Carlson Marketing – the loyalty agency set up nearly 70 years ago – is being rebranded Aimia as part of parent company Groupe Aeroplan plans to revamp the business.
The change affects all Groupe Aeroplan’s business-to-business brands, which include Carlson and LMG Insight & Communication in London, as well as the parent company. The group’s consumer-facing brands, including Nectar and Air Miles, will remain unchanged.
The company says the new brand name and tagline –“inspiring loyalty” – will help it increase its market share and customer base. The Aimia name is not unique, however, with Aimia Foods, a leading UK vending machine supplier, and the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) both having the same moniker.
The Canadian company acquired Carlson Marketing in 2009 for $107m (£68.6m). Since then, Carlson Marketing has operated as an independent subsidiary, with its HQ in Minneapolis, US.
Carlson’s UK clients include Coca-Cola, Lloyds TSB, Transport for London, Muller and Nestle. It employs about 2,000 people worldwide.
Aimia chief development officer EMEA Jonathan Harman said: “Aimia represents the dynamic new business that we have become. It encompasses our straight-forward passion to build long-term, profitable relationships and our vision to become the recognised global leader in loyalty management.”
Carlson was launched in 1938, when with $55 of borrowed capital, Curtis Carlson pioneered the idea of consumer loyalty programmes in the US.
The London agency was set up in the Eighties as MHA Carlson and has been the stamping ground of many of today’s UK industry heavyweights, including Stuart Archibald and Nigel Grimes.
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