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Candice Troupe - Your Loyalty Points Are Worth More Than You Think · Stacked with Jennifer Laforge

• 0:00
  Jen LaForge: Today's episode of Stacked is going to highlight one of the fastest growing and most re-engineered loyalty programs I've had the honor of seeing and being a part of in the entire time I've been in the industry.
• 0:11
  Jen LaForge: And we are joined with Candace Troop to talk a little bit about that evolution, but also more importantly, how our consumers can be maximizing their points, loyalty, and cash back as we promised, learn how to stack and get the most out of every dollar.
• 0:25
  Jen LaForge: Candace, thank you so much for being here.
• 0:27
  Jen LaForge: Please share your background, your wealth of experience.
• 0:31
  Jen LaForge: Let our audience know really who you are and why you're here today.
• 0:34
  Candice Troupe: Thank you for having me.
• 0:35
  Candice Troupe: I'm thrilled to be here.
• 0:37
  Candice Troupe: My name is Candace.
• 0:39
  Candice Troupe: As you said, I have been in the loyalty industry in Canada for over 20 years now.
• 0:46
  Candice Troupe: I'm dating myself.
• 0:47
  Candice Troupe: Most of my career was at the AirMouse Reward program, and I had the opportunity to really start out in CRM data-driven marketing at AirMouse, had a huge passion for it, left the loyalty space a few years ago, and then had the privilege of joining Scene in 2023 and thrilled to be here.
• 1:07
  Jen LaForge: So you left and then you came back because you can't get enough.
• 1:11
  Candice Troupe: Correct.
• 1:11
  Candice Troupe: Yeah, I left the industry for a little while just to kind of explore other opportunities in marketing.
• 1:18
  Candice Troupe: So spent a little bit of time in research, in payments in transit at Presto, and honestly, like yearned for the opportunity to be back in the loyalty space.
• 1:30
  Candice Troupe: And in 2023, Scene had really started its transformation.
• 1:35
  Candice Troupe: And I just I wanted to be a part of that.
• 1:37
  Candice Troupe: And it's been a privilege to have been there ever since.
• 1:41
  Jen LaForge: And what an exciting place and time to come back.
• 1:44
  Jen LaForge: That is an amazing transformation of the loyalty program.
• 1:48
  Jen LaForge: We'll talk a little bit about that, but it is quickly becoming one of Canada's largest loyalty ecosystems.
• 1:55
  Jen LaForge: Before we dive in, a key question I've been asking a lot of our guests is your definition of value and how you would define value within the loyalty space?
• 2:05
  Candice Troupe: When we talk about value, we we talk about it in kind of two ways.
• 2:10
  Candice Troupe: So one is from a member perspective.
• 2:12
  Candice Troupe: We have over 15 million members who are part of the program in Canada now.
• 2:17
  Candice Troupe: We were at 10 million just over five years ago.
• 2:20
  Candice Troupe: So massive growth.
• 2:21
  Candice Troupe: And so when we think about that value, first of all, we actually ask our members what matters to them.
• 2:28
  Candice Troupe: And we know points matter, the ability to earn them in the places that they shop every day and to earn lots of them so that they can redeem for things that they love.
• 2:38
  Candice Troupe: But you know, given the current state of the economy, members also care about discounts and they care about the opportunity to have cash back at Raccuton.
• 2:49
  Candice Troupe: And they they care about the opportunity to convert all of that into things that are meaningful in their life.
• 2:55
  Candice Troupe: So whether that's redeeming for a gift card, whether that's being able to take a trip, that's their definition of value.
• 3:01
  Candice Troupe: And to your point, Jen, they love to stack it.
• 3:03
  Candice Troupe: So they're willing to, you know, not necessarily go out of their way.
• 3:08
  Candice Troupe: They're willing to do the work to create the most amount of value for themselves as long as it's not full of friction.
• 3:14
  Candice Troupe: And I think one of the things that's great about Scene is for the most part, it's a super easy program to be able to get value from.
• 3:20
  Jen LaForge: Let's talk a bit about that evolution of the Scene Plus program.
• 3:23
  Jen LaForge: You've done a great job building the base and the education on the new program, but many consumers and Canadians might still be thinking of SEAN as that movie loyalty program where you're earning points for popcorn and concession treats.
• 3:37
  Jen LaForge: In fact, it is a complete 180, 360 into a full ecosystem.
