Van Houtte Inc. unveiled today the results of its Canadian online campaign designed to promote fair trade coffee in the workplace. The registration rate for the Van Houtte contest is 10 times higher than average for this type of campaign. Better still, 93.5% of those who visited the site after receiving an invitation, registered for the contest. An Internet company in British Columbia, a Québec high school and a Québec high technology company have won a whole year of free fair trade coffee for their staff, thanks to one of their employees who entered the contest.

Van Houtte's "Take a FAIR TRADE Coffee Break" contest targeted the North American workplace which drinks 45 million cups of coffee every day. "As one of North America's leading gourmet coffee roasters, marketers and distributors, Van Houtte wanted to give all Canadians who wish to do so the opportunity to drink fair trade coffee at work", said Joseph Audi, Van Houtte Marketing Director.

Customer response to Van Houtte's invitation exceeded all expectations. The subscription rate for the contest by the group targeted in the initial invitation was over 27%. "There seems to be three key aspects to this record participation for a viral marketing campaign," said Renato Cudicio, multiple-media.com's President who also created the campaign. "First of all, Canadians clearly wish to support fair trade coffee growers in emerging countries. Second, consumers trust Van Houtte and its products. And finally, entering the contest was simple, efficient and well-adapted to the expectations of Van Houtte's web site visitors." The e-marketing campaign leveraged a strong motivation that was generated by a pyramidal-model contest supported by a viral communication strategy.

The winning organizations
The first draw for a Keurig coffeemaker and one year of fair trade coffee was won by Carrie Page, a British Columbia employee. Deltageeks, the company she works for, automatically won a Keurig coffeemaker and a year of free Van Houtte fair trade coffee. "This type of initiative is extremely popular with our employees. They see it as a simple, efficient and fun way to be responsible consumers and support Third World workers," commented Jonathan Gilmore, I.T. Manager at Deltageeks.

Louise Fortier, resident of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec, won the second draw of the contest. Ms. Fortier's collegues at Marcellin-Champagnat High School will also enjoy free fair trade coffee for a whole year. "Our support to fair trade products blends with our school's philosophy which is one of openness, sharing and support towards the rest of the world," said School Director Brother Jacques Bélisle.

The lucky winner of the third and last draw is Sandhya Srivastava from Montréal, Québec. Ms. Srivastava works for Thought Technology whose entire team will also savour Van Houtte fair trade coffee this year.

About Van Houtte
Founded in 1919, Van Houtte is one of North America's leading gourmet coffee roasters, marketers and distributors. The Company roasts and markets its gourmet coffees across Canada and the U.S. through distribution channels that include: coffee services, retail stores, café-bistros, online shopping and food services.

Van Houtte's Web address: www.vanhoutte.com
Fair trade & organic coffee section: http://www.vanhoutte.com/en/about_coffee/fairtrade_organic

About multiple-media.com
multiple-media.com is a Web strategy and application development one-stop-shop, established in Montreal since 1996. Working like a Web agency, multiple-media.com encompasses the whole range of Web services, from design and drafting to usability analyses and the programming of complex solutions. The multiple-media.com team members collectively possess dozen of years of experience in advertising, TV production AND Web content creation. From Van Houtte, COGECO, Hydro-Québec to ING Canada, multiple-media.com has always delivered the same efficiency.