Pascal Arseneau
Ontario’s French-language educational broadcaster Groupe Média TFO (TFO) has appointed Cossette to provide advertising marketing and communications services for the next three years.
Cossette was one of three agencies in the Ontario government’s agency pool selected by the Advertising Review Board (ARB) to pitch the assignment. Lowe Roche, the incumbent on the assignment, was also invited to pitch.
TFO issued the RFP in early June, and informed Cossette it had won the assignment about two weeks ago, said chief marketing officer Pascal Arseneau.
Cossette is tasked with handling the expansion of TFO’s brand, franchises and platforms throughout Ontario and Quebec, as well as wherever there is a perceived demand for French-language educational resources – whether it be Ontario, Quebec, or even the U.S. and European markets.
TFO has expanded from its broadcast roots to become a leading producer and aggregator of children’s educational content. Over the past four years it has become what Arseneau described as a “digital-first” organization, encompassing multiple digital platforms such as apps, websites, online games and social media channels.
“We’re a very different animal than we were four years ago, and we wanted someone who could take us to the next level,” he said. “We see ourselves as a content production, aggregation and distribution factory, and that puts us in the same boat as anyone who’s in the business of producing content, whether it’s Netflix, YouTube, Hulu or Vimeo.
Arseneau said TFO’s “digital transformation” means its audiences are now everywhere online. For example, TFO recently announced its nine YouTube channels have attracted more than 100 million views, a 523% increase over the past year.
Arseneau said Cossette was selected on the basis of its familiarity with both the English and French markets, particularly as TFO looks to further tap into the estimated 1 million Ontario children learning French as a second language and extend its reach beyond its home province.
Quebec has emerged as a key revenue source for TFO, said Arseneau, since cable and satellite companies in the province are not obligated to carry the service – meaning people must purchase it in their channel packages. “We’ve had some good success in that market with relatively modest campaigns and initiatives, but we think the potential is huge,” he said.
Cossette’s digital expertise was also a key factor in its appointment, said Arseneau. “We have an agency that knows the new channels to communicate with our target audience and innovates in that space.”
Arseneau, who had just left a three-hour meeting with Cossette when he spoke with Marketing, said he hopes to see the agency’s first work in market “as soon as possible.” While TFO has utilized print and out-of-home in its previous marketing efforts, future efforts will focus primarily on digital, he said.
“The best way to direct people to our digital platform is to talk to them in the digital space,” he said.
TFO is currently developing two projects Arseneau said would further its evolution, including a re-launched website that would become a “true vehicle for content delivery,” as well as a revamp of its web-based learning tools to reach people “wherever they are on their learning journey” that is expected to debut early in 2016.
Earlier this year, TFO appointed Havas Worldwide to handle its digital and social media strategy for the next three years. Excluding YouTube, TFO’s social media fans and followers grew by 220% to more than 200,000 last year.
