This morning, Montreal-based Aeroplan announced that it has selected Cossette as its full-service agency of record, replacing the three-agency structure it previously operated under.
Under the new relationship, Cossette will handle branding, design, relational marketing, sponsorship, advertising and media planning, and purchasing across all of the brand’s disciplines and channels. Formerly, Aeroplan worked with Sid Lee in Montreal, loyalty marketer Rapp Collins and Touche! PHD in Montreal on its mass-media.
The decision to go integrated for its agency service was a three-pronged one, David Klein, VP, marketing, Aeroplan, tells MiC, the first of which is expansion of the program over the last five years.
‘What that means from a marketing communications agency requirement is that we’re communicating about many more things to our members than we used to, so the amount of information to communicate is greater and the number of touchpoints we have with our members is greater.’
The second issue was the competitiveness of the loyalty space in Canada these days, he explains. ‘This industry has changed dramatically in the past five years,’ he notes.
The third issue addressed in the agency review was media convergence.
‘Five or six years ago, we talked about a direct marketing campaign much differently than a brand campaign or a digital campaign, but it’s not efficient or effective to run those things in silos anymore for us,’ he says.
In choosing Cossette, the goal is to have an agency partner that can work seamlessly across Aeroplan’s multiple marketing, advertising and promotional channels, Klein explains. ‘Cossette brings together in one house a strong set of integrated capabilities.’
After entering the mass media space for the first time this spring after years away from it, the company is set to increase its mass media presence in 2011 and expand its media budget within its overall marketing budget as well.
‘The mass space for us is an area that you’ll be seeing Aeroplan more in for 2011,’ Klein says. ‘Aeroplan is in a fortunate position that we have direct relationships with our members, so we have a lot of proprietary channels. We’re talking to our members through direct mail, through interactive and email, as well as all the retail touchpoints. But really [going forward], where our members are is where we need to be interacting with them.’
