Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360
Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360
AIR MILES®: Creating One Exceptional Experience To Increase Customer Engagement
Thirty years ago, AIR MILES® launched its Reward Program, essentially inventing the coalition loyalty concept. Over the course of three decades, the Canadian program has pulled together over 300 brands and thousands of retailers and service locations, offering collectors — the program’s members — a massive amount of choice encompassing everyday and aspirational products, travel options, events, and attractions.
Today, AIR MILES is making a resurgence as brands come together to share customer relationships, data and insight, and the power of the network. It’s a perfect time to re-energize the AIR MILES brand, making the most of its assets, including its nearly 10 million collector base, a mountain of data, and most importantly, the value the program brings to Canadians.
Uniting a coalition of brands together under the auspices of AIR MILES created a powerful program not only because of how collectors can earn rewards points but also because of how they can be used. There’s real power in giving people more choices and allowing them to earn and redeem wherever they shop.
Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, spoke with Shawn Stewart, President of AIR MILES, about the recent acquisition by BMO Financial Group (BMO), changing strategies to better serve the brands utilizing the program, and leveraging data to increase personalization.
Good afternoon, good morning. It's Mark Johnson from Loyalty 360. Hope everyone's happy, safe and well. Want to welcome you back to another edition of our Leaders in Customer Loyalty series. In this series we speak with leading brands about what they are seeing and hearing on the front lines of customer channel and brand loyalty. Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Sean Stewart. He's the president of AirMiles in Canada. They are a very esteemed and long lasting coalition program in Canada. So, Sean, thank you very much for taking time to talk to us today. Thanks, Mark. Thanks for having me. First off, we'd love to know a little bit more about you. We'd like to start with you on a personal level to get to know the person we're speaking with their history, work history, who they work for, what they do, their current role.
Speaker 1:so what do you do at AirMiles? And maybe a fun fact or a passion about you what do you like to do outside of work?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, sure. Well, why don't I start there? I'm a musician and a songwriter, so whenever I'm not busy with this loyalty stuff, I like to mess around on guitar and write songs. But as far as my professional life, I landed back at AirMiles just over a year ago, but I was here 12 years ago, and so it's my second tour of duty coming to AirMiles, most recently at Canadian Tire, a big Canadian retailer driving the development of the Triangle program, and so pretty excited to come to a brand that's been around for 30 years and inject some new energy, some new perspective. Obviously, the loyalty landscape has changed and we need to evolve to keep up.
Speaker 1:For those who may not, familiar with the AirMiles reward program can you give us a brief history and background of the program. A lot has changed over the years. It was good to know a bit more about the program's background the evolution and some of the recent updates we've seen and heard about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so been around for 30 years, I think we like to say. We invented the Coalition Loyalty concept and alongside that we've had some fantastic brands Vimo, who recently just acquired us, shell on the Gas side, metro on the Grocery side, plus 300 plus brands in the program. So we believe in the power of Coalition, we think it's making a resurgence as brands come together, as brands come together to share customer relationships, data and insight in the power of the network, and so we think it's a perfect time to reenergize the brand. I take advantage of our amazing assets, including our collector base nearly 10 million collectors, the data, but a most important value we're bringing to Canadians.
Speaker 1:As campus' largest Coalition Loyalty program, what can you share about the member benefits? What are some of the value that customers have by engaging with the program and how do they engage with the program? A few ways individuals can earn or redeem points. It would be great to know that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, what's important about Coalition is it's a collection of brands that come together not just on the ability to earn rewards points, but on how to use them, and so there's real power in giving collectors more choice on being able to earn wherever they shop, and I really believe that air miles can be earned everywhere you shop, in any way you shop, whether that's in our base program, whether that's with the BMO credit card, whether that's with our digital programs and mobile app.
Speaker 2:And, more importantly, I think, on the other side of it is on the redemption side, and the real value of the program is how you can use these rewards right, how you can pay for the necessities of life or treat yourself to a vacation. And I think what's special about air miles, since it's grown up over the years, is the breadth that we have to offer both on the earned side and on the redemption side, and from a partner perspective, it makes our program relevant all the time. It's not I don't just only pull out the card when I go for groceries, pulling out for gas and pulling it out for apparel, and the more our brand stays top of wallet, the more it benefits our partners in the long run.
