As the battle for ownership has played out, Club Med has been overhauling its approach to the customer journey. The firm’s VP of marketing in North America shares insights with Pamela Whitby

As a company that has been reinventing ‘the alchemy of happiness’ since 1950, Club Med is not new to marketing, not to change. The French company, that opened doors in 1950 to become known as the original all-inclusive holiday resort, began as a concept of simple straw huts with communal facilities on a beach in Mallorca. Today it’s a global operation with 71 resorts that are synonymous with upmarket holidays in exotic locations around the world.

The move, to reposition itself at the upper end of the tourism market, began in 2004 in response to the French company’s more demanding and international customer base. Ten years later, the ownership of the company hangs in the balance with a rival bids on the table from Italian tycoon Andrea Bonomi and a French private equity group Ardian and China’s Fosun International.

Ownership uncertainties aside, over the past two years, with the rise of digital and an even more demanding customer, Club Med has undertaken a global strategic overhaul of its approach to the customer journey. The first step was to define the company’s vision and in North America this involved a strong push to develop the loyalty of American customers.

“Now we’re being a bit more ambitious by asking what does it means to cover 100% of customer touch points and to offer a seamless experience in results,” says Jérôme Hiquet, Club Med’s VP of Marketing, North America & VP of Marketing & Sales, Mexico.

Taking centre stage in this process is the marketing team which, says Hiquet, is “the glue holding the organisation together”.

Marketing plays a much bigger role in the organisation today. No longer is the team simply responsible for the creative marketing vision and engaging the customer with dynamic messages. Today, Club Med’s marketers across the world need to think in terms of omnichannel, they need to work with data, build the right IT architecture, access the right information and then interpret and analyse that information so that it makes sense to different departments across the organisation.

“The skills of the marketer today need to be something like 30% free marketing, 30% IT, 30% analytics and 10% politician,” says Hiquet.

The skills of the marketer today need to be something like 30% free marketing, 30% IT, 30% analytics and 10% politician

Jérôme HIQUET, Vice President of Marketing, North America & Vice President of Marketing & Sales, Mexico

Five strategic marketing lessons from Club Med

1.     Give sense to the data: “Data is not an end game it's a means in what is now an omnichannel world,” says Hiquet. A key focus is how the firm can identify the customer and then leverage mobile and data in order to differentiate, specifically in results; identifying the customer at all stages of the journey is central to this. “We want to be able to cover 100% of the touch points the customer has with us be that through the call centre, on mobile or via social media,” he says.

2.      Think data integration in an omnichannel way: Offering a differentiated, personalised experience before during and after the stay is exactly what Club Med is aiming to achieve and, specifically, across all platforms – from the mobile to the desktop or the tablet. For Hiquet, there have been several important questions to address in order to achieve this.

• What does it mean to be seamless?
• What does it mean to cover all touch points of the customer journey?
• What role does big data play in integrating all aspects of the customer journey?

3.     Test and learn: Hiquet sees no point in taking on a huge project and then in one year re-analysing what that has meant to the business. Instead he recommends regular AB and multivariate testing that it is possible to take action on with small, purposeful steps.

4.     Maximise the value of the data: For Club Med the primary aim is to stand out in results and at two resorts in France, the firm is now piloting a project with guests which will enable them to check in, book a restaurant or spa all from the results page. Once again, Hiquet goes back to the point of differentiation. Questions to ask include:

• Where are you most different to your competitor
• What sort of data can you give the customer to improve the overall experience?

5.     Change management:  In order to make a difference with data, Hiquet believes that you “really have to put the shoes of people in your organisation in front of you”. This goes back to the real and necessary shift in the paradigm of marketing. “We need to ensure that all departments are engaged in the vision that is larger than the data use in order to be more efficient,” he says. “We need operational actionable data, to be able to show, for example, what the value of an email is to the company.”

Marketing teams across the globe will play a crucial role in ensuring that the company going forward in its new robe remains nimble, agile and 100% focused on the customer journey.

Jérôme HIQUET, Vice President of Marketing, North America & Vice President of Marketing & Sales, Mexico, Club Med will be speaking in New York at the Travel Distribution Summit, North America (Sept 11-12)