After studying fashion marketing, Renee’s first job out of college was as a buyer for an established Montreal-based retailer in that field. There, she took on many roles, but the inexorable pull of marketing-focused tasks continually consumed her attention.
When she started working on the ecommerce side of the business, which involved a high degree of customer experience operations and social media management, Piquette truly found her calling. She realized that she wanted to pursue a role in a startup environment that was more fast-paced and dynamic.
Getting the buy-in and perspective from our performers is important, because they often have a pulse on their fanbase that we don’t have.
Then she landed a position at Gamma Entertainment that she felt was the right fit — and the rest is history. Today she masterminds marketing partnerships and campaigns that weave together performer relations and corporate strategies into symphonies of revenue-boosting traffic.
As our WIA Woman of the Month for November, Piquette shares her business philosophy, hard-won insights and goals for the coming year.
XBIZ: What led you to join this industry?
RENEE: I never thought I’d end up in an industry where I promoted people with clothes off, since I got my professional start in an industry where it was all about putting the clothes on! Being somewhat new to the city, I had learned that Montreal was a hub for adult entertainment. As I was looking to improve my skills in online marketing, I was referred to a position overseeing the monetization of our traffic and media buying and was instantly intrigued at how the industry worked. Gamma Entertainment was the first company I worked for when I joined the industry and I haven’t left since. I am proud to be working for a company that does porn professionally.
XBIZ: Discuss your primary product marketing and talent relations duties for Gamma.
RENEE: My main focus as a product marketer is to drive traffic to our sites through creative advertising campaigns. We see a lot of potential in supporting our performers and offering them the tools necessary in helping them promote their work on our platform, whatever that may be. Special photoshoots, interviews, video clips, GIFs, custom landing pages … and the list goes on. Emails and DMs are always open to any performer who is looking for custom assets to promote themselves through Adult Time; it’s a win-win!
XBIZ: How do you approach interfacing and collaborating with other team members?
RENEE: It has definitely been an adjustment in recent years. Prior to the pandemic, we had a great office vibe all in an open space, with open-door policies and unique meeting rooms where we could review everything in person. Now, as we are all working remotely, we have had to become more creative with how we plan and execute marketing campaigns. This means hundreds of message notifications a day, group chats with all the different departments involved and, of course, lots of Zoom calls. I think we all appreciate good Slack etiquette and a strong emoji game.
XBIZ: Talk about your philosophy for promoting Adult Time and empowering performers.
RENEE: Since Adult Time’s motto is “Porn done differently,” I try to the best of my abilities to have a unique approach in how I do my work, whether it’s the ideas for projects themselves or the way we work with talent to execute them. Getting the buy-in and perspective from our performers is important, because they often have a pulse on their fanbase that we don’t have.
On top of the creative partnerships that we try to put forward when collaborating with models, it’s very important to us that they feel safe on Adult Time sets, and that we respect their boundaries, their well-being and their voice. This enables them to feel comfortable working with us and helps build long-lasting relationships that extend far beyond one single promotional campaign.
XBIZ: When not working, what hobbies or personal passions do you pursue?
RENEE: As my apartment also now doubles as my office, I love to find unique vintage furniture and accessories on Facebook Marketplace or in vintage shops. Updating my space keeps my creativity high! I also love to sit on my front terrace with an iced coffee in the sun.
XBIZ: What marketing campaigns have most excited you this year?
RENEE: There are definitely a few! During very big sales periods like Black Friday and the Fourth of July, we like to do something different. One upcoming marketing campaign I’m really looking forward to is our 2022 holiday campaign and our recently-shot Black Friday ad featuring Lauren Phillips. The marketing and content teams are working closer than ever to launch something that will hopefully reach an audience outside of our dedicated porn fans, excite talent and keep our viewers amused! The work we’ve done so far is definitely something to be proud of and a great learning experience that will help us in our future marketing campaigns. I’m proud of all the planning and detail we put into this so far and it allows us to have fun and not take ourselves so seriously.
XBIZ: How about a particularly memorable moment working with talent?
RENEE: There are a lot of memorable moments working with talent, especially at the beginning of the pandemic when we stopped production and had to quickly adapt and provide our members with content. We implemented the livestream component to offer daily live shows for our members. Every day for three months, when 8 p.m. hit, I was on my computer with the performer of the day, testing the interface and mediating the live show. I never thought this would be a part of my job description, but that’s why I love this role so much; there’s always something new to learn! A recent memorable moment was having our new ambassador, Lauren Phillips, fly from Vegas to Montreal, where we got to sit down and really get to know her. She was able to share her passion and commitment to grow with us. We were all so delighted by her great attitude, her professionalism and her dedication to creating compelling adult entertainment. We felt honored having her there and it was so much fun hosting her in Montreal!
XBIZ: What market opportunities are you focused on currently, given the state of the business landscape?
RENEE: As the world begins to open up more, the Montreal teams and myself are traveling more to meet the performers and production crews and to be on site for the promotional content shoots. This has been critical for us as it ensures the vision we have for the content is realized, and builds relationships face to face with performers and crews.
We are also coming up to a peak sales period for Adult Time, so there is a lot of focus on our upcoming holiday promotions and reaching out to potential subscribers and educating them on the quality of content and the platform that we provide.
XBIZ: Any big goals for the rest of 2022 or the new year?
RENEE: To continue to build the cohesion between our departments so our content and marketing opportunities reach new potential audiences. Another goal, above all, is to continue to advocate for our performers by ensuring a sex-positive environment on set and after.
As a personal goal, my sister recently bought an alpaca farm in Northern Canada, so I definitely want to visit there as much as possible!
Each month, XBIZ spotlights the career accomplishments and outstanding contributions of Women in Adult. WIA profiles offer an intimate look at the professional lives of the industry's most influential female executives.