• 3:44
  Jen LaForge: Can you explain that the change in who Scene Plus is now and maybe why you decided to create that ecosystem?
• 3:52
  Candice Troupe: Yeah, absolutely.
• 3:53
  Candice Troupe: So Scene has been around for almost 20 years.
• 3:56
  Candice Troupe: We're having our 20th anniversary next year, which is amazing.
• 4:00
  Candice Troupe: Thank you.
• 4:00
  Candice Troupe: And its origin story is rooted, as you said, in the movies and in banking.
• 4:08
  Candice Troupe: So Cineplex and Scotia Bank were the OGs of the SEAM program.
• 4:12
  Candice Troupe: We were called SIN at the time.
• 4:14
  Candice Troupe: And in 2021, um, Scotia ended up effectively going all in.
• 4:21
  Candice Troupe: They had two loyalty programs.
• 4:22
  Candice Troupe: So they had the SIEM program and they had Scotia Rewards, and they decided to invest fully in the SIN program.
• 4:29
  Candice Troupe: So that was sort of the first part of the transformation.
• 4:32
  Candice Troupe: And then a year later, Empire joined the SEAN program, not just as a partner in the program, but actually as an owner in the program.
• 4:40
  Candice Troupe: And if you're not familiar with Empire, that's SOB, Safeway, Foodland, Fresco.
• 4:45
  Candice Troupe: They have a number of grocery brands.
• 4:47
  Candice Troupe: So another really transformative moment because in loyalty, you have to have enough elements of everyday earn for the program to be kind of inherent in your life, to create the habit in your life.
• 5:01
  Candice Troupe: We went, as I said, from 10 million members to 15 million members.
• 5:06
  Candice Troupe: And in that process, we started to add some other partners as well.
• 5:10
  Candice Troupe: And the way that we think about partnerships is really we're super intentional about it.
• 5:15
  Candice Troupe: So, first of all, we ask members what they want in terms of the categories that they care about.
• 5:20
  Candice Troupe: We are rooted in this idea that whoever is part of the program needs to feel essential to the members' life.
• 5:28
  Candice Troupe: And so we've added very intentionally to this ecosystem, now in a place where we have over 4,500 physical locations and the opportunity for members to effectively get everything they need in one place in one loyalty program.
• 5:44
  Candice Troupe: So that in and of itself creates value because it means that you don't have to go elsewhere to be able to get what you need out of the program.
• 5:50
  Jen LaForge: Why is that the coalition of all these partners within this ecosystem so important?
• 5:55
  Jen LaForge: And why do you think that that's lending to so much success with Scene Plus?
• 6:00
  Candice Troupe: Yeah, there's a few things.
• 6:01
  Candice Troupe: I mean, transparently, I think there's still so much more that we need to do.
• 6:06
  Candice Troupe: So we have yet to fully unlock the network effect of the ecosystem because we were so focused on the build.
• 6:15
  Candice Troupe: So there's a ton of opportunity still.
• 6:18
  Candice Troupe: And to your point earlier, there are many members in the program who still kind of think that we are a movie program.
• 6:26
  Candice Troupe: Being rooted in entertainment is amazing because there's, you know, ultimately there's so much joy in entertainment.
• 6:32
  Candice Troupe: If you think about special moments you've had with your family, they're often tied to entertainment.
• 6:38
  Candice Troupe: But again, to really unlock the power of that coalition or the power of the ecosystem, we've got a ton of opportunity.
• 6:45
  Candice Troupe: And the benefit is, so from a member perspective, the benefit is that you've got all of the essential places, as I said, that you can shop at, unlock value at, stack value at, so on and so forth.
• 6:59
  Candice Troupe: From a partner perspective, the opportunity to share customers, acquire customers together, market to customers, and ultimately to create value together.
• 7:10
  Candice Troupe: The formula is one plus one equals three, meaning that what you do together is stronger than what you could have done on your own, which delivers, you know, it gives you the ability to drive scale as a partner, it gives you stronger ROI, and it gives you much more access to not just customers, but to the data surrounding customers as well.
• 7:32
  Jen LaForge: What are the customers loving about this?
• 7:34
  Jen LaForge: And what has been really simple for them to get with the new program?
• 7:38
  Candice Troupe: They love the fact that they can unlock that value that you were talking about.
• 7:44
  Candice Troupe: So, you know, they can earn points, they can redeem points when they're in store.
