AIR MILES® Bolsters Collector Experience Through Series of Program Enhancements

Set against a refreshed, modern and whimsical visual identity, Canada’s most recognized loyalty program introduces more redemption benefits, more ways to earn, and more promo opportunities for collectors

TORONTO, October 4, 2021// The AIR MILES Rewards Program is excited to introduce a series of improvements to the program as part of its commitment to providing Canadians with an enhanced loyalty program that offers more choice, flexibility and value than ever before. Over the coming months, AIR MILES collectors will be introduced to more redemption benefits, more ways to earn and more opportunities to take part in promotions. Anchoring these program enhancements, and what is the crowning jewel of the revitalized AIR MILES brand, is the announcement of the all-new AIR MILES Flights platform, which officially launches this November.

Offering more choice, flexibility and transparency, AIR MILES Flights turns dreams into destinations while putting control back in the hands of Canadian travellers, who can easily choose their airline, class of travel, departure location (from anywhere in the world) and even how they pay. This is “flexibility in flight.” To revamp the flight program, we worked closely with collectors who provided feedback and input at each stage of planning, testing and development.

As one of Canada’s largest travel providers, and with nearly 30 years of helping to turn collectors’ everyday purchases into unforgettable flights, we’re confident that AIR MILES is delivering a flight-booking experience that Canadians will love. More details will be available in the coming weeks.

“In response to feedback from collectors and partners, we’ve focused our efforts to enhance the value we’re delivering while improving the experience at every touch point. From improving our digital properties, to launching new partnerships like Voilà by Sobeys and lowering the amount of Miles required to make a merchandise redemption on today’s top brands, we’re excited to deliver more value to Canadians,” said Blair Cameron, President & CEO, AIR MILES Reward Program. “This fall, Canadians can experience the beginning of our program enhancements that will continue throughout 2022 as we bring forward a lineup of benefits designed with the objective of helping collectors’ dreams come true.”

More Redemption Benefits:

AIR MILES Flights

Providing more choice, flexibility and transparency, our new flight booking experience comes at a time when 70% of collectors have expressed a desire to return to travel. Launching this November, AIR MILES Flights is a platform that provides Canadian travellers an enhanced experience, with more value than ever.

Merchandise Rewards – Great Brands, Fewer Miles

Over the past year, we’ve been making it easier for collectors to get a wide selection of merchandise products sooner by reducing the number of Miles required to redeem. This has resulted in collectors across all tiers saving millions of Miles while getting the products they love. In fact, collectors have received up to 26% more value on merchandise redemptions as a result of this improved value proposition. As part of the brand launch, we’re adding a little extra GRAVY with an additional 100 Miles off when collectors redeem for merchandise rewards using 1,000 Miles or more. Collectors simply need to use the promo code “GRAVY” to get a discount until October 31.¹

More Ways to Earn:

Card Linked Offers

This fall, AIR MILES is excited to share a new way for collectors to earn more Miles from more brands. Launching early November, our new Card Linked Offers program provides an entirely new way for collectors to get Miles at some of Canada’s favourite brands. Collectors can simply link any Canadian Mastercard to their AIR MILES account to have the opportunity to earn Miles at iconic brands such as Subway®, Boston Pizza, Indigo and more when using their linked cards to pay for purchases. We’ll be announcing more details related to Card Linked Offers shortly.

More Collector Benefits with Partners

A pillar of the AIR MILES brand is our longstanding partners, as well as the strength of our partner coalition. Through a shared commitment towards delivering tremendous value to our collectors, AIR MILES is rolling out new benefits for collectors this fall. Beginning October 1, the following benefits will launch:

• AIR MILES is proud to welcome all BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard holders to Onyx status and all BMO AIR MILES Mastercard holders to Gold status. These collectors can begin experiencing the benefits of AIR MILES status immediately through to the end of 2022.

• We’re also offering all Onyx collectors an automatic upgrade so that they’ll receive the benefits of Shell Go+ membership until the end of 2022, including 2x the Miles on most fuel or in-store purchases, and 5x the Miles when they use a BMO AIR MILES credit card.

• Finally, since launching a new website in 2020 that puts relevant and timely offers in front of collectors in an intuitive way, collectors now have more opportunities to earn value faster with hundreds of available Bonus Mile offers. Whether planning ahead for a shopping trip on airmiles.ca or staying connected with the AIR MILES app in-store for the latest offers, collectors can get rewarded faster with valuable bonus offers from leading brands like BMO, Sobeys, Shell and Metro, to name a few.

Online Shopping

The shift in consumer behaviour towards online shopping during the pandemic can’t be ignored. And with double-digit growth in e-commerce sales expected to continue for the next three years, collectors are looking for more ways to get Miles when shopping online. AIR MILES offers collectors a variety of ways to get Miles on online purchases, including through: 

• Voilà by Sobeys

• The Children’s Place

• Staples

• Metro Online

• Airmilesshops.ca, which features top brands like Sephora, Dyson, Amazon, Indigo and Samsung

• and with many more Partners.

