intelligence—from both the physical
and the digital market via i Tunes and
other online activities—enables us to
bring the optimal product mix and
highest ROI [return on investment] per
square foot for our retail customers,”
says Gary Fodi, Madacy’s executive vice
president and CFO. “We’re the No. 1
value product supplier to every mass
merchant retailer in North America, but
you can’t compete just on price. To differentiate, we have to offer something
more by continually adding value. Let’s
say tracks are being downloaded. How
do we participate in that space? How
do we use intelligence from bricks and
mortar to drive digital sales and vice
versa? How does that market intelligence create value for all of our customers in the convergence from the physical
to the digital world of the future?”
In other words, how can Madacy,
which specializes in lifestyle-based marketing concepts and collections, improvise a new tune for the benefit of its
customers? Using Oracle Sales Analyzer,
Oracle Discoverer, Oracle Portal, and
other analytical tools available through
Oracle E-Business Suite, the company
created a turnkey solution to drive
overall category profitability for its retailers. Technology is the enabler, says Fodi,
because it allows Madacy to track such critical market intelligence as individual store traits, inventory turnover, supply chain
costs, consumer sales, profit margins, and customer cash flow.
Central to Madacy’s growth strategy is securing permanent
space with additional mass merchandise retailers, as well as
developing products geared to nontraditional entertainment
retailers. The goal is to create premium products branded for
nontraditional venues. Building on its recent success with
Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret, Madacy plans to
gain permanent retail space in these and other nontraditional
venues such as Home Depot and Kohl’s department stores.
“The turnkey solution we developed for the mass merchandiser
value category is a portable model that can be applied to any
retail channel and is a key growth driver for us in the nontraditional marketplace,” says Fodi.
The choice of technology partner for its customer relationship management (CRM) function was critical, according to
Fodi. Madacy needed a flexible, scalable solution that would
enable it to monitor granular data taken from a multitude
of sources to support strategic and tactical decisions for the
>>SNAPSHOTS
Madacy Entertainment
www.madacy.com
Founded: 1981
Headquarters: Montreal, Quebec
Employees: 110
Revenue: US$120 million
Annual sales: 35– 40 million units
Oracle products and services:
Oracle E-Business Suite On De-
mand, Oracle Sales Analyzer, Oracle
Financial Analyzer, Oracle Discov-
erer, Oracle Portal
company. “Oracle understood our vision,”
he notes. “Having it as a partner allows
us to continually demonstrate to the mar-
ketplace the world-class capabilities that
set us well above our competition.” In its
own way, Oracle’s approach to customer
centricity has allowed Madacy to evolve
from being product- and category-centric
to being customer-centric. “We were always
a smart company,” says Fodi. “Now, thanks
to Oracle, we’re an ‘intelligent’ company.”
PUTTING THE CUSTOMERS IN CONTROL
Whereas Madacy has built its business on
making it easy for retailers to serve the end
user, Revolution Health Group is building its
future on the quality of direct contact with
the end user. This leading Web-based health
company was launched in 2005 by America
Online cofounder Steve Case, who wants his
new venture to be “the most trusted brand
in health.” It’s part of the Revolution family
of companies founded by Case “to give
consumers more choice, control, and convenience in important aspects of their lives.”
With that kind of setup, Revolution
Health really had no choice but to make
customer centricity a mission-critical
priority. “In the healthcare marketplace,
there is definitely room for improvement
in putting consumers at the center,” says
Dan Israel, product manager for the com-
pany’s CRM operations. “Our mission is to put consumers
more in control, to give them more power and more confi-
dence in making health decisions. Customer centricity has
been a focus of ours from Day One, because we believe this
is a real opportunity to differentiate ourselves.”
Revolution Health has three cornerstone operations.
RevolutionHealth.com offers comprehensive health and
medical information at no cost, along with more than 125 free
online tools to help people take control of their well-being and
an online community that brings people with similar health
experiences together to share and learn. The company also provides employers with benefits navigation services and extended
telephone services (such as finding a healthcare professional
in a given locale, scheduling appointments, and advocating for
consumers on insurance claims) for employees. A third facet
of the business involves helping consumers make informed
choices on healthcare insurance coverage.
A beta version of RevolutionHealth.com launched in January
2007, and a fully functioning version launched in April. In
February 2007, the company rolled out Oracle CRM On
Revolution Health Group
www.revolutionhealth.com
Founded: 2005
Headquarters: Washington DC
Oracle products and services:
Oracle CRM On Demand
Axium Entertainment
www.axiument.com
Founded: 1987
Headquarters: Los Angeles,
California
Employees: 300
Oracle products: Oracle’s People-
Soft Enterprise, including Financials,
Human Resources Management
System (North American and
global), and CRM
Other products: IBM servers
