GM had a better idea: General Motors and Ford both launched Visa loyalty credit cards five years ago, so why is GM's program motoring ahead while Ford's heads for the wrecking yard?

This is the tale of two VISA card programs. Both involve partnerships between two leading automakers and two big banks -- Ford with the CIBC, and General Motors with the Toronto Dominion.

Both VISA cards credit 5 cents for every dollar charged-up to a maximum of $3,500 -- redeemable on the purchase or lease of a new GM or Ford vehicle. GM cardholders can earn up to $500 in credit annually over seven years, while the CIBC Ford VISA card lets holders earn up to $700 per year over a shorter period of five years. Both programs were launched five years ago within two months of each other.

But that's where the similarities end. While GM is continuing with its program, Ford is pulling the plug on its CIBC Ford VISA cards June 1.

So what did GM and Ford do differently? Marketing. GM pushed the card aggressively; Ford didn't.

Ford, in fact, handed the marketing responsibility over to the CIBC. The CIBC ran ads on TV and on billboards at the card's launch, but chose to concentrate on direct mail marketing.

"We thought of it as a niche card with a target audience," says Karen Fuss, the CIBC's Toronto-based marketing manager for co-branded Classic VISA. "You're either a Ford customer or you're interested in saving for an automobile." It was a new category of loyalty cards, so in marketing the card the CIBC advertised at places where Ford customers were likely to be, such as trade shows and Ford dealerships.

This didn't yield the return hoped for. "In the last few years, the effectiveness of the program deteriorated, in terms of rewarding customer loyalty...