• 7:49
  Candice Troupe: If they've got uh a Scotia payment product, the ability to accelerate those points.
• 7:55
  Candice Troupe: There, Scotia has a number of credit cards that are just fantastic.
• 7:58
  Candice Troupe: That gets you to rewards much faster.
• 8:00
  Candice Troupe: And it also gets you to amazing redemption options.
• 8:03
  Candice Troupe: So there's things like points for travel or points for credit where you can use your points to pay off your bills or pay for a trip.
• 8:09
  Candice Troupe: So what members love is the ability to be able to get access to all of that value and to be able to, you know, stack it, stack it, stack it in order for it to feel really amazing for them.
• 8:21
  Candice Troupe: That's right.
• 8:21
  Jen LaForge: We're making it easier to stack those programs together.
• 8:24
  Jen LaForge: Yep.
• 8:25
  Jen LaForge: If you look at the Scene Plus program, you've got the in-store or real life uh part of the program, you've got the digital earn part of the program.
• 8:34
  Jen LaForge: This is a highly complex consumer ecosystem to be navigating in an already hyper-complex space.
• 8:43
  Jen LaForge: So, what would you say, you know, is the the number one customer focus of ease using this program across so many different avenues?
• 8:54
  Jen LaForge: Like how do you hone in and ensure that it is consistent and seamless and feels like one program that everyone loves and uses every day?
• 9:04
  Candice Troupe: So we are focused on trying to bring the intersection of simplicity, breadth, and value.
• 9:14
  Candice Troupe: And I would argue that the most difficult thing to do in a loyalty ecosystem is simplicity.
• 9:21
  Candice Troupe: And the reason for that is, you know, I'm I'm effectively a brand within a number of brands.
• 9:28
  Candice Troupe: So I think our starting point is different.
• 9:30
  Candice Troupe: Like we never walk into a boardroom and say, I'm going to dictate to you what the experience needs to look like.
• 9:37
  Candice Troupe: But in great partnerships, we will work together and agree on the points of friction that are, you know, if we can break down those points of friction and overcome them, the member from a loyalty program perspective will have a better experience and your customer will have a better experience.
• 9:52
  Candice Troupe: So it really comes down to collaborative partnerships.
• 9:55
  Candice Troupe: And, you know, we use a lot of data to say which are the key points of friction that really, really matter to improving the experience and effectively driving commercial outcomes as well.
• 10:04
  Jen LaForge: Okay, and we don't like to talk about things going wrong, but in this evolution of the Scene Plus program, what was the greatest friction point that uh that you tackled first and removed that barrier to get five million additional members?
• 10:17
  Candice Troupe: So a few things.
• 10:18
  Candice Troupe: I mean, we had to get we had to get the launch of Empire right and they did an amazing job.
• 10:23
  Candice Troupe: I think the scene team did an amazing job, but Empire really did an amazing job.
• 10:27
  Candice Troupe: They had a lot of lessons learned around what works and what doesn't work in loyalty, and they were able to apply that.
• 10:32
  Candice Troupe: So when you walked into a grocery store, you knew that CEM Plus was part of SOBs or Foodland, so on.
• 10:40
  Candice Troupe: Our digital experience has been an experience that, you know, has been a work in progress.
• 10:45
  Candice Troupe: And in 2024, we had a fairly significant issue around fraud.
• 10:53
  Candice Troupe: Many loyalty programs have.
• 10:55
  Candice Troupe: Loyalty is a is another currency, right?
• 10:58
  Candice Troupe: So fraudsters are out there trying to get access to points to be able to redeem for things.
• 11:02
  Candice Troupe: That was a bit of a setback for us because we needed to obviously fix fraud before we move forward with our digital strategy.
• 11:10
  Candice Troupe: That's all well in hand.
• 11:12
  Candice Troupe: We have amazing fraud tools, very low fraud rates.
• 11:14
  Candice Troupe: Consumers are very, very protected.
• 11:17
  Candice Troupe: So that's awesome.
• 11:18
  Candice Troupe: Our focus now is really making sure that we are as connected in the digital experience as possible and we are as frictionless as possible.
• 11:26
  Candice Troupe: And that when members come to our digital property or they want to link to Racquetin, they can do that as easily as possible and they can find the information that they're looking for.
• 11:36
  Candice Troupe: So we think that's really the great unlock.
