Why we exist.
There is a quiet crisis in every business that depends on repeat customers. Brands spend fortunes convincing people to walk through the door for the first time - and then, once the customer arrives, almost nothing happens. No recognition. No progression. No reason to come back tomorrow instead of going somewhere else. The customer becomes a row in a database. A target for batch emails. A name on a list that gets a coupon every few weeks and a birthday message once a year.
The numbers confirm what anyone paying attention already feels. Customer acquisition costs have surged 40-60% in just two years. Customer experience quality in the US has declined for four consecutive years, reaching a new all-time low. And 23% of consumers say batch-and-blast emails actively damage their loyalty to brands.
Sources: Phoenix Strategy Group, 2025 · Forrester CX Index, 2025 · SAP Emarsys Customer Loyalty Index, 2025
Somewhere along the way, the industry decided that loyalty meant points. That engagement meant discounts. That the best way to keep a customer was to bribe them into coming back. So an entire category was built around tracking what people spend - not activating how they feel. And the results speak for themselves: roughly half of consumers now belong to more than five loyalty programs, yet engage with fewer than one in five. True loyalty - the deep, trust-based connection brands aspire to - fell to just 29% in 2025, a decline for the first time in five years of measurement.
Sources: EY Loyalty Market Study, 2025 · SAP Emarsys Customer Loyalty Index, 2025
We started Tronic because we believe the answer is not a better coupon. It is a fundamentally different relationship between a brand and its customers. One built on status, not transactions. On belonging, not bribes. On the simple idea that every person who chooses to spend their time and money with you deserves to feel like that choice mattered.
What we see differently.
Human beings are not motivated primarily by discounts. We are motivated by status. By progression. By the feeling that we belong to something, that we are advancing, that our participation is recognized in ways that feel personal and meaningful. The research isn't ambiguous. It's overwhelming.
Emotion outperforms satisfaction.
64% of consumers now ignore brand names entirely when making purchase decisions. What they respond to instead is relevance, value, and emotional connection. 70% of Gen Z report strong brand loyalty only when they feel understood and aligned with a brand's values. In a world where brand recognition alone no longer guarantees retention, the brands that build emotional bonds are the ones that endure.
SAP Emarsys Customer Loyalty Index, 2025 (10,000+ consumers, 5 countries)
Status drives behavior that discounts cannot.
Organizations with tiered loyalty programs report 1.8x higher ROI than those with flat, points-only structures. 37% of customers actively increase their spending to reach higher status levels. 50% modify their buying behavior specifically to achieve the next tier. The closer people get to the next level, the faster they move - a phenomenon behavioral scientists call the goal-gradient effect, and the engine behind VIP engagement.
Antavo Global Customer Loyalty Report, 2025 · Capillary Tech Loyalty Trends, 2026
Exclusivity creates loyalty that price cannot buy.
71% of consumers say they are more loyal to brands that offer them something exclusive. 73% feel a deeper emotional connection when a brand makes them feel recognized as part of something not everyone has access to. In a world where every brand offers points, the brands that offer belonging are the ones that win.
SheerID Consumer Loyalty Report, 2024 (3,200+ consumers surveyed)
The experience gap is widening - and it’s an opportunity.
Across 469 brands and 13 countries, 21% saw customer experience scores decline while only 6% improved. In the US, a quarter of brands have underperformed for two consecutive years. The brands that are stagnating are the ones still treating loyalty as a tracking exercise. The brands that are winning are the ones that built VIP experiences around status, recognition, and activation.
Forrester CX Index, 2025 (275,000+ customers surveyed across 13 countries)
What we built.
TronicVIP is a full activation and engagement layer for brands with repeat customers and physical locations. It deploys in days. Customers scan a QR code, enter a VIP experience, complete missions, earn status and rewards, and progress through tiers. No app download required. Fully operational from day one.
The platform is pre-configured and cloneable. A single deployment can scale across 10 locations or 500. The mission calendar, reward structure, and tier architecture are managed by Tronic - so your team gets the benefit of a sophisticated behavioral engagement engine without building or managing one.
And at the center of the model is a commitment we take seriously: proof over promises.
We start with a pilot because we believe what we're asking you to believe.
Every TronicVIP engagement begins with a 60-day pilot. The full Essentials platform, deployed at no cost. At day 60, the data tells the story; and together, we decide what comes next. We believe the results should speak before the contract does.
Where we are going.
TronicVIP started in restaurants because the pain is acute: a 78.8% annual guest churn rate, $375,000 in lost opportunity per location per year, and marketing teams trapped between board-level pressure for growth and operations teams that resist change.
Source: Bloom Intelligence, 2024-2025
But the belief - that every customer deserves a VIP experience - is not limited to any single industry. Any brand with repeat customers, physical locations, and an underactivated audience is a candidate for what we've built. Hospitality. Entertainment. Fitness. Retail. Health and wellness. The behavioral science is universal. The deployment model scales. And the proof-over-promises pilot means every new vertical begins with data, not assumptions.
We are building TronicVIP to become the engagement layer that sits underneath every brand that cares about how its customers feel - not just what they spend.
The team.
Ian Wolfman - CEO
20+ years leading brand engagement, CRM, and lifecycle strategy for Fortune 500 marketers and global agencies.
Lea Lashley - VP, Marketing & PR
Integrated marketing, earned media, and brand positioning across consumer, hospitality, and emerging technology verticals.
Artur Pawelko - Head of Business Development & Sales
Enterprise partnerships, revenue strategy, and go-to-market execution across hospitality and retail.
Dina Light - VP, Business & Client Success
Client strategy, program optimization, and operational excellence across hospitality, entertainment, and consumer brand verticals.
Thor Oden - CFO & COO
Financial strategy, M&A advisory, pricing architecture, and operational leadership across private equity, AI, and technology-enabled businesses.
If this resonates, we should talk.
Whether you're a brand leader looking for a growth engine that works alongside your agency and your operations team, or an investor evaluating the next generation of customer engagement - we're building something worth your attention

