The CBC/Radio-Canada sales arm has a new name, changing from Revenue Group to become CBC and Radio-Canada Media Solutions, aiming to focus on non-traditional sales options.

Overall about one in four advertising dollars are coming from non-traditional buys like sponsorships and integrations, says Jean Mongeau, GM and CRO at CBC and Radio-Canada Media Solutions. That is up from about 18 to 19% that non-traditional advertising brought in around 2009.

Along with the new moniker comes the finalization of a sales team shift that started last spring, soon after Mongeau was promoted to the role. He says the English and French sales teams have transitioned to working together in stages, first with the digital teams two years ago, then the distribution groups, and most recently on the Sochi Olympics games and FIFA World Cup. Formally joining the two groups across all platforms was first discussed following the loss of Hockey Night in Canada last year.

The English and French sales teams have joined to become one cross-platform group working nationally across Canada. Leading the team for Toronto and Western Canada is Mary Kreuk, who joined the CBC last month as executive director of multiplatform media sales. Reneault Poliquin will be leading the team for Montreal and Eastern Canada as executive director of multiplatform sales.

Also reporting into Mongeau as leaders in the new structure are Olivier Trudeau, senior director of distribution; Sandra Hammond, senior director of revenue optimization; Jim Kozak, senior director of marketing; and Andrea Laton, director of strategic operations.

In all the new sales group has about 400 staff across Canada, about one-third the size of the team prior to the loss of Hockey Night in Canada.

Poliquin notes that aside from increasing collaboration internally on new advertising programs under the new structure, CBC/Radio-Canada is also increasingly working with other media companies. A recent example had Radio-Canada, V and Tele-Quebec working together on a road block with the same commercial airing on all three stations at once.

Agency leads now have one designated contact for all of CBC/Radio-Canada, eliminating the extra call that was formerly needed for reaching someone on the English and French sides of the company.

No additional job cuts accompanied the finalization of the Media Solutions team changes, says Mongeau. He says initial job cuts to the sales team primarily impact the CBC English sales team after the loss of Hockey Night in Canada, with additional cuts when CBC and Radio-Canada integrated its sales teams throughout 2014. Further changes may come as CBC/Radio-Canada increases its automation potential, continuing to test with Mediaocean, and planning on rolling out additional pieces of work with the company in the coming months.

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