• 11:38
  Candice Troupe: I mean, we need to become much more of a digital first brand.
• 11:41
  Candice Troupe: So that's where we're focused.
• 11:44
  Jen LaForge: Okay, fantastic.
• 11:45
  Jen LaForge: I'm I'm really glad that you uh were so vulnerable in saying we had this big fraud issue because it does, it happens everywhere.
• 11:52
  Jen LaForge: Loyalty is a currency.
• 11:53
  Jen LaForge: We have fraud uh that happens all the time.
• 11:56
  Jen LaForge: We have an entire team working to prevent it.
• 11:59
  Jen LaForge: And a lot of the rules that we put in place that could be a bit of friction in terms of when we do our payouts are to protect our members from the fraud.
• 12:07
  Jen LaForge: Right.
• 12:07
  Jen LaForge: Not necessarily protect them from fraud, but when there's fraud being committed in a program, what that's doing is really eroding the ability for that program to give the richer rewards out, right?
• 12:20
  Jen LaForge: It's going to cost us money to combat this, the money we've lost, the money we're trying to recoup from it.
• 12:25
  Jen LaForge: Fraud's a really big issue in our space and with credit cards and gift cards.
• 12:31
  Jen LaForge: So you talked a lot about removing that friction.
• 12:34
  Jen LaForge: What is fraud ongoing from here look like with Scene Plus?
• 12:38
  Jen LaForge: And is that a team and where's their focus at protecting the industry as a whole?
• 12:43
  Candice Troupe: Yeah.
• 12:43
  Candice Troupe: So when it happened in 2024, I'm really proud of how quickly the team rallied, first of all.
• 12:52
  Candice Troupe: We're a super small and scrappy team, like a hundred people in the whole organization, which by the way was 17 people five years ago.
• 12:59
  Candice Troupe: So an organization that was, you know, growing and maturing.
• 13:03
  Candice Troupe: And this was a discipline, as I said, that you know, we weren't great at at that point in time.
• 13:07
  Candice Troupe: So rallied super quickly.
• 13:10
  Candice Troupe: Um, and then we spent a whole bunch of money and time investing in fraud tools.
• 13:16
  Candice Troupe: And again, the power of the ecosystem was amazing because all of our partners, you know, leaned in and said, we want to be able to help.
• 13:24
  Candice Troupe: So we had the benefit of other organizations' expertise in tools and how they'd manage fraud, in the thresholds that were acceptable from a fraud perspective, in the watch out, so on and so forth.
• 13:38
  Candice Troupe: So tools are all in place.
• 13:40
  Candice Troupe: Our fraud levels are very low right now, and we have a tool that we're using to monitor at you know each of our partner locations.
• 13:48
  Candice Troupe: Again, with many conversations, when we see fraud just start going high, as an example, we have had challenges out east and we've had challenges in Quebec.
• 13:59
  Candice Troupe: So we'll sit down and have those conversations with our partners and work together to bring it down.
• 14:04
  Candice Troupe: It's no longer an issue for us.
• 14:06
  Candice Troupe: And what we're really proud of is actually we took the lead in bringing loyalty programs together, and they're now sharing best practices in fraud.
• 14:16
  Candice Troupe: So we're not only protecting seeing and seeing partner and members, but we're we're actually protecting the industry by the way that we're working together.
• 14:24
  Candice Troupe: Fantastic.
• 14:25
  Jen LaForge: I also think that they they should be building this into curriculum and and it should be studied, along with affiliate marketing being added to curriculum.
• 14:33
  Jen LaForge: That's another conversation we had.
• 14:35
  Jen LaForge: But it really is a beautiful transformation.
• 14:37
  Jen LaForge: You've done so much across the ecosystem and for the industry.
• 14:41
  Jen LaForge: You've gained five million members almost overnight.
• 14:45
  Jen LaForge: Now you're in that next part of growing and evolving this program.
• 14:51
  Jen LaForge: What does that look like from this scrappy startup, huge growth, really getting a foothold in the industry?
• 14:59
  Jen LaForge: Next phase of Scene Plus, where are you going?
• 15:02
  Candice Troupe: Yeah, that's a great question because we're right in the middle of our three-year plan.
• 15:06
  Candice Troupe: I would say that there's a number of pillars, but the two critical, maybe three, are deepening member engagement.
