The Montreal edition of free daily Metro vows to stay number one in the city despite having lost its exclusive distribution rights to the transit system.
In December, Metro Montreal lost its 10-year exclusive distribution deal in the city’s subway stations as the Société de Transport de Montréal (STM) decided to work with its competitor, 24H, owned by Quebecor.
Since then, Metro has been using 200 brand representatives who hand out copies every morning in front of subway entrances, exactly like 24H had been doing while Metro had the distribution deal.
For now, Metro is still Montreal’s top newspaper according to NADBank’s September 2010 reports. Will it stay on top despite having lost underground access?
Absolutely, according to publisher Daniel Barbeau, who spoke with Marketing at Metro Montreal’s 10-year anniversary celebration last week.
“The [brand reps] actually are more efficient than the in-station stands. People like [them], they like to be handed the newspaper on their way to work instead of having to walk through the morning crowd to get their copy,” said Barbeau.
Even when it had its transit exclusivity deal, Metro was using approximately 80 hand distributors, called camelots in French.
“But camelots are expensive,” Barbeau said. “So when we renewed our offer to STM, we just calculated the price it would cost if we relied only on camelots around the city. Our competitor offered more, so they went with Quebecor. But for us, it makes no difference. It would have cost the same thing to keep the same system compared to the current system with 200 camelots outside the stations.”
Barbeau said Metro plans to keep its number-one ranking in the city through new distribution deals with McDonald’s restaurants and Van Houtte cafes. “And we are discussing a deal with major condo operators.”
