Spafax

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Spafax company logo.
The Spafax company logo.

Spafax is an international content marketing agency that focuses on engaging the "consumer in transit." Spafax was founded in London in 1985 and is now part of Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP Group PLC, in the tenthavenue division.[1]

Spafax has worked with major airlines like Air Canada, British Airways, Emirates, American Airlines, LAN Airlines, Virgin America as well as with luxury brands and government organizations like Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Mercedes Benz Canada and The Canadian Tourism Commission.

In addition to its client work, Spafax publishes a multiplatform magazine called Sparksheet. Based in Montreal but international in scope, Sparksheet is editorially independent and serves as an incubator for good ideas about content, media and marketing. Because of its unique business model, Sparksheet has been cited as an example of "branded journalism."[2] Sparksheet's content is written for a primarily business-to-business audience and focuses on topics like online publishing, design, luxury branding and marketing to the consumer in transit. Sparksheet currently boasts more than 100 contributors from around the world.

History

Spafax started as Bath Spa Factors in Bath, England in the 1930s as a garage servicing Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars. From there, they evolved into a parts distributor with a European network. In order to communicate with the sales force, Bath Spa Factors decided to take advantage of Betamax to create films with local talents, from there a film division was born. Spafax Television was one of the earliest customized programme producers that built up a blue chip client base that included the likes of Reuters and Marconi. And then Duncan Hilleary, one of Spafax's earliest contributors, arrived on the scene in 1986 and pitched a plan for an airline network.

He and filmmaker Jeremy Hunter partnered with the newly named Spafax Airline Network resulted in a contract to produce advertising and video productions for British Airways. The video production, a monthly magazine-style programme called The World Traveller Show featuring different locations around the world, led to contracts with different airlines, including Singapore and Northwest.

In 1993 Hilleary pioneered the outsourcing of in-flight entertainment (IFE) to British Airways (BA) with a dedicated team located in a BA office in Buckingham Palace Road and re-launched BA’s IFE with a new programming strategy, a new graphic identity and media brand. This new approach was also one of the first to offer tangible benefits to the airline in the form of substantial savings against the BA (IFE) budget. The dedicated BA IFE team took ownership of all aspects of the passenger audio-visual experience and succeeded in winning the Avion Award for best overall in-flight entertainment for British Airways at the WAEA in both 1995 and 1998. From 1995 to 2004, Spafax has expanded to Canada, Asia, South America, and the UAE. Spafax now has 8 offices worldwide from London to Dubai.

From that small garage, Spafax has grown into a multinational based on four continents, serving more than 60 clients in the industry. Its multicultural background (and its expertise in creating bi-cultural publications) is an undeniable asset in today’s global marketplace. Managing a diverse client base with a diverse employee base, Spafax is a poster child for the positive aspects of globalization.

Operations

Spafax office locations:

  • London
  • Montreal
  • Toronto
  • Santiago
  • Orange County
  • Kuala Lumpur
  • Dubai
  • Singapore
  • Frankfurt
  • New York City

Client List

Spafax Clients (in no particular order)

Air Canada Mercedes-Benz Canadian Tourism Commission MSN[3] Bell Canada [4]
Investors Group BainUltra Alaska Airlines Air Transport International Bombardier[5]
Virgin Atlantic Virgin America American Airlines Caribbean Airlines AeroMexico
Air Tahiti LAN Airlines Teatro Municipal de Santiago Fundación CAP Fairmont Hotels and Resorts
Scandinavian Airlines Finnair British Airways Air France KLM
Swiss International Airlines Royal Jordanian Airlines Egyptair Etihad Airways Qatar Airways
Emirates Sri Lankan Air America Media Pakistan International Airlines Air Mauritius
Asiana Airlines Korean Air China Airlines Philippine Airlines Malaysia Airlines
Singapore Airlines Air Mauritius Qantas

Services

Publishing

Part of Spafax's services includes publishing. They specialize in custom publishing and has published many award-winning publications since its establishment. Here is a sample list of Spafax's publishing clients

enRoute Magazine [6] Bell Mobile[4] Mercedes Benz [7]
inLAN IG & Review Fairmont Magazine
Pure Canada [8] onAir HomeSpa [9]

As publishing becomes more digitized these days, Spafax now offers custom publishing for both online and offline production.

On May 14, 2009, Spafax announced a new partnership with Mercedes-Benz[7] and on September 22, 2009, Spafax agreed to a collaboration with MSN.ca by providing them with their award-winning travel content.[3]

Publications

Spafax is responsible for many publications for both online and offline such as enRoute Magazine,[6] inLAN, Fairmont, onAir, Pure Canada, HomeSpa, Royal Wings and many more. Spafax recently expanded it’s service to non-travel related brands such as Review for Investors Group, Mobile for Bell Canada and Santiago, Chile’s Teatro Municipal.

Entertainment

Spafax's main clients are airlines, which started the company. They offer custom in-flight entertainment and branding services to their clients; from publishing to in-flight entertainment media.

Media Sales

Advertising and media sales is part of Spafax's umbrella of services. This aspect of their service is created to offer advertising opportunities to their list of clients. Example of advertising and media sales opportunities under the Spafax umbrella:

Interactive

In lieu of current trends and digital development, customized digital branding is a part of the services offered by Spafax. Currently, a new branch of the company called Spafax Interactive has been established to meet the market needs. Types of services typically covered are web design, web development, social media marketing and communication, content strategy, internet marketing, content management, search engine optimization (SEO) and web publishing.

Related links

Articles & External Links

References

  1. ↑ {4F4FC2C7-37A7-44B0-A619-13BBA079A696} WPP Group acquires Spafax
  2. ↑ "What is branded journalism?". 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Spafax to Deliver Award-Winning Travel Content to MSN.ca
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Spafax Producing New Entertainment Magazine for Canada’s Leading Telecommunications Company
  5. ↑ Spafax wins contract to produce Bombardier magazine
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Air Canada and Spafax Canada Launches enRoute Magazine
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Spafax announces New Partnership with Mercedes Benz
  8. ↑ Pure Canada Travel-lifestyle magazine/ezine
  9. ↑ BainUltra Selects Spafax to Create Trendsetting Magazine
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