Each month, industry news media organization 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.
XBIZ World is pleased to honor Céline from TotemCash as WIA’s woman of the month for December.
I love brainstorming, learning everyone’s point of view to mix it all and find the best recipe! I am lucky to be working with Rex and Hervé — the VirtuaGirl owners.
As TotemCash’s senior affiliate manager since 2003, Céline has had a hand in helping webmasters earn serious cash — in the tens of millions of dollars — through the years promoting the VirtuaGirl desktop stripper program.
As 2016 approaches, Céline is excited for the future of TotemCash and VirtuaGirl. She tells us that the company is working on debuting the next generation of our desktop strippers early in next year.
We salute Céline on her accomplishments as we learn more about her role at TotemCash in this Q&A interview.
XBIZ: What’s your role at TotemCash?
CÉLINE: Senior affiliate manager. Plus, I have chosen to remain involved in customer service because I want to stay in close touch with the people I sell VirtuaGirl to. Keeping an eye on the global market is important to me. I don’t want to miss a thing.
XBIZ: Tell me all about TotemCash. What does the program offer?
CÉLINE: TotemCash is the affiliate program of VirtuaGirl. It was set up in 1999, and I’ve been in charge of our affiliates since 2003. We revshare 50/50 each and every sale generated by our affiliates. And it’s not only for the first sale; it’s also for customer repurchases.
One of our signature concepts is the pop-up models. We have used them as a promo tool. You know, the small animated girls popping up at the bottom right of your site. Many other companies, including big ones, have copied this idea after us. We take pride in that.
XBIZ: What’s new at TotemCash?
CÉLINE: The adult business is at a time when everyone concentrates on the mobile and forgets that today again 60 percent of surfers are on a PC or Mac! VirtuaGirl is probably the best product to monetize desktop traffic, especially because it is a softcore product known as 100 percent safe to install.
We are working out the next generation of our desktop strippers — all rebranded and redesigned! And I’m so proud to be involved in this project! We should be ready at the beginning of 2016.
Of course, this project will launch with a new offer for our affiliates! We have taken the time to test and study the impact of ad networks, and the result is a detailed business plan to evolve TotemCash with a pay-per-install offer and brand new geo-targeting and stats systems. I just can’t wait to announce it to all the affiliates.
That’s the great thing about working at this company: We take the necessary time to study changes in the market and in consumer behavior so that we make the right decisions at the right time!
For instance we were among the first ones to start shooting in 4K resolution in July 2013 after a long market study of technical advancements. We have also closely followed the roll out of the various virtual reality platforms, and we’re already getting involved in that revolution.
XBIZ: What’s the best part of the job?
CÉLINE: People, people and people! Or better said, humans. I love studying human behavior, habits and needs.
People because one of the great parts of my job is to participate in the VirtuaGirl community and build long-term and strong relationships … and even friendships! I remember when my second child was born in 2010, I received a lot of gifts from loyal customers from Australia, U.S., Slovakia, etc. It was so touching!
People because sharing with my business partners and affiliates is very enriching and sane.
Before joining TotemCash, I worked with the CEO of the fourth-largest international telemarketing group, where it was a world of sharks. I don’t feel the same way in the adult industry.
I feel comfortable when I suggest to an affiliate to send his traffic to another sponsor because his ratios with us are too low (using our referral link, of course; it’s business after all). Same on the boards, like XBIZ.net discussions for instance, where you can get real and honest advice and information.
And people because working with a good team and building relationships with my colleagues is very important to me!
I love brainstorming, learning everyone’s point of view to mix it all and find the best recipe! I am lucky to be working with Rex and Hervé — the VirtuaGirl owners. They are the kind of people who build solutions from experience and sharing. They have taught me a lot!
XBIZ: What’s a typical workday like?
CÉLINE: Don’t even try to say hello before I get my first coffee! My avatar pic here shows a wet cat in a very bad mood. I call it my “Mmm” —Monday-morning mood.”
Then, always the same rituals. I check the figures, the latest forum posts and customer-service messages. Then I read my emails and answer our affiliates needs for passwords, banners, help, suggestions, etc.
Once I’ve checked that nobody is waiting for an answer from me, I do a quick focus on our marketing projects and brainstorm with our bubbling-brain marketing director, Julien Jegard (aka Xmaster), trying to hold in and marshal his 1,000 ideas per minute!
Afternoon is often devoted to business development, especially because it’s the time you all start to wake up in the U.S.!
I can’t live without music, especially at work, where I wear an ugly huge headset that makes me look like Mickey Mouse and I drive my colleagues crazy making my chair grind to the rhythm of my music!
XBIZ: In your spare time, what do you like to do?
CÉLINE: I’m the over-sought mom of two devilish kids. At home I spend a lot of time cooking typical French meals like blanquette de veau, poulet basquaise, onion soups or tartiflettes.
Of course I hope you understand that I often need to have some wine tasting to find the most appropriate one for each meal.
