Three men in a hotel room. It's a modest beginning for a business success story now studied in MBA classes and emulated by loyalty programs worldwide. But that's exactly how LoyaltyOne started in 1991, when entrepreneurs Craig Underwood, Sam Duboc, and Rob Gierkink moved three desks into room 311 at the Cambridge Suites Toronto to realize a new kind of loyalty program: the AIR MILES® Reward Program.

Unlike loyalty programs that came before it, AIR MILES is based on a unique coalition model, where Sponsors share marketing costs and consumer data while combining forces to reward their customers more rapidly. AIR MILES was an almost immediate success in Canada. After six months, the program attracted some 2 million Collectors. In its first year, 13 participating Sponsors joined the coalition, including Bank of Montreal and Canada Safeway. AIR MILES quickly became Canada's premier loyalty program, then one of the most successful in North America.

In 1998, after six years of spectacular growth, AIR MILES captured the attention of Alliance Data. A leading provider of credit card and transaction services, Alliance Data was itself building a formidable coalition, acquiring successful companies to add to its loyalty and database marketing capabilities. AIR MILES joined recently acquired COLLOQUY, a hub for information and research on loyalty trends and best practices, under the umbrella of Alliance Data Loyalty Services. Building on that momentum, the group then launched two new businesses: Precima, which transforms analytical consumer insights into profitable retail strategies, and Direct Antidote, a creative direct marketing agency. In addition, COLLOQUY’s highly experienced strategic consulting team became LoyaltyOne Consulting.

Our story is truly one of the power of numbers at work. We reward 9.5 million active AIR MILES Collectors. Maintain and leverage terabytes of consumer data. Issue billions of AIR MILES reward miles. Share our insight with a global audience of more than 30,000 loyalty marketers. And continue to build on our 15 years of experience, creating lasting loyalties and remarkable results for more than 100 name-brand Sponsors.