Club Med: a 40% increase in web-generated sales

MONTREAL, February 17, 2010 — In the past year, Club Med North America (Canada, United States) has seen its web-generated sales jump by 40%. Plus its “click to book” ratio (the proportion of Internet users who buy a trip after having clicked on a link in an email) is 2.5 times higher than it used to be.

Behind this performance is Pheromone, which has been guiding Club Med in optimizing its relationship marketing for the past year. The agency’s implementation of a new customer relationship management system for Club Med North America’s contacts and prospects allows one of the largest brands in global tourism to communicate more effectively with its consumers and travel agents across the continent.

“Pheromone’s advice and guidance has allowed us to make the communication cycle with our customers more reliable,” says Jean Kerboul, director of Internet sales and marketing, North America, Club Med. “Strengthening our relationships with customers has already generated impressive sales results.”

Based on this success, Pheromone is currently building a platform that will reinforce the connections between Club Med and travel agents. This platform will be equipped with distance learning modules, new communication tools and more to support communication targeted to the market (United States, Canada).

The agency obtained the Club Med account for North America (Canada, United States) in the fall of 2008 in partnership with Winn Marketing.

“Our business relationship with Club Med reinforces our positioning in the tourism sector and expands our expertise in North America,” says Philippe Le Roux, president of Pheromone. “It also illustrates the importance of optimizing relationships between a brand, its players and its customers on the Internet.”

Club Med is constantly reinventing the alchemy of happiness. Today, that happiness is synonymous with enjoying elegance and luxury together. For more information visit : www.clubmed.com

Pheromone is an agency that helps organizations redefine their business model and marketing strategy around consumers and their interactions. Since it was founded in 1994, it has seen success after success for its customers (VIA Rail, RDS, ARTV, SÉPAQ, and others) and has put together a team of 60 experts whose passion is rivalled only by their professional maturity and experience. Website : www.pheromone.ca

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Information ::

Linda Lévesque
Communications, Phéromone
Tél : 514 393-3178 / 1 877 393-3178 ; cellulaire : 514 242-8909
llevesque@lcom.qc.ca

Smartphones: Blackberry and iPhone dominate
the Quebec market

Quebec market is essentially concentrated on three technology platforms: recent Blackberry models from RIM that support 3G, with 39% of the market, Apple’s iPhone, with 35% of the market, and smartphones based on the Google’s Android system, with 26%. The study shows that the owners of these smartphones use them overwhelmingly to access the web (69%) and for social networking (53%).

Over 11% of Quebeckers already have a smartphone, less than two years since the launch of the first iPhone in Canada. This rapid adoption is prompting more and more companies to invest to reach consumers in these new mobile interactive spaces. “Companies that are developing applications exclusively for the iPhone are reaching only 35% of their target market; the Blackberry and the Google Android represent the other 65%,” Philippe Le Roux, president of Pheromone, said. “We think it’s important to have an objective vision of the market to support our customers’ strategic decisions, which is why we commissioned the study.

Pheromone had market research firm MBA Recherche ask questions from March 23 to 25 as part of an OmniMax poll conducted with 1000 Quebec Internet users twice a month. Their answers showed the current place smartphones occupy as well as the behaviour of their owners.

The study revealed that 4.3% of respondents have Blackberry 3G phones, 4% have iPhones and 2.9% have 3G phones with the Android operating system. When asked about their use of these devices, slightly more than two thirds of respondents revealed that they use them to access the web. Of the smartphone owners interviewed, 53% use them for social networking applications such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. More than half of them (58%) do so daily.

“Quebeckers have adopted smartphones even faster than they adopted the Internet, which took a number of years before exceeding the 10% penetration mark,” Philippe Le Roux said. “Smartphones with GPS functionality that enable geopositioning are becoming a powerful marketing tool for brands to reach consumers anywhere, at any time, including when they are shopping.”

Pheromone (pheromone.ca/en) is a Montreal-based agency that helps organizations redefine their business models and marketing strategies around consumers’ interactions. For the past 15 years, it has been amassing successes for its national and international clients and has a team of 70 experts whose passion and innovation are equalled by their professional maturity and experience.

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Information ::

Linda Lévesque
Communications, Phéromone
Tél : 514 393-3178 / 1 877 393-3178 ; cellulaire : 514 242-8909
llevesque@lcom.qc.ca