Lastminute.com Group is taking on the agency market with the launch of a new media business to help brands and advertisers reach millions of European travellers through its network of online travel brands, which operate across 40 countries worldwide.
Dubbed The Travel People, the unit will have its HQ in London and operate across Europe. It will be headed up by chief advertising officer Alessandra Di Lorenzo, who joins from eBay Advertising where she was commercial director.
Using smart audience extension tools and programmatic technologies, Di Lorenzo says the unit aims to “create opportunities for brands that go way beyond the booking”.
The Travel People will use audience information and sophisticated remarketing technologies to engage 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.
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.”
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.”
The Travel People will provide media solutions across all the groups brands, including lastminute.com, full-service travel websites Rumbo, Volagratis, and Bravofly as well as Jetcost, which operates in 38 countries across Europe, Asia and America.
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