Susan O'Brien

Chief Brand and Customer Officer

Canadian Tire Corporation Limited

As Senior Vice-President, Marketing, Susan O’Brien oversees all Brand, Marketing and Customer Experience strategies for Canadian Tire Corporation’s $10B+ enterprise including Canadian Tire, Sport Chek, Mark’s and Canadian Tire Financial Services. Within her portfolio, Susan also leads the corporation’s Enterprise Loyalty program including the Customer Data, Analytics & Insights team as well as the Sponsorship portfolio.
 
Most recently, O’Brien and her team lead the industry-leading launch of the Triangle Rewards program, a loyalty and credit card program that links all of CTC’s banners together under one program. Susan’s Loyalty team is forging a customer-first approach
to marketing using data and leading digital marketing strategies to create highly personalized and engaging communications. Working closely with platform partners like Google and Facebook, Canadian Tire is innovating new ways to improve digital marketing performance using data and analytics.
 
O’Brien and her team have created many iconic brand programs and campaigns including the successful “Tested for Life in Canada” product quality program, which earned the company worldwide recognition, most notably for the “Canadian Tire Ice
Truck” campaign. In addition, she is the driving force behind Canadian Tire’s multi-year “We All Play For Canada” brand campaign which includes the ad known as “Wheels” which generated world-wide press for it’s message of inclusion following the 2016 Olympics. Most recently, O’Brien’s team lead the re-launch of the Mark’s brand campaign with the award winning “Well Worn” platform as well as the recent brand repositioning of Sport Chek.
 
In 2018, O’Brien was recognized as one of 33 Brand Stars by Ad Week recognizing Media, Marketing and Tech Leaders who’ve helped make Toronto a vibrant creative hub. Her work at Canadian Tire contributed to the company’s Marketer of the Year
Award in 2013 from Marketing Magazine, and in 2002, she was nominated for the magazine’s Top 30 Under 30 award.

Speaking at: Finding the sweet spot: balancing brick-and-mortar & digital