Camille Albane, learning network and collective

Success Story
Camille Albane develops
collective intelligence within its franchise network
With an already well-established training culture thanks to its training centre in Paris,
the hair salon chain Camille Albane, part of the Dessange International group, decided
to take things one step further by creating the Learning Lab, a full-fledged
collaborative training platform. Convinced that brand growth depends on franchisee
loyalty, Camille Albane has set up an on-line community that allows franchisees to
share best practices from their salons. Deployed in France before being rolled out
on a larger scale, the solution has lived up to its aim of consolidating staff skills and
strengthening their feeling of belonging to the organization.
Camille Albane first became
interested in developing an on-line
learning platform to respond to
the challenge of mobility. Its Paris
training center, mainly dedicated
to hairdressers and colorists, did
not meet the needs of the 1.000
staff members in over 200 French
salons. This approach also naturally
follows on from the strategy of
the Dessange brand, which opted
for distance learning in 2011. With
the Learning Lab, Camille Albane
also aims to encourage its staff
to embrace the brand’s DNA and
learn beauty techniques that are
specific to its expertise and set it
apart from its rivals. The aim is very
clear: to boost customer loyalty and
increase average sales.
Video: a lifelike learning
experience.
Based on the CrossKnowledge
Learning Suite, the Learning Lab
is a training portal that lays strong
emphasis on video. This means
that Camille Albane can offer staff
highly practical situational training
focusing on developing social
and technical skills, optimizing
retail opportunities in salons,
improving customer relationships,
and encouraging team work.
To produce these videos, the
company opted for Mohive,
CrossKnowledge’s content
development tool. Thanks to this
application, which is both PC
and tablet compatible, episodes
featuring video sketches and
animated sequences are launched
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Customized in Camille Albane
brand colors, the portal also
offers resources focusing on a
range of crossfunctional topics
and a content library made up of
core business fact sheets and tips
on service protocols designed to
help franchisees adopt an ongoing approach to learning.
Sharing experience: at the
heart of collaborative learning.
Sharing experience and
best practices between salons
was a real challenge for Camille
Albane: «The aim was to develop
a social network and build
collective intelligence while
offering each staff member the
opportunity to contribute to the
life of the platform», explains
Marie-France Delachaux, franchise
marketing manager at Dessange
International. Using standard
platform functionalities, in
particular the discussion forum,
staff members can share their
trade secrets with others and
«like» and comment on current
discussions. This means that the
entire franchisee community has
a vested interest in collective
learning, which they see as a key
part of their involvement in the
business. In addition to this, when
new episodes are launched, the
franchise offers the most studious
learners the chance to win gift
vouchers or a weekend break in
a European capital city, to meet
with the Camille Albane salon
teams, and most of all to share
their experiences with the entire
Learning Lab community.
This idea, which has been
extremely popular every time,
allows the brand to strengthen
its image and, by extension,
to enhance the loyalty of its
franchisee network.
Success reflected in hard
figures.
The outcome of this initial
experiment has been very positive
for the Camille Albane network.
«A year after launching the
Learning Lab, we already have
almost 950 learners enrolled,
1.300 messages posted on the
forum, and more than 5.000
login hours,» explains MarieFrance Delachaux. Of the brand’s
205 salons, 75 % had activated
the Learning Lab program in
early 2013. A total of 650 staff
members have played an active
role in the training initiative.
The aim was to develop a
social network and build
collective intelligence
while offering each staff
member the opportunity
to contribute to the life
of the platform.
Marie-France DELACHAUX
FRANCHISE MARKETING MANAGER
DESSANGE INTERNATIONAL
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