Speaker 1:Partnerships are also a very big area of opportunity and interest for the members of loyalty360. We recently saw an announcement you had with a Canadian retailer, Dalarama, which gives a new way to earn bonus miles to the Dalarama Receipt Scanning app and the AirMiles app. Can you tell us a little bit more about that partnership, how it came to be and how some of these partnerships can benefit the customers of AirMiles?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think what's really important and what's changed, particularly from a technology and digital perspective is and Dalarama is a perfect example is how do we make it easier for brands to engage with the program. In the past, it would have been a bunch of technology accessing legacy point of sale systems that could take 12 months to integrate. Nowadays, you can link a card and put an offer out, and in the case of Dalarama, that's what we've done. And so, having just come from a retailer, really changing our perspective on what matters for a retailer. For us, it's not about issuing miles, it's about driving outcomes for the retailer, and so the faster we can do that, the more we can put something in the market, be agile and test different ways to do that. The more we're going to learn, the more we can actually prove the value of the program, the value of the reach with our collectors, and so our go-to market has completely changed in the last 18 months.
Speaker 2:It's not about having to come in issue air miles every day, having to do complete store integration, pos integration. If you want us for a seasonal period, we're going to be there. If you just need us for back to school, we're going to be there. We can be a promotional tool, but we can be more than that. We can be a customer insights service, we can be access to first-party data. These are assets that are accumulated on programs that we really haven't exposed to the fullest extent, and so my view now is it's not going into a prospect and saying, hey, you got to sign up for this program for five years. What is your problem? Now we have a broader toolkit that we can provide to our partners that we just haven't had in the past.
Speaker 1:Also, we heard that AirMiles recently introduced its Air, everything marketing campaign, which illustrates the five primary ways to earn miles, including AirMiles, shopsca, in store, linked loyalty, travel and credit card. Can you tell us a little bit about these opportunities and how these range of earning potential have resulted in rewards that keep the customers more engaged and loyal.
Speaker 2:Well, I think we've seen that diversity in general and loyalty, the ways to engage with the program, both digitally, going beyond the plastic card, if you will and we followed suit Now.
Speaker 2:The downside of that is it requires a lot more effort on customer comprehension and simplicity, and I think for us, we're focused on creating one AirMiles experience. I think in the past, these different experiences, like travel and card link and our shops program, have been pretty siloed, and so how do we bring that into one experience that makes it simple for the collector in, for example, our mobile app? That's really the home for the experience. But again, as I said, it gives us the opportunity to engage with more brands in different ways. The question now is how do you make that simple, both from a digital experience and then, I would say, from a personalization perspective, because when you have 300 plus brands in the program, I simply can't show those brands to everyone, and so how do we drive more relevancy in terms of using our data to? You know, pop out the top 10 that are really there for Mark right and really get the best value and return and engagement from our collectors?
Speaker 1:Personalization. It's a big topic with the brand members we speak with. We have periodic meetings with them and we get together and talk about topics and trends that are important and impact and personalization. Being able to leverage zero-party data first-party data to drive engagement and relevancy is crucial. It sounds like air miles is a surfer of data and many opportunities to leverage it.
Speaker 2:We do. I mean, listen, we are on mountains of data. I was very pleasantly surprised when I joined the organization at the shape our data is in and how it scales into the organization. But I'm a big believer in zero-party Like as much as I grew up as an analytics data scientist type. I think there's a lot of merit in just engaging collectors and asking them what they want and so finding that blend and being more relevant through just direct connection and better connection with our customers.
Speaker 1:I think you've touched on it a few times with the AirMiles app is a great tool for keeping your customers engaged, from the special offers to opportunities to earn additional miles. What are some specific ways your team is leveraging the app and the digital channel to engage and reward your customers?
Speaker 2:Well, first of all, we see it as our home. I mean, as I said, that should be the home for the experience. It should be the home for discovery and seeing the value in the program. But it should also make the experience simpler, right, and so engaging people and using the program digitally and not having to carry a card in their wallet is obviously pretty core to the experience. But at the end of the day, it's showcasing the great brands in our program. It's using our channels and as an extension of theirs, I like to think of us as being the retailer.
