Twitter Canada officially opened the doors at its brand new office in downtown Toronto on May 6. Since its Canadian launch in June 2013, the Canadian team has grown substantially to become one of the company’s top 10 generating markets.
Before Twitter Canada christened the new digs with a launch party, Marketing sat down with Shailesh Rao, vice-president of emerging markets at Twitter, to talk about the nuances of the Canadian market, why it has its sights set on Quebec and the hunt for a country lead to replace the office’s first leader, Kirstine Stewart.
It’s been two years, almost to the day, since Twitter opened in Canada. Has the office met the company’s expectations?
This new office isn’t just an office, it’s really a milestone that reflects not only our pleasure in the growth and innovation we’ve seen in this market, but also how bullish we are about continued opportunities in the market.
Twitter Canada is one of our top ten revenue-contributing markets. Thirty-four per cent of our revenue comes from international. Combine those two facts and you can see how important Canada is to the business overall. We’re very pleased. It has surpassed expectations, but I think there’s even more we can do here.
What do you see as the big growth opportunities in Canada?
We recognize the opportunity to replicate the success we’ve seen here in Toronto by [using the same playbook] in French Canada. There’s a real need there – a need to deliver French Canadian content, to deliver and stimulate French Canadian conversations and get VITs – very influential tweeters – from French Canada to be active on the platform.
Every brand wants to go much deeper into French Canada. It’s a different experience we have to support.
Any chance of opening a Quebec office?
What we’re looking for, first and foremost, is people who understand that market, who have the language skills and are close and connected to that culture. We work a lot with Cossette on the agency side, which has deep roots in French Canada. That’s given us early visibility into what marketers need there and that visibility is now giving us cause to want to invest more.
Last fall Kirstine Stewart was promoted to vice-president of North American media partnerships. What has the leadership been in the interim?
It’s a combination of me and the team here on the ground. If you look at all the functional leads, they’ve come together to lead the business and continue to drive growth. We haven’t missed a step.
How’s the hunt going? What are you looking for in a new leader?
We’re searching. We’re taking our time and we’re going to make sure we find someone who this team and business deserves.
Every leader has their own style. Kirstine’s amazing – I recruited her and immediately thought we needed her as a leader for Twitter Canada to get us off to the right start. She did that. She hit the ground running and made sure people knew Twitter Canada was here.
It’s noticeable in the market. We’re a player. A lot of that can be credited to the work Kirstine did. To take it forward, we need someone who has her same leadership skills. I’m sure we’ll find that right person.
What have Canadian CMOs been like to work with?
They’re really innovative and we’ve got to find a way to engage them even more. You talk to TD bank, Canadian Tire, Kraft and Rogers, they want to do more with us. They want to push the envelope and try new products. Their using really advanced products, we’re talking about the first or second implementation in the world. We’ve got to step up our game to meet the expectations and innovation that’s here in the market.
Twitter recently launched Periscope. What’s the demand like for Periscope from marketers, and do they understand how to use it yet?
Huge – and not yet. Mobile video broadcast from your phone, I think, is going to be huge. It’s part of a bigger umbrella story about bringing video to mobile in the moment in a socially engaging, conversational way.
It’s early days and we’re going to figure [the brand side] out, but we can see already the usage is tremendous. In the aggregate, we know usage of Periscope is growing at an absolutely torrid rate. When we figure out how to package that audience, present it in a way that can create value for brands, we’ll figure it out. We’re trying to keep it simple. This is something that is filling a real need and a gap in the market.
We’re very confident this fills a need, fills a gap and is perfectly suited for Twitter. Users want it and the growth is there. We’ll figure out how to package the audience in a way that’s meaningful for brands. I have no concerns.
