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Rob Craig

3 tier logic has developed PLATFORM³, a proprietary Consumer Lifecycle and Data Management Platform that is sold to global consumer brands. PLATFORM³ is delivered as a subscription service (Software as a Service model) and used by some of the world’s most valuable consumer brands to access new consumer communities and engage them while collecting, analyzing, and managing their first-party data.

PLATFORM³ incorporates proprietary technology that enables brands to engage consumers through Rewards Programs, Gift with Purchase, Couponing, Contests, Sweepstakes and Rebate Programs. When consumers engage with brands using PLATFORM³, data is aggregated from them based on the permissions they provide. This data includes demographics and purchasing behaviour and is used to send one-to-one messages and incentives to consumers. PLATFORM³’s automated messaging is deployed via an omnichannel infrastructure, including email, SMS, Pop-Ups, and Notifications within apps and web properties.

3 tier logic is headquartered in Canada with people in the U.S., India and Bangladesh. 3tl targets Fortune 500 companies in Canada and the U.S. However, 90 per cent of our revenues come from U.S. clients. 3 tier logic’s clients include Universal Pictures, Proctor & Gamble, Toro, Cargill, Bimbo, Molson-Coors, Coca-Cola, Essity and Reckitt Benckiser, representing multiple consumer industries, including Consumer Packaged Goods, Entertainment, Manufacturing, Food Services & Agriculture, Healthcare and Alcohol &Tobacco.

Tell us about yourself?

I currently serve as the CEO, Founder and Director of 3 tier logic and have spent the last 25 years in leadership positions with consumer technology companies. Prior to founding 3 tier logic, I founded consumer technology companies Stratford Internet and ActiveStream, the latter acquired by Jupiter Capital. I have headed up projects with Amazon, Adobe, Disney, and Motorola and have led mobile research, development and integration projects in the U.K., China, South Africa, Korea, the U.S., and Iceland. In my career, I have earned multiple leadership awards, including Deloitte & Touche’s “Fast 50 Lotus Award” and Business in Vancouver’s “Top 40 Under 40” award and was a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award. I was also past Chairman of DigiBC, a not-for-profit organization located in Vancouver, British Columbia. DigiBC’s mission is to promote, support, and accelerate the growth of BC’s Creative Technology industry.

I founded 3 tier logic to address challenges faced by many global consumer brands regarding how to engage consumers and manage relationships with them. Global brands are struggling to achieve this while providing consumers with the privacy and respect they deserve and have the right to in accordance with today’s consumer privacy laws.

If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?

As a small, Canadian-based technology company competing in the U.S. market for Fortune 500 brands, it can be highly competitive. Selling into hyper-competitive markets, including New York, Chicago, San Francisco and LA, we are faced with aggressive competition from U.S. technology companies that are staffed with some of the smartest people and smartest money in the world. Competing on these levels required significant financial backing. If I could go back a few years, I would encourage myself to spend more time raising capital and building up our treasury so that we can better finance the people and strategies required to compete at these levels.

What problem does your business solve?

Consumer engagement, data collection and monetization within the parameters of today’s consumer privacy laws and a world that sends them 4,000 to 10,000 ads per day (double since 2007).

We enable Fortune 500 brands to find new consumer communities and engage them with their brand and reward them when they make a purchase. Rewarding for purchases is extremely challenging for brands that sell via third-party retailers (i.e., Walmart) because they don’t know when and where consumers purchase their products. 3 tier logic’s receipt validation technology enables consumers to earn rewards when they take a picture of their receipt and upload it. 3 tier logic’s PLATFORM³ scans the receipt to validate the purchase and automatically sends the consumer a reward (i.e., Digital Gift Card). During this process, we enable brands to collect permission-based data on consumers and leverage the data to communicate with them one-to-one in an effort to extend engagement and purchases.

What is the inspiration behind your business?

In today’s noisy world, consumers are inundated with messages from brands trying to compete for their attention. It has become progressively more difficult for brands to engage consumers and keep them engaged in a meaningful way. In addition to this, consumers are losing their trust in brands that increasingly abuse their data through inadequate security and unfair business practices such as spamming and the selling of consumer data via data brokers.

What is your magic sauce?

3 tier logic enables Fortune 500 brands to find new consumer communities and engage them with their brand and reward them when they make a purchase. Rewarding for purchases is extremely challenging for brands that sell via third-party retailers (i.e., Walmart) because they don’t know when and where consumers purchase their products. 3 tier logics receipt validation technology (Optical Character Recognition – OCR) enables consumers to earn rewards when they take a picture of their receipt and upload it. 3 tier logic’s PLATFORM³ scans the receipt to validate the purchase and automatically sends the consumer a reward (i.e., Digital Gift Card). During this process, we enable brands to collect permission-based data on consumers and leverage the data to communicate with them one-to-one in an effort to extend engagement and purchases. In addition to receipt validation technology, PLATFORM³’s Automated Messaging component consistently enables 3 tier logic to win in the highly competitive U.S. market. Automated Messaging is based on our Dynamic Intelligence Suite, which enables us to send opt-in messages to consumers via email, SMS, as a Pop- Up, or Notification within the site. These messages are one-to-one based on the consumer’s demographics, purchases, polls and quizzes, etc.

What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?

In the next five years, we want to be the number one company in North America for consumer brands to go to engage consumers, collect their data using compliant methodologies, and reward them for their engagement. We want to achieve this while being the first choice employer for all of our staff and continue to retain over 90 per cent of our customers. In addition, we want to export our services into the European market with clients, staff, and an office.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?

Our biggest challenge to date has been COVID-19. Our traditional consumers are those who purchase at physical retailers. COVID-19 has kept them at home. Further, these consumers had an influx of cash, so they were not necessarily looking for deals and promotions. Our traditional brand customers – Consumer Packaged Goods companies – stopped running consumer promotions. Further, COVID-19 caused huge disruptions in the supply chain, so brands were reluctant to promote products that they could not guarantee would be on store shelves. These market forces required us to pivot our efforts from the consumer packaged goods market to other industries

How can people get involved?

Please visit our website www.3tl.com