Responding to what it characterizes as the “multiplatform marketing communication needs” of its customers, Montreal-based Transcontinental today announced a new operating structure that combines its Media and Interactive divisions.
Debuting Nov. 1, the new entity, Transcontinental Media, will oversee the company’s products and services in publishing, distribution, data analytics and management, as well as interactive marketing solutions (mobile, digital promotions, etc.) and digital media.
Natalie Larivière, who joined Transcontinental in 2006, will serve as president of the new entity, while former Transcontinental Interactive president Christian Trudeau is departing as a result of the restructuring. He will stay on with Transcontinental until Oct. 31 in order to ensure the “smooth integration” of the Interactive division with Transcontinental Media.
Transcontinental president and CEO François Olivier said in a release that the reorganization will make it easier for the company to market its products and services and emphasize its offer on various communication platforms.
Olivier said that the restructuring furthers a plan implemented in 2008 to strengthen Transcontinental’s core operations – the company has extensive newspaper and consumer magazine holdings – and build new marketing services. This plan, he said, has enabled Transcontinental to carve out “an enviable position” in the Canadian market for interactive marketing products.
The company has made significant investments in the digital space over the past three years, including the acquisitions of e-mail marketing firm ThinData, interactive database marketing specialists Rastar and the mobile communications firms LIPSO and Vortex Mobile. It has also struck deals to represent the online inventory of several major U.S. publishers including Undertone, Ziff Davis and the About Group.
Transcontinental’s digital and interactive marketing solutions now generate more than $175 million in annual revenue and employ approximately 1,000 people – about 10% of its total workforce – in Canada and the United States.
