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On this day, sitting in Air Miles' bland Gatwick Airport headquarters, Thomson is celebrating exactly two years as managing director of the operation, which, he says, is on the cusp of a transformation.

Thomson's sharp intellect and entrepreneurial zeal appears to have rescued an ailing spin-off from British Airways and threatens to turn its former frequent flyer scheme into a unique type of travel retailer.

In November 2000, to the soundtrack of crashing dotcoms, Thomson was transferred across from British Airways' commercial department to a sister company facing a serious crisis of identity.

"When I took over, Air Miles had been trying to reposition itself as an online loyalty scheme, like Beenz. It had put many of its eggs into the internet basket and had just discovered that this basket had a large hole in the bottom," says Thomson. "Air Miles lacked a real strategy so we had to do some quick thinking. We asked: What do our customers love us for? The answer was travel."

Thomson has spent his stewardship making sure he had the right employees and getting his business systems correct and now claims the company is ready to make the sea-change from loyalty scheme to travel company.

In two weeks' time Air Miles will announce a major move into the provision of package holidays, which will pit the brand squarely against well-known online retailers Lastminute.com, Expedia and Travelocity.

It is no coincidence that this change comes at a time when Air Miles is facing the first serious challenge to its position as the UK's best-known loyalty currency.

While Nectar boasts that it is the 'UK's biggest loyalty scheme' (Marketing, November 21), Air Miles has responded by moving into another space.

"Nectar has launched squarely into the old loyalty sector. Meanwhile, we are shifting from a perception of loyalty to other brands, to loyalty to our own brand," Thomson explains.

Air Miles intends to "actively pre-package" third-party travel products and through its huge volume of business guarantee high-value, tailored holidays at a competitive price. The product, in a market dominated by premium holiday brands such as Mark Warner or Magic of Italy, will be marketed to Air Miles' ABC1 demographic.

The accent on the upmarket nature of Air Miles customers should be viewed in the context of Nectar's decidedly mass-market redemption partners such as McDonalds, Blockbuster and Odeon cinemas. It will be the biggest challenge yet for a brand that seems to continually evolve without achieving recognition.

But Thomson is clearly a businessman who thrives on change. When asked which brand he most admires, he answers: "Nike and Intel. The first transformed itself from sportswear company to lifestyle brand. The second successfully changed from a semi-conductor maker to processor brand."

"Drew is one of that breed of entrepreneurial marketers," says Jerry Hill, chief executive of Initiative Media, Air Miles' media agency. "You feel like you are spending his personal money and he is not afraid to make quick decisions."

Hill says when his team pitched for the media account, Thomson walked up to them in reception and told them they had won him over, without wasting time on formal processes.

"Drew can be blunt and forthright, but it's because of his enthusiasm. His speed of judgement and instinct for business can surprise people. You need to be thinking one step ahead," says Matt Shepherd-Smith, joint managing director of Air Miles' ad agency TBWA/London.

BA insiders tip the Air Miles chief, still only 34, as a 'high-flyer' within the UK's biggest airline, although Thomson insists he "never looks beyond the current job".

However, one suspects an underlying fierce ambition, which could well win him enemies as well as undoubted admirers. Having avoided the prison option in his native Glasgow, Thomson says he then faced the choice of doctor, lawyer or accountant but "didn't fancy the first two".

He originally joined BA because the US electronics company he worked for asked him to move to Dallas ("If you've been to Dallas you'd understand").

Thomson's financial nous stood him in good stead at BA, which put him in the same team as marketing director Martin George and sales director Dale Moss. They were given the task of developing the airline's 'premium product'.

The result was the conception and implementation of the Flat Bed in BA's Club Class, within a year. The project has provided BA with its single biggest competitive advantage in recent years and no doubt significantly raised the value of Thomson's personal stock.

"I learned that good businessmen have the ability to run across functions," says Thomson. "I no longer believe there's such a thing as an accountant, or a designer or a marketer. There are just good, or bad, commercial people."

BIOGRAPHY
1990-1994: Business manager, Bull HN Systems and Robinson Nugent
1995-1997: Business manager, e-distribution, British Airways
1998-2000: Head of business support for marketing, British Airways
2000-present: Managing director, Air Miles and BA Miles