Gaëlle Ferry,
Group Communication Manager
Pierre&Vacances-Center Parcs Group

CUSTOMER TESTIMONIAL


The Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs Group newsroom has undergone a major overhaul. Multi-brand: for journalists and influencers in Europe, it will be soon available in 4 languages (UK, FR, NL, DE). On the menu, all the news about the listed on the stock market group and its brands Pierre & Vacances, Center-Parcs, Maeva and Adagio. Boosted with corporate content and sections, the tool offers a seamless experience with the corporate site, which making it essential. It’s easier when the two sites are redesigned at the same time. However, interweaving both entities is something we wanted to explore, because it’s so rare! CMS, CRM, everything is included in this platform, which allows the group to publish but also to distribute and share all the content for its press and public relations. Let’s hope that the newsroom, operational since 2019, will reach new audience records after its 18,500 users and 7,000 images downloaded in 2022.

 

What are the communication and reputation challenges for the Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs Group in 2023?

The roadmap is ambitious and our target audiences are very varied. The group, which is the European leader in tourism with a CSR strategy, must strengthen its e-reputation. It must demonstrate its willingness to transform and provide evidence and meaning to improve the ecological transition of the hospitality industry. We must also promote our role as a local and economic player by demonstrating our educational approach. We address journalists and influencers as much as the financial community, the job market as much as our employees, local players – associations, elected officials, residents etc. – and economic partners. All audiences with whom we need to maintain a more affinity-based relationship. Which is why we need the best tools.

Why take the decision for a new PR newsroom?

We took advantage of the redesign of our corporate site to rethink the newsroom in a purely service-oriented way. Journalists are overwhelmed with information, and we had to get back to basics. We wanted the two platforms to live in the same ecosystem, to allow journalists to navigate more easily and access more relevant content. With this redesign, we have control over our editorial planning, are able to manage our corporate and brand news in the same place, distribute them and make them available at any time, on all devices.

You have been using the Epresspack solution since 2018. What are its benefits and qualities for you?

The tool greatly facilitates the day-to-day work for our teams. This includes a dozen people in the group communications department (corporate communications and media relations in charge of brands in France and Europe) and the PR agencies in our various markets. From a single dashboard, we publish news and press releases enriched with photos and videos, distribute them in an optimised way to the target media, manage the databases and obtain audience statistics. It’s very simple and intuitive, so we can focus on value-added tasks, provide tailored content, and capitalise on the relationship with our audiences.

Do you have any feedback on the redesign?

The new newsroom has been very well received internally by users, employees and the leadership team. They are ambassadors to whom we give the means to express their pride. Also, the KPIs are very good!

In your opinion, is technology the prerequisite for any PR and content strategy?

Digital is a sounding board for PR. It allows us to be client-centric and meaningful. We are seeing a change in the way information is created. It is no longer a question of being the first, but of being the most relevant and useful as we move to a more service-oriented capacity than before.