Listen to this articleMonaker Group is a digital marketing company utilizing digital – video media marketing and technology to engage and assist consumers in product purchases in the Travel, Home and Employment sectors. Maupintour is a wholly owned subsidiary of Monaker Group. Monaker is publicly traded on the OTC Markets (OTCQB: MKGI). Below is our interview with Bill Kerby, the Chairman and CEO of Monaker Group:
Q: What do you find most interesting and rewarding in terms of running Monaker Group?
A: For the past several years I have been in Television Broadcasting and the Real Estate Service industries. Through a recent deconsolidation, and the launch of Monaker Group, it is very exciting for me to have the leadership position building Monaker’s businesses drawing upon and leveraging my travel industry roots. In the 1990’s I built and ran several travel companies (both public and private) and it’s great to come full circle into the travel sector again. Now, using the experience I gained from the broadcast and home sectors, I’m driving Monaker with powerful media platforms, in conjunction with major industry partners I’ve had relationships with for years, to reach consumers through TV, Web and Mobile devices. Through the assets and interests we’ve recently assembled, Monaker has access to 1000’s of hours of travel footage being coordinated with key travel suppliers for presentation to consumers through our new technology platforms. Our platforms are targeted to roll out by end of year and will allow language conversion, filtered search and booking capabilities and are designed to deliver access to great vacation experience to the consumer.
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Q: Tell us something more about Monaker Group and your core competence?
A: Monaker is a digital media marketing company focusing on lifestyle enrichment for consumers in the Travel, Home and Employment sectors. Core to our marketing services are key elements including video-centered technologies and established partnerships giving us greater access to connect products and consumers. Video is quickly becoming consumers preferred method of searching and educating themselves prior to purchases and Monaker’s technology and vast film libraries combine to create lifestyle video offerings that can be shared directly to consumers and through “trusted distribution systems” with major partners. The consumers gain in-depth information on related products and services (such as our Maupintour Travel Packages), helping to inform them and fulfill their purchases. For many of us a vacation is not only a right, its cherished time needed to get centered, recharged and ready to face the challenges of work. At Monaker we strive to use video, technology, key relationships and expertise to help consumers find the right product at the right price.
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Q: You’ve recently announced partnerships with an initial group of Tourism Boards to accelerate Maupintour Travel; could you tell us something more?
A: Maupintour, a wholly owned subsidiary of Monaker, recently announced teaming up with the French, Norwegian and Belgian Tourism Boards to develop customized travel offerings for distribution to their pre-qualified audience of roughly 500,000 customers. The key drivers behind the relationships were two fold; Travel offerings will be promoted to the Tourism Boards’ target audience utilizing Monaker/Maupintours customized marketing platform, the Video Tour Guides and secondly, Monaker will support the travel promotions utilizing its access to television time on R&R Television’s network which reaches roughly 37 million households in North America. Monaker owns a 10% interest in R&R Television and as such has up to one hour of programming or advertising (at no cost) on the network 24/7 and 365 days a year.
Industry studies have found that 90% of consumers say video about a product is helpful in their decision process so it’s no surprise that emails with video attached average a 19% higher open rates, however when delivered to a prequalified targeted audience (such as the consumers supplied by the Tourism Boards in these new partnerships) and through our VTG, we’ve seen the open rate and click through rates jump by 65%. Working with key Tourism Boards utilizing video travel offerings of high end travel products to their respective countries should help consumers access the right vacation offering and accelerate our sales.
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Q: What can we expect from Monaker Group in the future? What are your plans?
A: The company is actively working on expansion of its product base to not only include “specialty high end tours” for Maupintour’s Luxury clientele, but to address the much larger spectrum of the vacation market, the discount travel offerings for the average budget. To do this, we’ll need to modify our technology platform to access what could be referred to as wholesale and alternative lodging products like home/room rentals, managed property inventory. We are moving down this path. This is similar to the Airbnb space – a company averaging over 130% growth last year and now has an estimated market value of over $25 billion. We’re looking very closely at the space!
Q: What’s the best thing about Maupintour Travel that people might not know about?
A: Maupintour is a “high touch” company that delivers travel excellence. We continuously receive glowing recommendations from customers post their travel and it is one of the few companies that can boast return travellers that have booked as many as 96 vacations. At its height in the 1990’s, under Tom Maupin, Maupintour booked over $60 million in travel annually. Monaker is working internally and with its channel partners to quickly re-establish Maupintour back at the top of the premier Vacation and Tour Companies. Our recently launched VTG’s combined with Maupintour’s history, reputation, growing partnerships and platforms are a great step to that end.
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