Sobeys has reason to celebrate – its Club Sobeys passed the million member mark after the first six weeks. In mid-September, Sobeys customers started signing up in droves for the program, which allows them to collect points to be redeemed for in-store savings, food-related rewards from their online catalogue or Aeroplan miles.

The club was promoted in-store by employees, and through flyers, billboards, bus shelter ads, print ads and online at clubsobeys.com and the Aeroplan site. They also targeted Aeroplan members through emails and direct mail. Creative was done by Vancouver-based Rethink Communications.

‘It’s accelerated beyond our expectations so we’re pleased about that,’ says Belinda Youngs, chief marketing officer at Sobeys, ‘but the real success of the program will be how engaged and satisfied those people are over time.’