Also in this report:

– Top in Telecommunications: Bell embraces relationship marketing fundamentals: While a relatively late convert, Bell has quickly proven itself the equal of airlines and financial services companies in its database marketing sophistication p.DR10

– Top in Non-Profit: MS Society treats donors like customers p.DR11

– Top in Retail: Sears is in it for the long haul p.DR11

– Top in Airlines: Air Canada aims for integration p.DR12

– Top in Automotive: Lexus builds luxury car connection p.DR13

– Top in Publishing: Financial Post tries variety p.DR13

– Top in Computers & Office Equipment: IBM reaches out with finely-targeted initiatives p.DR14

– Top in Packaged Goods: Nestle takes micro plunge p.DR14

– Top in Financial Services: Amex pushes boundaries p.DR14

You would think, given the relatively small number of companies that have successfully adopted database marketing strategies, that the task of identifying the top 10 database marketing clients in Canada would be a simple task.

Putting together this editorial feature did, however, present a challenge, in that few within the marketing community seem to agree on what database marketing actually is, let alone what makes one database marketing strategy better than another.

We have attempted to alleviate this problem by soliciting input from a number of experts within the direct marketing community, and then applying our editorial judgment to arrive at the list of companies featured here. Our criteria for selection include the sophistication of an organization’s database marketing analysis, the variety of applications, the mix of executions, the level of integration and the degree of overall organizational commitment.

Because we wanted to cover as wide a cross-section of the marketing community as possible, we have selected 10 categories in which to name the top database marketing client. The one caveat, however, is that when it comes to database marketing, all sectors are not created equal.

Within the financial and telecommunications categories, for instance, virtually every major concern can boast of being more advanced in its database marketing than the vast majority of companies in other sectors. Unfortunately, we can only name one company per category, which means that some praiseworthy database marketing clients may unavoidably be excluded from our list.

We believe that the honor roll you see here is a sound and fair representation of the top database marketing clients in Canada. Without exception, the companies whose profiles follow excel in implementing database marketing strategies that exhibit the qualities of sophistication, creativity and profit-making potential.

Efficiency. Effectiveness. Such are the virtues that have made database marketing such an important tool for Vancouver-based resort company Intrawest.

Michael Davis, vice-president of marketing for the company’s Resort Operations Group, says that as Intrawest has grown, so has the cost of increasing its profile.

Database marketing, he says, fulfills the need to be highly targeted in its communications, while maximizing the effectiveness of its marketing dollars.

‘If we’re going to get the people we want as our customers, we’ve got to be able to locate them and have a relationship with them like we’ve never had before,’ he says.

Intrawest owns and operates several mountain resorts, including Blackcomb and Panorama Mountains in b.c., Mont Tremblant in Quebec and Stratton Mountain in Vermont. Both its Resorts Operations Group and its Real Estate division ­ which builds, rents and sells mountain resort vacation homes ­ make heavy use of database marketing.

Davis says the company has been into database marketing ever since it first developed a mailing list of season’s-pass holders, but began investing serious effort in it about three years ago.

Intrawest has built its database from a variety of sources: lists of pass holders and resort visitors, leads from consumer shows and reply cards from ads in vertical publications. From it, the company attempts to extract information about customers’ lifestyle profiles, and find out how well and how frequently they ski ­ all of which helps determine the likelihood that they will want a ski vacation.

To further its efforts in this area, Intrawest has invested heavily over the past year in development of a new database system that it is now in the process of implementing. Davis says the new system is customer-oriented, and will help the company become more aware of just who its valued customers are within each particular market segment, so that it can adjust its tactical planning accordingly.

The key marketing goal for Intrawest right now, Davis says, is to get its best customers moving among the resorts.

Database initiatives will be integrated with all other facets of the company’s marketing campaigns, he adds. The intent is to deliver a multi-resort message, so that customers will think of Intrawest for all their skiing vacation needs.

Davis says Intrawest is very hands-on in the development of all of its database marketing efforts. The company works with Data Basics of Vancouver for strategic planning purposes, and Cole & Weber of Seattle, Wash., on campaign creative.