Club Med China picks Spark Foundry

Club Méditerranée, commonly known as Club Med, has picked Spark Foundry to lead its media business in mainland China. The contract was officially signed at the end of July.

Spark Foundry’s scope of work includes strategic and tactical media planning and buying across all channels including SEM, SEO, social, and programmatic, with estimated billings of US$10 million. The agency did not specify the time frame for this amount of billings.

There were reportedly eight agencies in the media pitch, including OMD, iClick, Netbooster and Altima. Campaign has reached out to these agencies for confirmation of their involvement. OMD China said it was involved in chemistry meetings, but did not participate in the actual pitch. Altima was Club Med's previous China agency for SEO, SEM, and reported that it still works with Club Med on global ecommerce projects.

In the past, Club Med worked with different agencies for different digital services, but now Spark Foundry can provide the client the entire scope of services as well as deep consumer insight, overall strategy guidance, and innovative partnerships with BAT, said Linda Wang, general manager at Spark Foundry Shanghai.

"Spark Foundry have impressed us with their in-depth knowledge of Chinese consumers and the travel sector, said Olivia Chen (陈颖), Club Med's VP of marketing and digital of Greater China.

Club Med positions itself as a "premium all-inclusive vacation resort concept for holiday seekers". In China, Club Med has properties in Sanya, Guilin, Beidahu, and Yabuli with ambitions to open 20 more resorts by 2020.