CBC/Radio-Canada has introduced its restructured sales unit, which brings together its English and French sales teams to offer national solutions across its TV, radio and digital assets.
The new group, CBC & Radio-Canada Media Solutions, has jettisoned its former “Revenue Group” name, opting for a title that underscores its willingness to work with clients on non-traditional solutions that can be deployed in both official languages.
“It doesn’t change the fundamentals of what we’re all about, which is helping the organization sustain its mandate, but it’s sending out a clear message that we are going to focus our attention on what’s important to our clients,” said general manager and chief revenue officer Jean Mongeau during a meeting with Marketing at CBC’s Toronto headquarters.
The public broadcaster describes its new “single door” sales concept – which has previously been adopted by companies like Rogers Media – as the final step in an integration process the CBC and Radio-Canada revenue groups first began exploring several years ago. The division’s capabilities encompass multi-platform sales, distribution, revenue optimization, marketing and strategic operations.
Mongeau said the public broadcaster’s objective is to become a leader in the monetization of Canadian content. “We’ve done very well up to now, but [now] we’re going to do great,” he said. “Our mission statement really is all about delivering our clients very creative, innovative and relevant solutions and products through optimal service.”
He said the revamped sales group – whose client-facing slogan is “Canadian expertise d’ici” – distinguishes CBC from its privately owned competitors because of the depth and breadth of its media platforms, while enabling it to employ best practices learned from its respective sales teams.
“The unique value these two groups bring to each other is really quite impressive, both from our clients’ needs perspective and the cross-pollination of the various service offerings from both sides,” said Mongeau. “We wanted to capitalize on that reality and really emphasize that.”
He said three pillars characterize the company’s new sales concept:
1. Solutions and products that are creative, innovative and relevant
“We are in the business of providing solutions to our clients, we are not in the world of selling spots and dots, impressions and GRPs,” said Mongeau. “There’s a portion of our business that’s transactional, but where we make a difference is in the ability to provide solutions and products that are really relevant.”
The backbone of CBC/Radio-Canada’s sales approach, he said, is Canadian content that allows the company to approach advertisers with solutions that are tailored to their specific marketing objectives.
The approach taken to last year’s FIFA World Cup and the Sochi Olympics, in which the CBC eschewed pre-packaged opportunities for custom-created solutions, are emblematic of that approach, he said.
“We went to our clients empty-handed, had conversations about their objectives and interests, and then went back to the drawing board and concocted packaging that was pertinent,” said Mongeau.
2. Optimal service
Mongeau said delivering on its promise to advertisers is key for CBC, whether from an integration standpoint, to packaging and assembly to merchandising initiatives. “It’s really about not over-promising and under-delivering,” he said.
3. Supporting CBC/Radio-Canada’s public service mandate
The CBC’s public service mandate requires it to invest more money towards content and platforms to increase its reach. The fundamental difference with the new sales structure, said Mongeau, is CBC can now offer what he called “true cross-Canada content opportunities” in both official languages
“Before we were one organization but two silos, each focused on their specific market,” he said. “The ability to complement our offering and have both organizations merged into one provides incredible opportunities.” He said the integration of its English and French sales teams has created a “whole slew” of best practices to improve its efficiency and overall delivery.
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The new sales unit is comprised of six leads, all reporting into Mongeau. They include: Former CTV sales executive Mary Kreuk and her Montreal counterpart Reneault Poliquin, who both hold the title of executive director of multiplatform sales, with Kreuk overseeing Toronto and Western Canada and Poliquin responsible for Montreal and Eastern Canada; senior director of distribution Olivier Trudeau; senior director of revenue optimization Sandra Hammond; senior director of marketing Jim Kozak, and director of strategic operations Andrea Laton.
Kozak’s unit specializes in non-traditional advertising and media creativity on a national basis. He describes it as a “collaborative solutions provider,” providing platform-agnostic solutions.
“If there’s one message we could deliver to the marketplace, it would be ‘Please, challenge us, make us think strategically alongside you, and challenge us to bring great thinking to the table’” said Kozak. “We’ve done it before, but we’d love to do it more.”
Mongeau said about 25% of all revenue generated by CBC/Radio-Canada is tied to creative solutions, up from about 17% five years ago. “It’s clearly moving in that direction, and as organizations shift to an approach that’s less transactional and more [focused] on creative solutions…clearly we’re going to be doing more of these things in the future,” he said.
The broadcaster is also putting an increased emphasis on its distribution unit, headed by Trudeau. Distribution currently represents about one third of CBC/Radio-Canada’s self-generated revenue, said Mongeau, up from 20% about five years ago.
“It’s a very important component of our mandate as a public service broadcaster,” he said. “We are all about making sure as many Canadians can access our content as possible. In that sense we are aligning both mandated objectives and financial stability.”
Kreuk said the revamped structure helps the public broadcaster deliver against customer requests with a single point of contact. “They don’t want to see more people, they want to see less people,” she said.
The new approach also embodies the broadcaster’s new commitment to non-traditional advertising solutions, she said. “Agencies are not interested in just the spots and dots anymore – they’re looking for different,” she said. “That makes them different than other agencies and helps them win more business.”
The revenue optimization unit headed by Hammond is responsible for all audience forecasts, pricing and inventory management. Last fall, the group – populated primarily by ex-agency staffers – undertook an “extensive” best practices review that enabled it to create what she described as a “Hit List” of what has produced best results from CBC and Radio-Canada.
Mongeau said he and former CBC Revenue Group GM Alan Dark (who joined Rogers Media last year) first began discussing the idea of integrating the English CBC and Radio-Canada sales divisions about three years ago, even establishing a joint English and French digital sales team in 2012.
Mongeau said their discussions focused on marketplace dynamics, the interests of advertisers and how to better serve them.
The new sales unit employs approximately 400 people coast-to-coast, making it roughly one-third the size of CBC/Radio-Canada’s former sales team. Mongeau said that combining the English and French sales teams created redundancies, while the public broadcaster has also been forced to significantly reduce its staff following the loss of NHL hockey.
