Tasti D-Lite Creates First POS Integrated Social Loyalty Rewards Program

By PYMNTS | July 3, 2011

Name: BJ Emerson

Title: VP of Technology

What I’m working on now… The mobility of systems and applications

What problem I am solving by doing it… Meeting customers where they are

My crowning achievement is… Spearheading our TastiRewards deployment, the first POS integrated social loyalty rewards program

When I go shopping, my preferred method of payment is… Credit card or, of course, my Tasti TreatCard

I think the next big thing for social technology is… Continued and accelerated adoption, greater connectivity and brand transparency

Cash is… Not as fashionable as a mobile device

Merchant loyalty programs are… Getting social

eCommerce is… Overdue for more consolidation

Mobile commerce is… Being driven by convenience and utility

Social commerce is… A wave bigger than any of us understand. Some will ride it. Others are unprepared.

The most important thing to consumers is… A quality product and dependable customer service that they can trust

My mentor is/ I’ve learned from my mentor… My father whose faith has impacted generations and continues to touch and inspire those he meets

Bio: BJ Emerson is an award winning social technology executive who has a long and consistent track record of innovation and leadership within the organizations he serves. BJ’s unique perspective comes in part from spearheading the integration of the Tasti D-Lite brand experience with online communities and was largely responsible for taking the brand from a place of social negligence to social prominence in just a few short years. He has appeared on CNBC, has been quoted in The New York Times, Reuters, Inc magazine, Entrepreneur, and AdAge as well as numerous other publications including the cover Hospitality Technology magazine.

His revolutionary use of mobile coupons on Twitter in 2009 earned Tasti D-Lite a spot in Twitter’s Business 101 Case Studies which ultimately led to invitations for Tasti D-Lite to be launch partners with business products for companies such as Foursquare and Google.

Considered a social loyalty pioneer in the industry, in 2010 he led the deployment of the first ever loyalty platform to feature an integration with Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare which has been recognized with a variety of industry awards. BJ was once named in Mashable’s Top 40 Brands on Twitter and the People Behind Them and his projects have been featured as case studies in 6 different books due out in 2011.

BJ currently sits on the board of SNAP Services, LLC which is the first Social Network Appreciation Platform to enable businesses to bring together point-of-sale transactions and the digital word-of-mouth customer rewards.