• 15:14
  Candice Troupe: I'm gonna talk about that in a second.
• 15:16
  Candice Troupe: Creating a tighter, stronger emotional connection, and driving stronger ROI for our partners and our owners.
• 15:26
  Candice Troupe: So if I start with the first one in terms of deepening engagement, the the funny thing about loyalty programs is that we often show up very functionally and transactionally.
• 15:37
  Candice Troupe: And if you think about, you know, where loyalty has been in the last few years, everybody's adding sort of a new feature in order to be able to compete.
• 15:46
  Candice Troupe: And as a result of that, we're sort of in this functional space where like redeeming for something is joyful.
• 15:53
  Candice Troupe: And generally, redeeming for something is connected to an experience or a moment.
• 15:58
  Candice Troupe: I redeem for Disney to take my kids.
• 16:00
  Candice Troupe: You don't remember the redemption, you remember the moment, right?
• 16:03
  Candice Troupe: At Disney.
• 16:04
  Candice Troupe: We don't do enough to create that sort of experiential, emotional connection back to the rewards, back to the program, back to the value that the program is creating for you through all of our partners.
• 16:17
  Candice Troupe: So we're gonna double down on that.
• 16:19
  Candice Troupe: And um I think that's a really cool way for us to differentiate relative to the other programs out in out in the market.
• 16:26
  Candice Troupe: Engagement matters because we've been in growth mode for a number of years.
• 16:31
  Candice Troupe: We're adding millions of members a year, as I said.
• 16:33
  Candice Troupe: We'll continue to do that, we'll continue to drive engagement or acquisition.
• 16:38
  Candice Troupe: But if you think about, we have 15 million members who are not shopping the ecosystem strongly enough.
• 16:44
  Candice Troupe: So there's a couple of things that we're focused on there.
• 16:48
  Candice Troupe: One is we have a very good understanding of who in the 15 million base has strong value today and who has strong potential.
• 16:58
  Candice Troupe: So we'll start to do more targeting and more relevant offers to those members.
• 17:03
  Candice Troupe: We still have a comprehension issue.
• 17:06
  Candice Troupe: So we need to make sure our members understand that we are so much more than the movies, we're more than grocery, fuel, credit card.
• 17:14
  Candice Troupe: We have amazing offerings like Racquetin, like Expedia, like home hardware.
• 17:19
  Candice Troupe: So we've still got a comprehension piece that we need to work on.
• 17:22
  Candice Troupe: And at the end of the day, we've got to make sure that we're creating enough value for those members.
• 17:28
  Candice Troupe: And our our approach to that will be not just stacking value, but actually focused on creating things that are special.
• 17:35
  Candice Troupe: So we talk a lot about, you know, everybody sort of uses surprise and delight as, you know, marketing mantra.
• 17:42
  Candice Troupe: Um, but what we want to do is bring special.
• 17:45
  Candice Troupe: And when we bring special, we will create that emotional connection and we'll create joy.
• 17:49
  Candice Troupe: So we're looking forward to sort of seeding these moments in the lives of our members that are going to have them feel more strongly connected to partners, to the brand, and ultimately drive long-term loyalty.
• 18:01
  Candice Troupe: And that's that's what we all want.
• 18:03
  Jen LaForge: If anyone listening knows me well and and listening to what you've said so far today, it would be no wonder why uh this is one of my favorite loyalty programs and why I'm so fascinated with the transformation.
• 18:15
  Jen LaForge: You touched on so many parts there, but what I I loved was my definition of value when we started this.
• 18:22
  Jen LaForge: I talked about it being emotional and behavioral.
• 18:25
  Jen LaForge: And you just nailed it in terms of being part of that journey and creating that special and having that more emotional impact so that you do remember how you got to Disney, not just that you were at Disney.
• 18:39
  Jen LaForge: Absolutely.
• 18:40
  Jen LaForge: So can you talk a little bit about what that would look like from a consumer perspective and maybe where that first key focus on creating that emotional journey, what does that look like?
• 18:52
  Candice Troupe: We haven't fully fleshed this out, but we we have a number of thoughts that we're actually bringing into our our board conversation in July.
• 18:59
  Candice Troupe: Some of that is just, you know, back to our early conversation, reducing the friction.
• 19:05
  Candice Troupe: Because we know that members and Canadians at large, we're all kind of, you know, we're definitely time starved, but we're kind of just overwhelmed, right?
