Senior Manager, Online Marketing | Penguin Group Canada | Toronto | Age: 29

As a book publisher, one of the biggest challenges Penguin Group Canada currently faces is moving its brand online.

“Much like the music industry, we went through an abrupt change,” says Penguin Canada’s director of publicity and marketing, Yvonne Hunter. The changing media landscape also calls for a change in Penguin’s marketing and public relations efforts, Hunter says. That’s why she hired 29-year-old Christina Ponte.

Before joining Penguin, Ponte had worked at digital marketing agency C3 and as a member of Black’s marketing team, where she helped the photography brand embark on an overhaul of its website, turning it into an information source, complete with tutorials, tips, original content and regular promotions.

She also worked on direct marketing campaigns for Black’s.

Impressed with the work Ponte had done for Black’s, Hunter hired her as the first senior manager of online marketing at Penguin.

Once at Penguin, Ponte began working on another website redesign. “It was a similar situation,” Ponte says, explaining Penguin’s old website was more of an online catalogue than a destination for readers. “There wasn’t really anything engaging on the website, and we certainly weren’t doing a good job of reaching younger readers,” she says.

Ponte helped Penguin introduce social elements to its site, including a “share” tool bar that suggests visitors discuss Penguin books on Digg, Facebook, Twitter and Delicious.

Under Ponte’s guidance, Penguin also added original content on its site and helped launch the PenguinTV online channel, which broadcasts author interviews, book trailers and short films. Ponte also led the design of PenguinBookClub.ca, which hosts reading group guides, podcasts, videos and giveaways.

Ponte also suggested an accreditation system for bloggers reviewing books.

The company knew literary fans were already discussing its books online, and wanted to formalize and lead the process. Established this spring, the network now hosts almost 200 participating bloggers.

Ponte doubts she’ll ever return to traditional marketing. “I did traditional marketing,” she says.

“Now that I’ve had a taste of digital, I don’t think I could ever go back.”