Trending Travel, the UK travel industry’s largest
Specialist socials, content creation and influencer management company Trending Travel has promoted Kieran Shew to managing director following a restructure.
He will report in to company founder Keith Herman, who will remain as CEO, and Sophie Foster, co-founder and director.
Shew, who has experience in sales and commercial roles with online brands including Cheapflights, KAYAK and Icelolly, will lead a team of ten based primarily in the Trending Travel office in Manchester.
He joined Trending Travel as commercial director in January 2023, and has since delivered successful content creation and influencer-lead partnerships with Sandals, First Choice, TUI, Trip.com and Virgin Voyages.
Since he joined Trending Travel, Shew has led the company’s strategic pivot from tour operating to media business, enabling brands to use its expertise in and knowledge of influencer and social platforms to reach consumers who do not engage with traditional media channels.
In that time, Trending Travel has grown the largest following on social media of any independently owned travel company.
Shew said: “It’s impossible to ignore the power of social media and Influencers in driving the behaviour of consumers of all age groups, and at Trending Travel we’re very proud of the work we’ve done in helping brands to optimise their profile in those channels.
“I’m thrilled to be given the opportunity to lead our award-winning team in pursuit of our growth strategy, and am excited by the prospect of helping even more travel businesses to maximise their potential in what are the fastest growing and most exciting sectors of travel media.”
Keith Herman, CEO of Trending Travel, said: “We’ve restructured because we can see that Trending Travel is about to enter its next stage of growth, and Kieran is exactly the right person to lead us through it.
“I’ve known him a long time, and I’m completely confident now is the perfect time for him to step up so I can fully focus on telling our story to both clients and investors.”
He added: “I will continue to work closely with the team developing strategy whilst Kieran will take on full responsibility to deliver our unique proposition and maximise client satisfaction.”
In the coming months, Trending Travel will be aiming to grow its impact further with key appointments in its iInfluencer team and new campaigns for clients in the Middle East, Indian Ocean, Caribbean and USA will be going live.