Speaker 2:So far, grocer Metro has an AirMiles offer, but they also have a discount offer on produce. I want to show it all Right. We have to see our channels in an extension for our partners and whatever is going to drive traffic and activity into our brands and provide value to our collectors whether it's miles or whether it's discount, whether it's accessing a partner's eFlyer we want to be there and use our channels to provide them that reach. So I think the key is to think of our app as going beyond just what the program offers. That's important, but at the end of the day, it's there to drive outcomes and reach for our partners, and there are lots of different ways to do that.
Speaker 1:AirMiles was recently acquired by BMO Financial Group and when you look at that acquisition, how does that help you leverage or potentially offer additional benefits to the customers as part of the AirMiles program?
Speaker 2:Well, bmo has been a partner since inception, so just over 30 years. We're thrilled that this acquisition went through on a number of fronts. The first is it gives stability to the brand in collector's mind. Obviously there's been ups and downs with the program over the years, but to have the backing of a top Canadian bank and the belief in how to grow this program whether it's through investment in the program, rethinking our value proposition on the credit card and how we integrate financial services and value in that space to Canadians it's really been. It's early days, but it's been incredible to sit alongside BMO now, on the other side of the table, and talk about how to grow this program together in this new world. It's ultimately just going to bring greater value and relevancy to Canadians, so we're really excited about that.
Speaker 1:The AirMiles credit card is also a significant part of your customer loyalty efforts. What are some of the benefits and additional offers that may be available to card holders?
Speaker 2:Yeah well, it won't be any surprise to you that those who have the AirMiles credit card also happen to be our best AirMiles collectors, and it goes both ways. One because they just get better value opportunities to earn more miles, to have better in different experiences that AirMiles provides. But it goes beyond that, like when you think about who your best collectors are. It's as I said earlier. The dividend you get from the program is table stakes, but these are the collectors who find the nooks and crannies and ways to use the program more effectively. And so when we think about our recent launch of travel, which we literally just launched last week, that gives collectors the ability to get better deals, to buy packages, to actually pay cash plus miles. Our BMO card holders get the best of market dividend from that product, and so it's the best way to keep engaged with the program to access the best of what AirMiles and BMO have to offer you mentioned looking at the value of the credit card.
Speaker 1:Private label, co-brand credit card issues are a big area of interest from our members as well. We actually had a working group that's focused on that topic. And what ways does AirMiles approach redoing the customer value proposition for its credit card program? Are there things that you may be looking to do going forward as well?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I think I would extend it beyond just the credit card, although you'll always get that amplifier effect but just how we reinvent the value proposition for the program. As I said, it's gotten so competitive that there's absolutely a table stakes in terms of the dividend. And how do we differentiate beyond that? I think for us, the space we differentiate is the depth and breadth of what we have to offer in terms of 300 plus brands. The value we're provided on the redemption side, In other words, the value you get for the points you earn, is only as good as your options to use those points.
Speaker 2:We think we're focused very heavily, as I said, not just on travel and aspirational, but how do we diversify our redemption catalog to become more unique and less commoditized? Yes, we have great everyday products, but how do we bring stuff to the table that you just can't get anywhere else? On top of that, our BMO card holders are always going to get the best customer service and experience. We're going to get priority within our call center channels. They're always going to get the best of what AirMiles has to bring to the table. The key for us as we reinvent that value proposition is making it differentiated.
Speaker 1:There's a great deal of discussion within our audience. We meet with brands on a weekly basis to talk about different facets of customer availability. So this era of economic uncertainty continued strong job growth, high inflation. How can loyalty, customer loyalty be a hedge against some of this economic uncertainty? How do you think the AirMiles program meets that challenge?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've seen it there's a flock to value, whether that's using the points you've accumulated over the years as an opportunity to get a free tank of gas or to get some relief on your grocery bill. We've absolutely seen that. Likewise, we think there's a great opportunity to showcase the value where Canadians are seeking value and so being more front and center, not just on the call it nondiscretionary categories. Those are absolutely critical and for us. Listen, we appeal to the wide Canadian population and everyone is looking to save a little money these days and we, absolutely with the support of BMO, have that value to bring. But also, once in a while, do a little surprise and delight, show up at a gas station and offer someone a free tank of gas, whether the little things we can do help Canadians through this time, both from value and on the other side again, redemption and getting the best value for the points they've worked so hard to earn.
