Having established a Quebec beachhead last year, digital publisher Evolve Media is pushing further into the market with the appointment of a new Montreal-based business leader.
Khatir Soltani, former senior director at AOL Canada, has joined Evolve as its new vice-president of strategic partnerships. In the new position, Soltani is responsible for growing the company’s operations in Quebec as well as securing publisher partnerships in both France and Europe.
L.A.-based Evolve opened its Canadian office in 2007, but had previously been covering the Quebec market from Toronto. Walder Amaya, EVP of international sales and operations, told Marketing the company had previously been “parachuting” account people in to meet with media agencies and clients.
Evolve appointed a Montreal-based account executive in the third quarter of 2014, contributing to an approximately 50% lift in sales in the second half of the year.
Amaya said Evolve’s Quebec revenues through April are already 80% of what it achieved in all of 2014, with recent brand partners including Metro, Pfizer, Philips, Natrel, Tourism Quebec and Ubisoft.
“The success that we saw put us in the frame of mind that we really need to start ramping this up and put a leader in the market – someone that has the same type of values and will allow us to put down roots,” said Amaya.
The company added to its Quebec presence earlier this year, when its lifestyle division TotallyHer partnered with French-language publisher AuFeminin, the global leader in female-focused editorial and community content.
Evolve has its own editorial team producing Canadian-specific content for AuFeminin, and hopes to forge similar relationships with other European publishers. The objective, he said, is to secure complementary market leading publishers.
“One of the things we kept hearing from clients was the need for something similar to our English offering,” said Amaya. “We looked at where our strengths lie within the English market and what we have been really good at, and started looking at publisher partners that had similar values that would be complementary.
“From a go to market strategy standpoint it would allow us to offer a complete national solution for advertisers.”
Soltani has more than 14 years of digital experience. With AOL he focused on positioning and recruiting partner sites for its French market offer. Prior to AOL, he worked at BVS Media, overseeing the development of its French advertising network prior to its 2010 acquisition by Rogers Media.
Amaya said the company plans to take a “cautiously aggressive” approach to growing its Quebec business.
“We want to be careful while always moving forward,” he said. “We want to make sure that the roots we’re putting down go deep, and that we continue growing in a manner that allows us to stay in the market for years to come.”
