AIR MILES®: Creating One Exceptional Experience To Increase Customer Engagement

Send us Fan MailThirty 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.