Metro’s Moi deploys celebrity namesakes to drive personalization

Celebrities Jennifer Lopez and Ryan Reynolds are not endorsing Metro’s loyalty program – but their everyday namesakes are.

Lopez and Reynolds, along with Toronto’s Michael Jordan and Ottawa’s Julia Roberts, are the unknown faces being featured in a cheeky new campaign that sees the country’s third largest grocery chain lean into personalization.

“I think it resonates and speaks to star power [and] feeling… special, because [the rewards program is] all about personalization,” says Alain Tadros, VP and chief marketing officer, tells strategy. “Our priority when creating the Moi Rewards program was to put personalization at the core by generously rewarding customers, quickly and easily, without making them change their buying habits or put in extra effort.”

Metro officially launched its proprietary loyalty program, Moi Rewards, in Ontario on Oct. 24, with RBC’s Avion Rewards as its core partner.

The Ontario launch is an evolution of the Moi Program and follows the successful 2023 launch of Metro’s Moi coalition loyalty program in Quebec. The brand hopes to find the same success in Ontario with Metro and discount banner Food Basics.

Tadros says to combat loyalty fatigue and drive interest, it focuses on helping consumers earn points quickly and receive relevant personalized offers based on what they buy.

So far, it’s succeeded in driving loyalty in Quebec across its five different banners. According to a 2024 Leger Wow survey, Moi is the most widely used loyalty program in Quebec. A recent LoyalT study–which was conducted by Adviso and R3 Marketing with support from Ad Hoc Research – ranked Moi the third best loyalty program in Canada.

“There’s a lot of programs that are out there and talk about total membership,” Tadros says. “We talk about active members, which are members that are earning and redeeming points within our program.”

Tadros says two-thirds of its member base cross-shop and earn points in more than one Metro banner. They’re also a subset that also earns significantly more points and is more loyal over time.

Longstanding agency partner Open was responsible for TV, radio, OOH and digital. There is also an in-store execution and ambassador component, as well as in-store radio ads via partner, Stingray, across Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick.

Agnostic handled PR, The Neighbourhood Agency led corporate communications and Glassroom handled media.