Canlan Ice Sports Corp., together with Exchange Solutions and Hockey Canada, announced a mobile-based loyalty program that lets members of Canlan’s Adult Safe Hockey League (ASHL) earn PUCK BUCKS, the loyalty currency of Hockey Canada’s Club Hockey Canada (CHC) program, at any of the 11 Thirsty Penguin Grillhouse locations in Canlan rinks across Canada.
Hailey Clark, National Brand Director, Canlan Ice Sports; and Jonah McEachern, Director, Operations, Hockey Canada participated in an interview with Loyalty360 to discuss the collaborative venture.
What factors prompted your company to launch this mobile-based loyalty program and what are your goals for the program?
Clark: Actively pursuing opportunities that drive unique customer experiences and bring added value to our members through engagement and reward is always top of mind. One of our primary goals is to ensure our members have a positive hockey experience at our facilities. Offering members a rewards program to help them save on ASHL league fees, while enjoying time with family and teammates at Thirsty Penguin locations, quickly appealed to our bottom line.
What makes this program unique?
Clark: We are the only hockey facility in Canada that supports a rewards program designed to help members save on hockey; members simply show their downloaded Club Hockey Canada Mobile Card at the Thirsty Penguin and they earn a minimum of 5% back in PUCK BUCKS on any food or beverage purchase. 1 PUCK BUCK is worth $1 and can be redeemed through the ASHL website to reduce their league fees. In addition, if a member activates their full access membership with Club Hockey Canada, which is 100% FREE, they get exclusive access to Team Canada contests and front of the line experiences like trips to the World Junior Championship.
How do you define customer loyalty and has that definition changed or evolved in recent years?
Clark: Our definition of customer loyalty is Canada’s love and passion for the game of hockey. It’s important for us to evolve with the game and I believe our rewards program fills a need that currently exists in hockey.
When did or does the program technically launch and how do you think it will impact customer/fan/player engagement and loyalty?
Clark: Registered ASHL members have had the opportunity to earn PUCK BUCKS at Thirsty penguin locations since the fall of 2014. As news of the program spreads, and players begin to redeem their Puck Bucks for the upcoming Spring/Summer season our adoption rate will continue to grow. Now, with the introduction of Puck Bucks with every National facility promotion and integration with our newly launched team management platform that provides customers with an online view of their Puck Buck balance and an easy one step redemption process, I am positive we will continue to see great success in regards to player retention and customer loyalty.
What factors prompted your company to launch this mobile-based loyalty program and what are your goals for the program?
McEachern: From the outset, our goal for Club Hockey Canada was to provide minor hockey players and their families with free tools to help lower their cost to play the sport and to improve their overall hockey experience. Mobile is a natural next step in the evolution of the program and an experience our members expect from us. Providing them with on-the-go program access and free mobile tools to organize their busy hockey lives is an important initiative for us.
What makes this program unique?
McEachern: We believe we are one of the only national sport organizations that offer such a program. Members get exclusive access to Team Canada contests and front of the line experiences like trips and tickets to the World Juniors. They have the ability to earn PUCK BUCKS, our loyalty currency, which they can redeem towards lowering the cost of their league fees, and free access to our online team management tool, called TeamHub, to organize their busy hockey lives. All these benefits for simply playing our country’s national sport.
How do you define customer loyalty and has that definition changed or evolved in recent years?
McEachern: Right out the gates, we managed to attract a strong member base because of a common love for hockey and an affinity toward Hockey Canada and Team Canada. Customers demanded experiential rewards so we leveraged our internal teams and external partners to provide our members with opportunities to win autographed Team Canada memorabilia or tickets to our national Team Canada events. We tapped into our social channels around major events like the Olympics and World Juniors and ran exclusive contests with great prizes, exclusively available to our followers who were Club members. Now we’re moving to a platform that provides our members with on-the-go access to the most popular components of our program.
How do you think it will impact customer/fan/player engagement and loyalty?
McEachern: Club Hockey Canada first opened its doors in the fall of 2012. We want to provide our minor hockey players across the country with the best hockey experience we can offer, and make the sport accessible to every Canadian, coast to coast. We have amazing stories from members that funded their entire hockey season or participated in an international tournament because of their active involvement in Club Hockey Canada, which would have otherwise not been possible. As widespread knowledge of Club Hockey Canada continues to grow and we continue to invest in progressing the program based on direct feedback from our most loyal members and the hockey community, our feeling is that more and more members will continue to benefit from their membership.