Are you a multilingual marketer? Consider a job in online travel

With increasing numbers of people searching for and buying airline tickets, train tickets, hotel rooms and holidays online,it is perhaps no surprise that the major players in the market are currently looking expand and reposition themselves, in order to ensure a larger slice of the pie. Last week, global online travel brand Expedia looked to reposition itself as a 'trusted travel partner' through a global advertising campaign, in an attempt to move away from the 'online discount' brand strategy followed by the bulk of its competitors. Expedia are pulling no punches with their £40m 'People Shaped Travel' campaign, overseen by advertising heavyweights Ogilvy and Mather, and are emphasising the 'human face' of the brand in a new series of TV adverts featuring Expedia employees showing their passion for travel. 

The move is thought to be a response to lastminute.com's decision to embark on brand realignment earlier this year, when they moved to a concept of telling 'unforgettable stories' in their first pan-European advertising campaign, which was also designed to distinguish them from the crowded discount market. Expedia also recently lost it's prestigious Eurostar contract to Orbitz, but due to the booming European travel market, it's stock price rose to to a more than healthy $30.60. Closer to home, UK website thetrainline.com has moved into the thriving European market, cutting a deal with Rail Europe to sell Interrailing tickets from its website, which now offers travel to 29 European Countries. 

These major moves in online travel have cleared the way for multi-lingual marketers says Chris Crawford, head of BD Recruitment: "...more and more we are being asked to find multilingual marketers, with companies looking for a more global feel, so people who have SEO and PPC skills but have worked in European markets and can apply content and search strategies in (usually) Spanish, Dutch and German." Although this has lead to an influx of European job seekers coming to London to fill this need, pricing many of their British counterparts out of the market, the market is going from strength to strength and it may be wise to develop your digital marketing career in this direction if you have language skills, as competition at the top digital agencies becomes more intense.