• 19:14
  Candice Troupe: And so reducing the friction in and of itself helps to bring a little bit of, ah, it might not feel like joy, but it feels like, oh, they saved me, you know, time or they made my life a little bit easier.
• 19:27
  Candice Troupe: And then in, you know, seating special, we have a few different sort of ideas around that.
• 19:33
  Candice Troupe: One is in the digital experience, just creating these like special micro moments.
• 19:38
  Candice Troupe: So, as an example, a couple of promotions ago, we ran, it was called the basket runner campaign.
• 19:45
  Candice Troupe: And it was literally you clicking on um different parts of our ecosystem to put them into your basket.
• 19:52
  Candice Troupe: We were driving program comprehension of our various partners, and the amount of member engagement in that was unbelievable.
• 20:00
  Candice Troupe: Like they had fun playing, they earned a couple of points, they got to fill out a survey, so on and so forth.
• 20:06
  Candice Troupe: So, again, those you know, digital exclusives, digital moments that can can create little moments of joy and special.
• 20:13
  Candice Troupe: And then our sort of bigger idea is to work with our partners to procure special.
• 20:20
  Candice Troupe: So when you go to scene plus racketon, what's the special, unexpected thing that you just go, wow, that's amazing.
• 20:30
  Candice Troupe: When you go to recipe brands, so Harveys and Swichel A, you know, is there a scene secret menu item, for example?
• 20:37
  Candice Troupe: So we don't want loads and loads.
• 20:40
  Candice Troupe: We want, you know, one per quarter to start, but enough of these kinds of moments that people start to say, like, this program is absolutely amazing and it makes me feel good as well.
• 20:49
  Jen LaForge: And you don't need a lot.
• 20:50
  Jen LaForge: Um, you're making me think of what Burger King did.
• 20:53
  Jen LaForge: And so Burger King just ran this very special unique promo that if you were in within X number of feet of a McDonald's and you downloaded the app, it would pick up your geolocation and you would receive uh this this code or this opportunity to now drive over to Burger King and Whopper for a penny.
• 21:12
  Jen LaForge: Yeah.
• 21:12
  Jen LaForge: And they went from the 365th app, somewhere in the low 300s, to like number 16 almost overnight.
• 21:20
  Jen LaForge: Yeah.
• 21:20
  Jen LaForge: And people were having a blast with it.
• 21:22
  Jen LaForge: They thought it was unique, they thought it was funny, they liked that challenge.
• 21:26
  Jen LaForge: And so with something like that and and those really good ideas, is that what you guys are looking to build out or hoping for?
• 21:35
  Jen LaForge: Or was that just so unexpected that it can't be replicated?
• 21:40
  Candice Troupe: No, that's that's exactly the kind of thing.
• 21:42
  Candice Troupe: So what what we're trying to do is create that habit, but also create those moments of surprise or special, as I said.
• 21:50
  Candice Troupe: So if you you know, the team's been bantering around this idea of trying to convince recipe brands to do a secret menu item.
• 21:58
  Candice Troupe: The idea that you Could go into a restaurant and say, like, listen, I want a special Harvey's burger, and because you're a scene member, you get it.
• 22:07
  Candice Troupe: That's exactly the kind of thing that we're thinking about.
• 22:10
  Candice Troupe: From a partner perspective, you know, when you use your Burger King example, we want to be super responsive to partners.
• 22:17
  Candice Troupe: So if there are special ideas that are great for the member, but also help a partner drive business, we're all in for figuring out how we can do that.
• 22:26
  Candice Troupe: What we don't want to do is have one every week so that it starts to become wallpaper.
• 22:31
  Candice Troupe: We want it to be something that you're anticipating and you're looking forward to, but also kind of surprised at the same time.
• 22:36
  Candice Troupe: Again, creating those emotions.
• 22:38
  Jen LaForge: Yes, exactly.
• 22:39
  Jen LaForge: You said secret menu.
• 22:40
  Jen LaForge: I know one about Dairy Queen, but it's not on the menu.
• 22:44
  Jen LaForge: But you can order a cookie jar blizzard from Dairy Queen.
• 22:49
  Jen LaForge: And it's not on the menu, but that is a secret item.
• 22:52
  Jen LaForge: And I learned it from my son when he was in grade one because his teacher worked there.
