Slowly but surely, marketers in Quebec are discovering the Internet.
While online marketing is not yet standard procedure for every major company in La Belle Province, it has been growing rapidly in prominence – enough, anyway, for the Publicité Club de Montréal to add an interactive category to its Coqs d’Or awards this year.
Top honours in this category at the May awards gala went to Montreal-based natural gas provider Gaz Metropolitain, which – assisted by Internet marketing agency 2B interactive communication marketing – has adopted the Web as one of its primary media.
The gold award recognized the success of an online campaign mounted last fall to support the company’s introduction of a new residential service.
Diane Lapointe, marketing communications advisor for Gaz Metropolitain, says this was the company’s first-ever campaign targeted to residential customers.
Stiff competition from Hydro-Québec is one of the major factors compelling Gaz Metropolitain to pursue Internet marketing as a means of heightening its visibility, she says. While no exact figures are available, enough of the company’s customers are currently online to make interactive campaigns a viable option.
Last fall’s campaign included the launch of a new microsite, which was positioned as part of Gaz Metropolitain’s corporate Web site (www.gazmetropolitain.com), but with a separate address. To drive traffic to the site, the company used banner ads and hyperlinks at popular online locations, such as Sympatico, Branchez-vous.com and the Journal de Montréal Web site. Online advertorial and sponsorship also played a role.
Beat Richert, principal of 2B interactive, says the campaign incorporated a ‘click-mix’ of various tools because banner ads on their own are proving increasingly ineffective.
In total, the campaign generated approximately 660,000 impressions during its run from Oct. 5 to Nov. 2. The average clickthrough rate was a healthy 2%.
Richert says the thoroughness of the effort was the key to its effectiveness.
‘It was a complete campaign,’ he explains. ‘There was a clear media strategy. And there was always just one goal in mind – and that was to generate leads. Everything from A to Z was well thought out.’
For Gaz Metropolitain, Lapointe says, the initiative was a test case – one whose impressive results point toward even more aggressive activity on the interactive front in the months to come.
‘This year, we will ramp up our resources…to do many more campaigns on the Net,’ she says. ‘This year will be the telling year.’
That’s the sort of sentiment that Richert likes to hear.
Since its inception approximately one year and a half ago, the Montreal-based interactive shop has focused its energies on educating clients about the Web and promoting the potential benefits of online marketing.
As a discipline, it differs significantly from traditional marketing, Richert says.
In traditional campaigns, the target group is defined according to socio-demographic criteria such as age, sex and income. In the online realm, however, targeting is based on psychographic factors, such as the consumer’s areas of interest.
2B interactive’s major strength is not in developing Web sites – rather, the agency specializes in helping clients get a return on the investment in their existing sites.
In addition to Gaz Metropolitain, 2B’s clients include Royal Bank of Canada, Teleglobe, Radio-Canada, Vidéotron, FEPE International and Cirque du Soleil. Richert says the agency is now contemplating forays into the Toronto market, as well as Europe.
Also in this report:
– Unibroue might be small but it’s thinking big: Quebec brewery has ambitious plans to crack other markets p.24
– Biscuits Leclerc scores major licensing coup : Signs deal with Warner Bros. for right to use Looney Tunes characters p.25
– Balloon festival flies up, up and away: Once on the verge of collapse, event has made a stunning recovery and is now among Quebec’s most popular summer attractions p.27
