Clotaire Rapaille experiment branded a “failure” by mayor
A testy Quebec City mayor announced Monday the city would be cancelling its contract with Clotaire Rapaille, a marketing guru who’s early conclusions about the provincial capital were that it’s “neurotic” and that it maintains a “sadomasochistic” relationship with the rest of Canada. “We agree it is a failure,” Régis Labeaume said of the aborted branding exercise, “and we are sorry.” Rapaille had been hired by Labeaume’s administration to look at ways to revitalize Quebec City’s image, but recent investigations by the local press had turned up a wealth of dubious claims by the flashy marketer. For instance, he claimed to have worked with former French president George Pompidou even though the statesman had died by the time Rapaille’s consulting business was established and Rapaille’s memories of his time in war-torn Normandy were, at best, inconsistent. Rapaille has already been paid $125,000 for his work and negotiations are under way over the remaining payments he was due under his $300,000 deal.