• 22:56
  Jen LaForge: Ah and so we we always go, and it's a big sense of pride for my son to be able to tell people they have a secret menu item.
• 23:03
  Candice Troupe: In that, we're trying to create that feeling of exclusivity, which is also special, without like we still want to be accessible because we are Canada's loyalty program, right?
• 23:14
  Candice Troupe: So there's interesting ways, as you said, to make people feel special when you feel like you're getting something that others aren't able to get.
• 23:22
  Jen LaForge: I love that.
• 23:22
  Jen LaForge: There's so much to talk about.
• 23:23
  Jen LaForge: So I'm gonna I'm gonna shift this over because I want to talk about Shell.
• 23:26
  Jen LaForge: You just launched a Shell that's huge, huge.
• 23:28
  Jen LaForge: Um, a lot of work.
• 23:30
  Jen LaForge: Uh, I know you've been working around the clock, giving up weekends, vacations, the whole team has been doubled down here.
• 23:36
  Jen LaForge: I used in my first episode an example of how I'm very intentional with my uh my stacking of loyalty.
• 23:43
  Jen LaForge: And I said that I'm not the type of person that's gonna wait in line for 45 minutes to get gas.
• 23:49
  Jen LaForge: That's two cents cheaper here than over there.
• 23:51
  Jen LaForge: But gas itself and that two cents cheaper or the rewards on there is such a pull, in particular for consumers and Canadians.
• 24:01
  Jen LaForge: Talk to me a little bit about why you think that gas is such a valuable loyalty component to your program.
• 24:10
  Candice Troupe: Members have been telling us for years that fuel matters to them.
• 24:14
  Candice Troupe: And and of course, the reason for that is for any of us who are commuting or driving on a regular basis, you're filling up once, you know, once a week, once every two weeks, depending on on how far your commute is.
• 24:27
  Candice Troupe: So it's a perfect example of a category that members are already using and it's meaningful to their life.
• 24:35
  Candice Troupe: The interesting part about fuel is it's totally considered a grudge purchase.
• 24:39
  Candice Troupe: So we learned during the launch of Shell that the average Canadian spends 12 minutes at the pump fueling up.
• 24:46
  Candice Troupe: So, and in a you know, cold Canadian winter, that's a brutal 12 minutes, right?
• 24:50
  Candice Troupe: In a hot summer, that's also a brutal 12 minutes.
• 24:53
  Candice Troupe: And it's an expensive part of your budget.
• 24:56
  Candice Troupe: So, what we set out to do with Shell and in partnership with Scotia and Tangerine as well was to come up with a really awesome value proposition that was really meaningful, delivered a ton of value, but again, in the simplest of way.
• 25:12
  Candice Troupe: And kudos to all of those brands.
• 25:14
  Candice Troupe: So Shell has an amazing app, the Shell Go app, that allows you to link everything effectively.
• 25:21
  Candice Troupe: Scotia has facilitated for their credit card holders the ability to connect to that app very, very easily.
• 25:29
  Candice Troupe: And scene is linked as part of that journey or that process.
• 25:33
  Candice Troupe: So the linking process is super, super easy.
• 25:36
  Candice Troupe: The value is up to 10 cents CPL.
• 25:39
  Candice Troupe: 10 cents off a liter of fuel is worth it, right?
• 25:43
  Candice Troupe: Yeah.
• 25:44
  Candice Troupe: And once you link, you're done.
• 25:46
  Candice Troupe: So once you link, you can fuel up super quickly.
• 25:51
  Candice Troupe: You can use your phone number, it's easy, easy, easy, and you're getting that 10 cent CPL every time.
• 25:57
  Candice Troupe: So far, members have told us that they absolutely love it.
• 26:00
  Candice Troupe: They're noticing that value.
• 26:02
  Candice Troupe: And then on top of that, there are a whole bunch of other perks and surprises that you can get in the shell app and when you go into the C store as well.
• 26:09
  Candice Troupe: So we're thrilled.
• 26:10
  Candice Troupe: The the launch has gone very, very well.
• 26:12
  Candice Troupe: Member adoption has been hugely significant.
• 26:16
  Candice Troupe: Shell's thrilled with the amount of volume that people are actually putting on the card.
• 26:20
  Candice Troupe: So so far, so good.
• 26:21
  Candice Troupe: And again, we've delivered on what members want.
• 26:24
  Candice Troupe: So it's created an amazing value for them.
