Get to Know Metro: Wilf Maunoir
Many of the region’s most talented publishers, marketing directors, writers and editors work for Metro. Here is just one of the many members of the Metro family: Wilf Maunoir, US Marketing and Research Director.
Wilf Maunoir joined Metro US in 2012. He has spent more than 15 years in the media and communications industry.
Prior to joining Metro US, he was the global research director of Metro International, the inventor of the modern free daily newspaper model and publisher of the largest global newspaper. A French citizen, Wilf has spent most of his professional career outside his home country living in London, Stockholm and now based in New York.
Tell us about your role as Marketing and Research Director.
The bulk of my role is to design and implement marketing strategies to develop metromedia business, ad sales in particular, through media research, advertising and lead generation programs. Our business being ad-funded, business-to-business aspects occupy most of my time. In addition, I am in charge of developing the internal business reporting and use of our CRM – as well as media partnerships, street marketing operations and other consumer-facing projects.
There is no typical day at Metro. I enjoy the variety of projects I am involved in and most of all the opportunity to work with a bunch of fantastic (and sometimes crazy) professionals with diverse skills and backgrounds in all departments.
What is metromedia?
metromedia is Metro’s B2B facing brand. Today, Metro is more than a free daily newspaper. We create multi-channel marketing solutions across print, out-of-home and digital platforms using Metro-branded channels and a range of partners.
metromedia allows us to convey that message to advertisers and gives us the flexibility to develop new products outside the scope of the Metro brand. The metromedia brand is also instrumental in changing our company’s culture and contributes to the effort of continuously adapting to be more agile and efficient.
How can metromedia help my business?
We help brands and businesses reach and influence consumers in the fantastic metropolises of New York, Philadelphia, Boston and beyond. Whether the objective is to drive foot traffic to a local store or raise awareness for a new brand, we listen and create an advertising program that delivers.
How has the marketing industry changed since you joined Metro?
Technology and innovation has obviously changed the way we work and consume media profoundly. As marketers, we have access to tools and data we wouldn’t have dreamed about 10 years ago. Yet what we gained is only arming us to face new challenges.
Today’s consumers are overwhelmed by an exponentially-growing amount of information, an instant and restless flow of data which may be stressful and is certainly decreasing their attention span. They have no choice other than to develop coping strategies to process the information – blanking out marketing messages in the process. Furthermore, consumers are way more marketing-literate if not skeptical – they won’t fall for the good old tricks.
Successful brands need to communicate how they can help the consumer in a simple, genuine and transparent way. And this is hard work for the marketer.
In a nutshell, today marketing is less about fluff and more about science and authenticity. But most of the fundamentals remain.
What media trends are you seeing now?
Well, since we all suffer a somewhat shorter attention span, I’ll just mention one. I think TV is in big trouble. I myself decided to cut the cord last year – when my cable operator ramped up my subscription without notice – as their quasi-monopolistic position allows them to do. I just figured out that I was not interested enough in lacrosse, reality trash TV and telenovelas, to pay $100 a month and endure 20 minutes of intrusive advertising per hour.
Sorry, dear cable operators, you won’t make ad dollars on me anymore.