More Promo Opportunities:

As AIR MILES introduces new program enhancements, collectors will experience first-hand all the extras that our program and partners offer. With more ways to earn and with additional bonus offers providing an accelerated path to rewards, our Q4 promotions will engage and excite collectors looking to get a little more GRAVY from life, including:

• Bonus Boom (Sept. 30 – Oct. 13): A highly anticipated promotion, AIR MILES continues to make it easier than ever for collectors to participate in Bonus Boom to help attain rewards by providing opportunities to shop multiple offers at the same partner. Collectors just use any three offers at any participating partner to get 95 Bonus Miles, enough for $10 worth of free products with AIR MILES Cash.

• AIR MILES Flight-a-Day Giveaway (Oct. 21 – Nov. 10): As we prepare for the official launch of AIR MILES Flights this November, we’re providing collectors with a shortcut to their dream destination with the AIR MILES Flight-a-Day Giveaway. Every swipe of the card or scan of the app at participating partners is a chance for collectors to win 1 of 21 daily $5,000 flight vouchers and the $25,000 flight voucher grand prize that winners can use for a trip of their dreams – it’s the easiest way to turn any eligible swipe or scan into an unforgettable reward.

• Bonus Boom Boost (Nov. 18 – Dec. 27): This holiday season, AIR MILES and its coalition of partners are giving collectors the opportunity to get a little extra out of their holiday spending with Bonus Boom Boost – a national coalition promotion that will help collectors get to their dreams faster. For a little extra GRAVY, each unique Bonus Boom Boost offer used by a collector is an automatic entry for a chance to win a national grand prize of 1 Million Miles, or to win one of four regional prizes of 250,000 Miles.

A MODERN TAKE ON AN ICONIC BRAND

To complement and support the program enhancements AIR MILES is bringing to market, we solicited feedback from our most engaged customers to help evolve our brand identity and better represent the direction in which the program is headed. And so, AIR MILES is excited to reveal the new visual identity for the AIR MILES Reward Program!

At the core of our new look and feel is a modern take on our iconic logo, alongside our new tagline “IT'S ALL GRAVY.” This tagline encapsulates what AIR MILES and its partners offer – that little bit extra; the GRAVY on top. When you’re an AIR MILES collector, you’ll get on board for a life of all the extras, such as:

• Getting Miles everywhere and earning Miles up to 7.8 times faster with an AIR MILES credit card*

• Gaining access to hundreds of offers from the palm of your hand with the AIR MILES app

• Saving money on your everyday spend on groceries and fuel with AIR MILES Cash Miles

• Turning dreams into destinations with the all-new AIR MILES Flights

• Turning everyday purchases into the products you want, and getting those products for fewer Miles

• Getting more Miles at more brands with AIR MILES new Card Linked Offers program

• Getting Miles from the comfort of your couch when shopping online with Voilà by Sobeys, The Children’s Place, Global Pet Foods, Metro Online, airmilesshops.ca and many more

“The modernization of the brand is a signal to our collectors and partners that AIR MILES – Canada’s most recognizable loyalty program – is on the cusp of something exciting,” said Blair Cameron, President & CEO, AIR MILES Reward Program. “We’re revitalizing, enhancing and revolutionizing the collector experience with more redemption benefits, more choice and flexibility, more ways to earn, more promotions and more value than ever before.”

To celebrate the beginning of the new brand, AIR MILES is launching a national marketing campaign that will excite and re-engage collectors and inspire non-collectors to get involved. Launched today, and set against a freshly designed digital environment, the advertising campaign will be executed on TV, out-of-home, PR, social, experiential, influencer and digital channels.

The focal point of the brand relaunch is a film spot that invites viewers to join AIR MILES on a journey through a magical, whimsical world that contextualizes “IT'S ALL GRAVY” by reminding us of all of life’s little extras made possible with the AIR MILES Reward Program. It’s a world where anything can happen, and does happen, just like the world that Canadians experience when they become AIR MILES collectors!

About the AIR MILES Reward Program

The AIR MILES Reward Program is Canada’s most recognized loyalty program, with nearly 10 million active collector accounts, representing approximately two-thirds of all Canadian households. AIR MILES collectors get Miles at more than 300 leading Canadian, global and online brands, and at thousands of retail and service locations across the country. It’s the only loyalty program of its kind to give collectors the flexibility and choice to use Miles on aspirational rewards such as merchandise, travel, events, attractions, instantly, in-store or online, through AIR MILES Cash Miles at participating partner locations.

For more information, visit: www.airmiles.ca.

For media inquiries: Rebecca McLaren, rebecca.mclaren@ogilvy.com

¹ Excludes donations, entertainment products and the Personal Shopper Service.

* Based on a comparison made between February 2021 and July 2021, showing an average of 2,557 AIR MILES Reward Miles earned by collectors who used an AIR MILES credit card vs. the average of 327 Miles earned by collectors who didn’t use an AIR MILES credit card