“Director, Advertising”
(Seattle, WA)
Hotwire
Hotwire is a leading discount travel site with low rates on airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars and vacation packages. Launched in 2000, Hotwire obtains deep discounts from its travel suppliers to help travelers book unsold airline seats, hotel rooms and rental cars.
Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc., (EXPE: NASDAQ) together with its subsidiaries, operates as an online travel company in the United States and internationally. It provides travel products and services to leisure and corporate travelers, offline retail travel agents, and travel service providers through a portfolio of brands, including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Expedia Affiliate Network, Classic Vacations, Expedia Local Expert, Egencia, Expedia CruiseShipCenters, eLong, and Venere.com. Expedia’s travel offerings consist of airline tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals, destination services, cruises, and package travel provided by various commercial airlines, lodging properties, car rental companies, destination service providers, cruise lines, and other travel product and service companies on a stand-alone and package basis. It also facilitates the booking of hotel rooms, airline seats, car rentals, and destination services from its travel suppliers; and acts as an agent in the transaction, passing reservations booked by its travelers to the relevant travel provider. In addition, the company provides various media and advertising offerings to travel and non-travel advertisers. Expedia, Inc. was founded in 1996, employs more than 14,000, and is headquartered in Bellevue, WA.
(EXPE: Past 12 Months)
© 2014 Wiser Partners, LLC
Hotwire ~ “Director, Advertising” Page 4 of 4
Position Overview
This new “Director, Advertising” for Hotwire will be primarily responsible for bringing the Brand’s Architecture to life via a compelling and creative advertising strategy—across a diverse range of media vehicles, particularly Video (both TV, and online video)—that ultimately leads to increased traffic to the web site, increased transactions, and increased spending efficiencies. This new “Director, Advertising” will play a critical and influential leadership role in the investment of substantial TV Ad dollars. In addition to helping craft and activate Hotwire’s Advertising strategy, the new “Director, Advertising” will also be expected to influence decisions and plans which reach across the broader Brand and Marketing mix.
Scope of Responsibilities
· Communications Strategy – Lead development of an integrated Communications Strategy (the “what” that is to be communicated) based on the Hotwire brand’s positioning, defined business objectives, the competitive situation, and a deep understanding of key customer needs, and expectations across channels and vehicles. Ensure alignment across the entire Hotwire organization—particularly with the Online Marketing team—to ensure consistency in how the Hotwire brand is positioned and communicated across all market segments, channels, vehicles (both offline and online).
· World-Class Creative – Lead and collaborate with external Agency partners to build world-class Creative that captures consumers’ attention, drives them to Hotwire’s site, and stimulates transactions. While the focus is on TV, they will work to ensure all consumer touch points and vehicles embrace and reflect the essence of the Hotwire brand, and its respective Communications Strategy.
· Strategic Planning – Partner with, and support the “Sr. Director, Brand” with strategic planning, brand planning, and the annual budgeting processes, that help deliver short-term and long-term business and financial objectives. Spearhead annual business planning process, and serve as a thought-partner for the “Sr. Director, Brand,” particularly as it relates to Advertising/Creative development and deployment.
· Functional Leadership & Development – Help the “Sr. Director, Brand” continue to build and shape a highly-effective, world-class Brand and Marketing capability by motivating the Hotwire team, both internally and externally, towards world class Creative. Continue to nurture a collaborative and customer-oriented Marketing community, cross-functionally, within Hotwire. Review and enhance, where necessary, all processes, measurements, information systems, etc., that are needed to enable the overall Advertising function to operate efficiently and effectively.
Performance & Success Measures
· Increase traffic, transactions, and new customer acquisition
· Successful agency relationships and management
· Brand Health metrics (Awareness, Preference, Key Attributes)
· Advertising Effectiveness (brand awareness, brand preference, product usage, attitudes)
· 360-degree feedback from internal teammates; external partner feedback
Reporting Relationship
The new “Director, Advertising” will report to Ms. Elisa Humphrey, Sr. Director, Brand Marketing for Hotwire. Elisa Humphrey oversees Brand Strategy, Advertising, Media and Public Relations for Hotwire. Elisa joined Hotwire in June of 2014 and is a member of Hotwire’s leadership team, reporting to the president. Elisa brings extensive Brand Strategy and Marketing experience with leading companies including PepsiCo, Frito-Lay, Amazon, Microsoft, and Precor. Elisa holds an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, and a BA from Vassar College.
Staff & Resources
This position will have one direct report, but additional resources can always be added if there is a strong business case for adding capabilities or capacity. There are also significant external resources (AOR’s, consultants, business partners) supporting this position.
Key Internal Operating Relationships
· Director, Public Relations
· Director, Media
· Director, User Experience
· Director, Analytics
Compensation & Benefits
· Competitive base salary
· Annual performance bonus
· Stock options
· 401K with $1 for $1 match up to 6% after 1 year
· PTO/Vacation, Sick and Personal time
· Comprehensive health care benefits
· Relocation assistance if applicable
Candidate Profile
Experience Base
· CPG/Brand Management – Traditional Marketing foundation (at least Brand Manager level), from a blue-chip CPG company such as PepsiCo, P&G, Unilever, J&J, General Mills, Clorox, etc., or equivalent experience elsewhere. Demonstrated experience with insight-driven Brand Positioning, Brand Governance, Product and Portfolio Management, Communication Strategy/Activation (must be exceptional developing TV).
• Integrated/Advertising Agency – Highly relevant would be any Account role with an Integrated Agency specializing in Communications (Advertising). Broad and deep experience with Broadcast/TV is critical for this role, and any client experience within the “Travel, Leisure, Entertainment” space would be a big asset.
· Service Brand – Ideally, candidates will have experience Marketing a branded service (versus just products)—requiring a highly-involved purchase decision—to consumers, leveraging both online and offline (TV) Marketing/Advertising vehicles, and ideally, within a very competitive market segment, and one heavily reliant on eCommerce.
Experience Base continued
· Organizational Development – Candidate must have proven experience recruiting, hiring, managing, developing, motivating and promoting direct reports, and installing a Marketing/Brand-centric culture. This ability extends to external relationships, too, with key Agency partners and suppliers.
Skill Set
· World class Brand-building/management capabilities (technical proficiency)
· Innovative and creative thinking balanced with pragmatism (fresh, big-picture thinking)
· Organizational leadership and team development (leads through influence)
· Intellectual horsepower (highly analytical & strategic)
· Drives for results in prioritized manner (balanced sense of urgency)
· Listening skills, minimal ego (listen first, then respond)
· Complex problem-solving, with hands-on ability (create options, then converge)
· Organized and attention-to-detail approach (strong tactical execution)
· Highly resourceful (stretches people and money; compresses time)
· Collaborative (works with peers across many functionalities within the company)
Personality Profile
· Commercial mentality
· Team player
· Self-directed/motivated
· Flexible and adaptable
· Results orientation
· Sense of urgency
· Enthusiastic, energetic
· Strong work ethic
· Low ego/status needs
· High integrity and trustworthy
Search Contact
David Wiser
Principal Partner – Cincinnati, OH Office
513.919.4000 (M)
File: Position Specification/Hotwire/Hotwire Expedia Dir Advertising Spec (11 07 14-F-DW)
© 2014 Wiser Partners, LLC