Speaker 1:And when you look at your role as President of AirMiles, what's the biggest challenge you face and what keeps you up at night, and how do you potentially see that changing going into 2024?
Speaker 2:I'll go back to where we're shifting our strategic positioning. It's how do you go from just being a loyalty program to something more than that? The space in Canada is so crowded, it's so crowded and, as I said, the number of big national brands is dwindling. And so my view for AirMiles is how do you become a more open and flexible platform? How can you share I called off the shelf scale how can you share off the shelf scale, not with just big national brands, but with big brands or with brands of all shape and size, so small medium business in Canada, and so that's where there's a real need.
Speaker 2:These businesses can't afford to build their own programs, acquire the customer reach and data that we have. And so, for me, the white space and what keeps me up at night is that differentiation point. How do you go from just being another loyalty program who's compared on its dividend to driving relevancy on the B2B side? That ultimately gives collectors the ability to earn and redeem anywhere they go, whether it's a big grocer like Metro, a big gas retailer like Shell, or the mom and pop shop two blocks down the street to get value. And that's a space I think is untapped, and that's where we're focused. So it's making the program more flexible so that the retailer can use it in the way they need it to give value to collectors.
Speaker 1:Sean, what is the next big thing for customer loyalty, customer experience, that your brand is focused on or investing in today?
Speaker 2:So we've got a few things on the go. As I said, we just mentioned the relaunch of our travel platform last week. It's maybe a well-known or well-kept secret that we're one of the biggest travel agencies in the country on the redemption side, and we just launched a bunch of features that allow people to pay cash for travel cash plus miles but, more importantly, be able to buy pretty compelling packages with a pretty compelling earn rate on top of that. So that is a space. So we've got a plane in our logo and, on the aspirational side, we think we have the right to be a leading player on that side of the business.
Speaker 2:We're continuing to focus on simplicity, so converging, as I said, all these siloed experiences we have with AirMiles into the mobile app and making that the home. We can't make people jump through hoops. There's just not room for that. It needs to be simple, and so a lot of our investment is going towards the technology to support that on the front end, with the customer experience side, plus the technology on the marketing technology, a market martech side, on personalization, in order to enable that experience with the collector, because we've just got such a vast collection of brands, not unlike a retailer who has thousands of SKUs. We need to be able to do a great job, putting what's best and most relevant in front of collectors from our vast group of brands.
Speaker 1:When you look at customer loyalty. A number of great programs out there and you have helped steer a number of them to great success. But we'd love to know people who run programs what they feel about other programs. Are there programs that you're loyal to from a customer program perspective, customer loyalty program perspective or a general customer loyalty offering perspective, and we'd love to know what brands you're loyal to and why.
Speaker 2:I'll take a different angle on this Mark. I respect anyone who's in this loyalty space. It's a battle right now. I absolutely respect and I see the innovation as a result. But I get my inspiration from the gaming world. If you think about it in terms of like this is a customer engagement program and I just think the gaming world are really the pioneers on how to keep engagement, how to drive engagement not only on a daily, but often on an hourly basis, and how they do that. It's built into the DNA of those programs.
Speaker 2:So the gamification I know is an overused word, but I really believe we need to reward collectors for every time they engage with this brand. Whether they open an email, engage with an offer, download our app. There should be something waiting for them and there should be transparency around what they're getting for that. That's what the gaming world does. They literally give you a list of here's what you gotta do to get rewards and you go on your mission and you do all these things in these games and you're rewarded for it. That transparency, communication. I just think there's a ton to be learned from that space.
Speaker 1:Well, Sean, thank you very much for taking the time to do this today. We appreciate feedback. It was great getting to know you a little more, as well as getting to know a bit more about the Air. Miles program. I appreciate it. Thank you, mark, thanks for the time and thank you to everyone else for taking the time to listen today. Make sure you join us back for another edition of our Leaders in Customs with the series. Until then, have a wonderful day. Hahaha, passtime is driving me crazy.