Forward (FWD) is the media company of lastminute.com. Its mission is to help businesses unlock new opportunities to make their marketing activity more efficient, intelligent and relevant. FWD encompasses four commercial businesses (Travelpeople, FWD trading, Playbook and Madfish), that combined form a media-marketing power-house.

FWD is part of lm group, a publicly-traded multinational Group, among the worldwide leaders in the online travel industry. Each month, our websites and mobile apps (available in 17 languages and 40 countries) reach 43 million unique users that search for and book their travel and leisure experiences.

More than 1,200 people enjoy working with us and contribute to providing our audience with a comprehensive and inspiring offering of travel-related products and services

At the heart of our culture is a commitment of inclusion across race, gender, age sexual orientation, religion, gender identity or expression and accessibility. We strongly believe in an equal opportunity space, which is welcoming and celebrates the uniqueness of everyone who works here. We value different lived experiences and respect viewpoints, as we know unicity drives innovation. We want to make sure our people reflect the communities across the world we help travel.

The key area of focus for this role is to support the development and implementation of Forward’s (FWD’s) marketing strategy and in particular to ensure Sales & Marketing is a centralised function and covers all aspects of brand/value proposition positioning, marketing communications, product marketing, commercial support and business development. Reporting into Forward’s European Director, this role will have three direct reports as well as working closely with our Head of Audience, Commercial Country Heads and lastminute.com’ Brand Engagement and Creative Production Team. This role will ensure that marketing is aligned to Forward’s long-term business strategy and embedded into relevant business priorities across Forward.

Responsibilities: 

• Custodian of FWD’s brand positioning and messaging across all channels of communication and GtM (Go-To-Market) materials. 
• Establishing governance and workflows to drive efficiency and where possible, automation in our marketing processes. 
• Identify new digital products and channels that can enhance FWD’s value proposition both strategically and in response to market trends and customer needs.
• Develop, schedule, produce and benchmark a content marketing plan that educates and informs our clients of our core capabilities and product portfolio.
• Keep up-to-date with industry developments and work closely with the commercial team to conduct a virtuous cycle of market research for product development and competitive pricing.
• Establish marketing KPI’s and monitor to measure marketing performance against FWD’s wider business strategy. 
• Create a portfolio of case studies in both short and long form and work alongside the PR team at lastminute.com to strategically leverage key campaign partnerships.
• Present Strategy and Marketing Performance to senior stakeholders both at Forward and lastminute.com when required and/or requested. 
• Work alongside the Creative Production Team at lastminute.com in developing ‘High-Value’ and ‘Strategic’ Integrated Marketing Proposals, supervising the process from brief to proposal delivery.
• Lead on our Travel Intelligence Unit (www.thisisforward.com/travel-intelligence-unit) and associated products, informing the commercial strategy for wider adoption of our data and analytics amongst our customer base.
• Manage and develop key partnerships, particularly in market research, influencer marketing and marketing automation with budget planning responsibilities. 
• Be a leading spokesperson and evangelist of FWD’s business activities both internally and externally. 

• 7yrs+ experience in a senior media/marketing or business strategy role. 
• In depth strategic marketing capability with significant B2B marketing experience
• Broad all-round marketing & communications experience, with a strong strategic and operational focus.
• Proven track record of managing multiple marketing projects with competing priorities at once.
• An ability to instil structure and process into a multi-locational, multi-cultural team whilst championing the work of our business and team.
• Strong strategic mindset with an ability to distil complex information into powerful commercial stories.
• Has confidence to manage through ambiguity with thoughtfulness, care and empathy.
• Strong creative mindset and desire to push creative boundaries for maximum business results.
• Strong knowledge of marketing processes and marketing technology.
• Ability to work on own initiative, show innovation and impactfully develop projects.

Our ideal candidate will possess excellent influencing and communication skills to have impact with senior stakeholders, as well as demonstrating a thorough understanding of Forward’s commercial and strategic business drivers. Demonstrating a proven track record of developing marketing strategies and plans with experience in B2B digital travel marketing offering an advantage. 

Excellent project management skills are a must, as is a proven track record in content development and multi-channel marketing techniques. The successful candidate will also have excellent facilitation skills to uncover fresh ideas and to shape campaigns. 

You will have a positive, curious and collegial approach to the way you work. Leading by example and inspiring those around you to meet the high standards you protect, supporting both your team and colleagues to #movetourismforward

Benefits

• Competitive Salary 
• Variable Compensation Plan (VCP)
• Deep Learning reserved for Friday Mornings, Friday Afternoons Off. 
• Smart Working - Hybrid Or Fully Remote