THE BAY JOINS AIR MILES PROGRAM
By Adnews Staff
The Bay of Toronto will become the exclusive department store sponsor of The Loyalty Group's Air Miles program on March 31. Under the deal, The Bay will offer one Air Miles travel mile for every $20 spent during a month when customers show their Air Miles card. The Loyalty Group will announce advertising plans to promote its new sponsor closer to the launch date. Advertising for Loyalty is done by Young & Rubicam and Wunderman Cato Johnson, both of Toronto. The Saffer Group of Toronto handles advertising for The Bay. Sears Canada of Toronto is currently the exclusive department store sponsor of the Air Miles program. The Loyalty group is ending that relationship because customers didn't like that they had to use their Sears credit card to earn air miles, and they had to collect 1,000 Sears Club points before getting any air miles. The Bay is owned by the Hudson's Bay Co. of Toronto. The Loyalty Group has 124 other Air Miles sponsors in the program. The Air Miles program was introduced in March 1992. Currently, membership has grown to 6.2 million households. Other key sponsors include the Bank of Montreal, Shell Canada, Blockbuster Video, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, Goodyear Canada, Canada Safeway, A&P/Dominion and Holiday Inn.