Several years ago, the Canadian Automobile Association (caa) began to lose its grip on the Canadian roadside assistance market, as competitors like Canadian Tire and many of the major automobile manufacturers began offering similar services to their customers as a way of adding value to their existing relationship. caa was worried.

But that was then.

Now, according to Lawrence Sheffit, director of sales and marketing for CAA Central Ontario, the largest of 11 independent regional chapters that form the 3.8 million-member non-profit caa federation, the association is eager to take on all comers.

It has launched a retail-oriented loyalty program, it’s piloting an adaptation of its familiar roadside assistance program for homeowners, it’s developing a full-fledged database marketing strategy, and it is generally focusing on giving its members more of what they want.

‘[Our members have] very clearly indicated that they’re strongly in favor of caa becoming more than a provisioner of roadside assistance,’ Sheffit says, noting that, in addition to its flagship auto club program, caa has already built a solid foundation for itself in the home and auto insurance, and travel businesses.

However, he says, ‘There are other opportunities.’

One such opportunity is a card-based loyalty program piloted last summer in Ontario with Sunoco, a regional operator of gasoline service stations throughout the province. A similar program is being tested by caa’s B.C. chapter with Mohawk Oil.

The program works as a ‘Swipe and Save’ effort, where customers who present their caa membership card (the association recently issued all its members with a new durable plastic membership card with a magnetic data capture stripe on the back) can earn up to 2.5% of every purchase toward their annual caa membership renewal fee. Points that exceed the value of a membership can be applied to other caa services and products.

According to Sheffit, the ‘uptake’ on the program has been tremendous. ‘The early response has certainly exceeded our initial projections,’ he says.

Still searching for additional anchor partners for the program in Ontario, Sheffit says the experience with Sunoco has been critical because it is ‘an early demonstration that we can deliver market share to a partner.’

Vowing that the Swipe and Save program will evolve over the next six months in areas where caa members have expressed a particular interest, Sheffit says, ‘We’re taking a look at the things our members have deemed to be important in terms of where they spend money and where they would like to see us apply our ability to negotiate value-added benefits on their behalf.’

As successful as the Swipe and Save program is shaping up to be, however, it is still just one element in caa’s new-found strategy of moving away from being merely an automobile association to a membership-driven organization where ‘the intent is to provide relevant benefits to our members.

‘We’ve stepped back and re-examined our raison d’etre,’ Sheffit says, ‘and decided that there’s a wonderful opportunity for caa to cash in on the tremendous loyalty, trust and brand equity that we have.’

One such program currently being piloted in b.c. is CAA at Home, which is, in effect, a home extension of the caa roadside assistance program. Explains Sheffit: ‘If a tree falls on your roof or your furnace stops working, you can call caa. We’re going to be extending the peace of mind of our auto club and bring it into the home.’

Describing the changes at caa as an inevitable ‘evolutionary process’, Sheffit says the competitive threat that caused the association so much anxiety years ago is now welcomed. Stating that caa is finally free of the curse of being everyone’s ‘favorite maiden aunt,’ he adds, ‘We’re becoming a lot younger, a lot more responsive and faster moving. Competition has done wonders for our organization.’