Travel pioneer lastminute.com mis expanding with a new media company called ‘The Travel People’ designed to help brands reach the group’s 10 million annual customers.
The Travel People will work with the Group’s network of leading online travel brands, which include lastminute.com, Rumbo, Volagratis, Bravofly and Jetcost, and operate across 40 countries worldwide.
Alessandra Di Lorenzo (pictured below) has been appointed as Chief Advertising Officer to lead the new business unit, joining from eBay Advertising where she was formerly Commercial Director. The Travel People’s hand-picked team will be headquartered in London and operate across Europe.
Commenting on the launch, Di Lorenzo said: “This is a bold new chapter for lastminute.com group and I’m really excited to be part of it. The group’s diverse portfolio of online travel brands attracts 35 million unique visitors every month, so we’re uniquely equipped to help other brands both in, and out, of the travel sector to reach lucrative travel and lifestyle audiences across Europe.”
She added that using smart audience extension tools and programmatic technologies, “we aim to create opportunities for brands that go way beyond the booking.”
The Travel People will use powerful audience information and sophisticated re-marketing technologies to engage its rich customer groups on site, and to re-connect with them when they are browsing other websites – before, during and after travel. With nearly half of the Group’s customers browsing its sites on mobile devices, seamless sequential targeting across channels will also be a key focus for the new business.
Di Lorenzo continued: “Our powerful data means we don’t just know where our customers like to go – we know what they love to do when they get there. With travel sites and apps in 17 languages and 40 countries, we offer access to a truly diverse consumer audience, and help brands to target by passion, rather than by demographic.”
Fabio Cannavale, CEO of lastminute.com group, added: “The Travel People is a fantastic addition to lastminute.com group and demonstrates our ambition to invest in and grow our unique portfolio of brands. Ten million customers enjoy travel and lifestyle experiences with us every year, making us the perfect partner for brands wanting to reach purchase-ready travellers across Europe.”
The Travel People will provide media solutions across the following online travel brands:
lastminute.com: An iconic European travel and lifestyle brand, lastminute is helping people make the most of every minute. Offering last minute travel and experiences online before anyone else across Europe, lastminute.com serves up deals which inspire and enable spontaneity: hotels, holidays, flights, city breaks and unique products such as Top Secret® Hotels as well as a raft of pamper and going-out offerings in the UK (spa days, West End theatre shows, restaurants, days out and experiences).
Rumbo: A full-service travel website, Rumbo launched in Spain in 2000 and today also operates websites in other European countries as well as in South America.
Volagratis: Launched in Italy in 2004 as a pioneering search engine for low cost flights, Volagratis is now a full service travel provider. Volagratis is perceived as a leading brand in the Italian market, according to a survey conducted by Doxa in 2013.
Bravofly: The Bravofly brand and full service travel website was founded in 2006 as a springboard for the international expansion of the Group. Today, Bravofly websites are available in 17 languages and are present in over 40 countries.
Jetcost: A metasearch website, Jetcost enables users to search for and compare travel and leisure products from a range of suppliers. Jetcost’s websites operate in 38 countries across Europe, Asia and America.