42 PL & P
In Focus
By Ahmed Haroon
Christine Latour
Christine Latour is a marketing whiz who has been overseeing the promotional and brand expansion for AV and entertainment technology giant , Solotech . The company has been responsible for some of the most ambitious live productions around the world , including concert tours by the likes of Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift , as well as systems integration in high-end venues like the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park in San Diego , The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas , and the O2 Arena in London .
Latour joined the business four years ago as the director of marketing and communications . Given her love of music ( especially R & B and Motown ), and having performed in bands since the age of 14 , the company was a perfect match for her . “ In my spare time I did music ; I met and performed in a band . We knew of Solotech , having used the equipment and services before . I was working in the insurance business and looking to change because I wanted to join passion and work together and I think this was the perfect blend . I saw the posting for Solotech looking for their first-ever director of marketing and I contacted a few people that I saw on LinkedIn , and kind of made my way to meet them .”
Now VP of marketing , communications , and e-commerce , Latour oversees anything to do with digital marketing , internal and external communications , and coordinating the branding of the company through various mediums .“ I oversee a team of professionals – spread across the U . S ., Canada , and the U . K . – who do anything from internal communication , all the way to the very detailed digital marketing KPIs . So , it goes from sending and preparing strategic communications for our CEO , to our townhall , to the branding , and working on the different looks , feels , and designs , as well as website development to campaigns and lead generation .”
About what ’ s currently keeping her busy at the company , Latour explains :“ Our divisions are growing their business on a global scale at a very fast pace . My role is to translate their business needs into communication and marketing activities , plan ahead of time , make sure we budget and support our leaders , and guide the team to deliver the plan we established together . So , our day-to-day is never the same .” Latour adds that she also works closely with her team , “ coaching them with various marketing strategies and tactics and KPI measurement ” and helps orchestrate and evolve branding strategies .
Latour was born and raised in Sorel-Tracy , a small town in Quebec . Being a Francophone community , Latour says she really wanted to learn English growing up , thus she enrolled in John Abbott College in Montreal and completed some of her foundational studies there . “ For my bachelor ’ s degree , I went to HEC Montreal , which is an international business school . As part of that , I did a study abroad program in the Netherlands and I did all marketing classes over there . I ’ ve always been very creative .”
Latour then headed south to the U . S . for the next six years to pursue a master ’ s degree at Purdue University in Indiana . From there ,
she would land a role as a marketing director in Atlanta , where she crafted and oversaw the creation of a marketing and events unit for Sodexo at Zoo Atlanta . “ We actually built the whole marketing function from scratch , from web to databases to collateral to everything . I was only 23 back then and I ’ ve been a marketer from the very get-go , mixing sales and marketing . And from a very young age , I was just putting together teams .”
One of the professional challenges Latour encounters in her line of work is the constant need to adapt to new trends , technologies , and fads , specifically in the digital realm . As new innovations , needs , and demands come into play , the need to offer clients something new is also paramount . “ It ’ s also making sure that you develop the offering fast enough to follow business growth . Every quarter we have new strategies , new offerings , new promotions — so it ’ s an ongoing development .”
On coming out of the lockdowns and the post-COVID world , Latour is really looking forward to getting back out to see friends and shows . “ I ’ m excited to get back to going to our Bell Centre to see shows that [ Solotech ] do or visit some Solotech AV installs – say , corporate offices or entertainment venues – and be able to see the actual work that is done . Witnessing people working , and literally doing things really helps us convey the right messages to the right people so that our [ brand ] voice is in the right tone .”
Ahmed Haroon is an Editorial & Content Assistant at Professional Lighting & Production .