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Please describe your job: What do you do?

I head up lastminute.com Group’s media unit, which manages advertising across all of the group’s websites – from lastminute.com in the UK to sites like Rumbo, Bravofly and Volagratis in Europe.

I make sure clients are happy by delivering high performance marketing solutions that answer their campaign and brand needs.

alessandra di lorenzo

Whereabouts do you sit within the organisation? Who do you report to?

I work within the marketing department of lastminute.com Group, reporting into the Managing Director of Audience & Marketing. 

I run the media and partnerships division, The Travel People, which we launched in July. We connect brands with our 35m unique monthly visitors and 10m customers that book their holidays with us across Europe.

Our data means we have a huge wealth of insight right across the holiday lifecycle, which helps brands target by passion rather than demographic. 

What kind of skills do you need to be effective in your role?

In-depth understanding of how the marketing industry works is a given.

But also patience, tenacity and empathy so that I can deliver great results for both the business and our clients.

Tell us about a typical working day…

I have an early start and will usually be in the office by 8am, where I’m in back to back meetings until 5pm.

I could be catching up with my sales team, discussing PR, meeting potential clients or putting together strategies and proposals.

In the evenings, I’ll cycle home, do some exercise and unwind – and be in bed by 10pm.

Lastminute.com Group has offices across Europe, so I’m often travelling between London, Milan and Madrid – it’s a great opportunity to catch up with others across the business.

What do you love about your job? What sucks?

I love the creativity involved, and the fact that we are building the future of marketing is also pretty special.

Some of the things we do are so new that they have never been done before – it’s amazing to be part of something so innovative and shaping what the future of the industry looks like.

But it also means that it requires a huge amount of energy. I get to the end of the week needing a couple of cold ones!

Graphic via The Travel People

travel people advertising

What kind of goals do you have? What are the most useful metrics and KPIs for measuring success? 

I’m measured on revenues, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction, which provide goals of their own.

And, of course, delivering results for clients is a huge incentive and makes sure we push ourselves every day. 

What are your favourite tools to help you to get the job done? 

Google Calendar is great to keep my day on track, and Google Hangouts allow me to easily communicate with my teams across Europe at the click of a button.

How did you get started in the digital industry, and where might you go from here?

After a Master’s degree in marketing, I cut my teeth in digital at lulu.com, an American web 2.0 company, where I ran their digital marketing.

From there, I worked in various other marketing roles before joining lastminute.com Group.  

There’s still a lot to be done and learn here so I plan to stick around for a while!

Which brands do you think are doing digital well?

Red Bull – a great example of successful digital content marketing.

Do you have any advice for people who want to work in the digital industry?

Be humble and start with the basics. Knowledge – as in every discipline – is key.

And tech and commercial skills are crucial ingredients to add to the mix!