and what he believes lies ahead for the industry in a post-COVID world.

The Minnesota Star Tribune's featured article focuses on how the pandemic prompted an increased demand for e-commerce. Major retailers with established e-commerce models share their wins and the journey to success they have experienced and benefited from during the pandemic. Supermarkets in particular have witnessed astronomical growth as a result of an increased demand for online ordering and shopping. This shift in consumer buying has created a vast amount of opportunity for these companies as we look ahead to the coming year and begin planning for the unknown. As featured in the article, Augeo CEO, David Kristal shared insights into how companies can leverage this time to retain and fuel growth within their respective industries.

Ken Greer, Augeo CMO, recently had the opportunity to participate on a panel discussion about Gamification. While the three presenters came from different backgrounds, all agreed that "gamification" is not just playing games. Gamification can help organizations accomplish tangible business goals such as fostering collaboration or team building, increasing consumer product knowledge or training a workforce. The key to a successful gamification strategy is to keep in mind that "the game" is not the end game. Rather it is a means to a business-driven outcome.

We all want to get back to the way things used to be, but is that possible? And if returns to in-person environments are realistic, what does this look like? We wanted to get the answers straight from the experts. Augeo President, Experience, Joan Wells, sat down for an interview with ISES President, Paloma Beamer, to discuss.

And so the game begins. The game of call, punt, follow-up call, punt, timeout to level set, finger pointing, punt, call, move on to something else, lagging sales, and eventually "We talked about this six months ago, why don't we have it ready?".