Facebook Canada announced the launch of a new office in Montreal to service French Canada on Wednesday.
Led by Sylvain Martel, who left Mediacom in April to join Facebook, the new office will support brands looking to target Quebecois consumers on the social network. Like Facebook’s Toronto office, the new Montreal office will be staffed with sales, PR, business development and marketing departments rather than the engineers who fill its headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
Prior to joining Facebook, Martel held positions at Marketel, Cossette and Guideauto.com. His main role at Facebook in Montreal will be to provide support and guidance to advertisers and help grow Facebook’s presence in the province. According to Cefrio, 66% of internet users in Quebec are currently Facebook users.
Jordan Banks
Jordan Banks, managing director of Facebook Canada, said the impetus for opening an office in Montreal was demand from advertisers looking to tailor their Facebook marketing efforts to French Canada. Banks said both national advertisers with a presence in Quebec and Quebecois agencies and businesses have long asked for additional support from Facebook Canada.
“This is a function of what we’ve heard from [the Quebec] market. What we heard loud and clear is, ‘Facebook is becoming more important to us as a brand or, from an agency perspective, to our clients and we need more consistent support and support that understands the nuances of this market,'” he said.
“They wanted us to provide more support and guidance around the market nuances that exist in Quebec and we felt the only way to do that was to be physically present.”
Banks said the office has been in the works for the past four months, though Quebec has long been a priority for Facebook Canada. Damien Duprat, who had previously been working as an account manager in Facebook’s Paris office, joins Martel in the new office, located on University St. near many of Montreal’s ad agencies in the city’s downtown core. Prior to joining Facebook in 2009, Duprat was an account manager at Myspace and a project manager at Digitas.
As the office grows, Banks said Facebook will be looking for new staffers with experience in the region and strong ties to the local agency world.
Karine Courtemanche, president of Montreal-based agency Touche PHD, said in a statement that by opening an office to serve the French Canadian market Facebook is demonstrating its understanding that Quebec is a unique market.
“We are looking forward to the opportunities ahead for us and our clients,” she said.
The new office follows the opening of Facebook’s temporary Vancouver office last month, where the company plans to host up to 150 engineers. Banks explained the office is a kind of “boot camp” for new hires who will train in Vancouver before moving to one of Facebook’s other engineering hubs, such as Menlo Park, Seattle, New York and London. The company has made an 18-month commitment to Vancouver, though Banks said it has not set a firm close date, leaving open the possibility for a more permanent residence in the city.
Facebook has had a presence in Canada since it set up shop in Toronto in November 2009.