• 26:26
  Jen LaForge: That's amazing that you can do that anytime, not waiting for the price to drop or checking gas prices every day to earn it.
• 26:32
  Jen LaForge: But gas is something you are going to buy anyways.
• 26:35
  Jen LaForge: You have to get gas.
• 26:36
  Jen LaForge: It's gonna fill it up.
• 26:37
  Jen LaForge: It's not like you're gonna walk to work every day if if you have a significant commute.
• 26:41
  Jen LaForge: So why would a gas company need to uh have a loyalty program in the first place?
• 26:48
  Candice Troupe: Few reasons.
• 26:49
  Candice Troupe: I mean, every gas provider in Canada has a loyalty program.
• 26:53
  Candice Troupe: So just to compete, it's table stakes now.
• 26:55
  Candice Troupe: It wasn't that way, you know, 20 years ago.
• 26:58
  Candice Troupe: To your point, you're fueling up, but the the difference between whether you go to ESO or Shell is often in the loyalty program.
• 27:08
  Candice Troupe: I think Shell's even more special in that they, you know, in the industry they're known for their V power fuel, which is one of the highest grades fuel.
• 27:14
  Candice Troupe: I've learned a lot about fuel during this, during this launch.
• 27:17
  Candice Troupe: But at the end of the day, the loyalty program can help to be the decision maker on whether you turn left or whether you turn right.
• 27:25
  Candice Troupe: And on top of that, Shell is benefiting from the ecosystem effect.
• 27:30
  Candice Troupe: So you're earning points all around the ecosystem, but you can redeem those points at a Shell location for either fuel or, you know, for product in the C store.
• 27:41
  Candice Troupe: So by joining the program, they're getting access to 15 million members that they didn't otherwise have, a differentiator in our loyalty program, people turning right instead of left to go to shell, the benefit of rewards in the network that are helping them to be able to drive redemption, and access to consumer data that they wouldn't be able to have access to if they were on the row.
• 28:04
  Jen LaForge: We could keep talking about this, but uh a key value prop I want for our listeners is to enable them to get every dollar they can on what they're spending.
• 28:13
  Jen LaForge: Um so I'm gonna flip it over a little bit, Candace, for someone who's been in the space for 20 years across so many different uh parts of that broad ecosystem.
• 28:23
  Jen LaForge: From the mouth of an expert to our listeners here, can you give us your biggest recommendation on how they can start getting smarter with their loyalty and stacking?
• 28:35
  Candice Troupe: I think um what's funny about Canadians is we like to be part of everything.
• 28:42
  Candice Troupe: And the loyalty industry in Canada is one of the most competitive and has had the strongest growth.
• 28:48
  Candice Troupe: The average Canadian has 15 cards and wallet, digital wallet, or physical wallet.
• 28:53
  Candice Troupe: So we're part of 15 loyalty programs.
• 28:55
  Candice Troupe: And as a result of that, we have spread ourselves thin.
• 28:58
  Candice Troupe: So my advice to Canadians is if you commit and consolidate, you will get the most amount of value out of the program and then stack every type of value that we're offering to you.
• 29:10
  Candice Troupe: All of that value is there to be taken, and it's just really a matter of Canadians focusing in order to be able to get the full benefit of it.
• 29:17
  Jen LaForge: It's like you've listened to all of our episodes, which haven't been released, so I know you haven't, but you're you're resonating in so much of what we've talked about in terms of how unique Canadians are to the importance of friction.
• 29:28
  Jen LaForge: Um, so really uh you are a powerhouse in the industry.
• 29:31
  Jen LaForge: I can't thank you enough for coming in and having this conversation.
• 29:34
  Jen LaForge: I think we're gonna come back and talk to you or someone else at Scene Plus because there's so much to unpack there.
• 29:39
  Jen LaForge: But Candace, thank you.
• 29:41
  Jen LaForge: If you haven't yet, join the Scene Plus program, uh, get some uh massive points on your fuel um as well as your groceries, and there's so much more, so check them out.
• 29:51
  Jen LaForge: And that's it for this episode of SACD.
• 29:53
  Jen LaForge: If you found this useful, follow along as we interview leaders shaping the future of retail and learn how value really works behind the scenes.
• 30:01
  Jen LaForge: And if there's a topic you want us to unpack, I'd love to hear from you.
• 30:05
  Jen LaForge: See you next time.