Experience
I started when SEO and online advertising were still emerging disciplines. Since then I have led teams, managed more than €100 million on Google Ads, supported startups and international groups and taken CMO responsibility in hospitality and MarTech.
Profile
My work developed along two tracks that rarely stay connected: hands-on platform management and responsibility for marketing decisions. I did both in different phases of my career and I still do them together.
That means direct account management, technical implementation, strategic consulting, team leadership, client relationships, MarTech design, product collaboration and CMO responsibility, with coordination between marketing, technology, operations and revenue.
Throughout my career I have worked both as a specialist and as a team and function lead. That lets me talk to CEOs and CMOs without losing the ability to get into the accounts, verify tracking or define an operating structure.
Verified facts
These are the only figures I publish. I don’t report client results, detailed case studies or confidential performance data.
Path
Each phase changed the type of responsibility and added competencies I still use today.
From daily SEO and search advertising work to leading a team of around 20 people.
This is where I learned to turn commercial requests into executable work.
Direct responsibility for results, with clients of different sizes and industries.
Here analysis, strategy and execution stopped being separate activities.
A managerial role in a US group active across hospitality and MarTech.
It extended the work from acquisition to the systems a hotel sells and measures with.
Projects that need direction, technical depth and the ability to execute at the same time.
The criterion hasn’t changed: understand the problem before choosing the tool.
2005 – 2011
I started in 2005 in a Rome-based consulting company working on SEO, Google Ads, website development and digital marketing consulting. Many practices we now take for granted still had to be defined.
I later became head of the digital marketing division, responsible for a team of around 20 people: strategy, quality of work, client relationships and organisation of the work.
In this phase I worked on projects for large national and international brands, including four years of SEO work for Ferrari.
From 2011
Moving to independent consulting increased both the number and the variety of clients: startups, SMEs, family businesses and international groups, often on long-term monthly assignments with a direct relationship with CEOs, founders and CMOs.
At the same time the technical perimeter widened from Google Ads to analytics, tracking, CRO and MarTech, because the problem almost never stopped inside the ad platform.
Working independently forced me to connect analysis, strategy and execution. I couldn’t just point at a problem: I had to help solve it and coordinate what I didn’t manage myself.
From 2020
An ongoing managerial role, not a supplier relationship.
The Bright Hotel is a US group active across hospitality and MarTech. I have been CMO since 2020, with marketing responsibility for ten hotels in the United States and daily work with internal and external teams across marketing, technology, operations and revenue management.
The scope isn’t limited to campaigns: it includes website and booking engine experience, data analysis, growth of direct bookings and contribution to the platforms the properties rely on.
This experience took me beyond acquisition, into the products and systems a hotel uses to sell, measure and manage the guest relationship.The hospitality marketing approach
Product and technology
In several projects I contributed to the strategic and functional definition of the digital systems used to sell and measure, working alongside developers and product teams.
My role isn’t the developer’s. I define the problem, the requirements, the user journey, the data needed and how technology should contribute to the commercial outcome.
Company sizes
The method stays the same, but the focus of the work changes: in a startup you build, in a group you coordinate.
Industries
Every industry imposed different metrics and constraints. This is the summary: the detail sits on the dedicated pages.
To these I add historic experience in automotive and large consumer brands, developed in the first phase of my career.
Direct bookings, distribution, booking engine and alignment with revenue management.
Seasonality, limited availability and performance to be read by product and destination.
Contact qualification, unit economics and sales data returning into the system.
Long decision cycles, enrolments often offline and different margin per course.
Several decision makers, long research and attribution spread across content and paid media.
Trust, delivery capacity and customer value over time before volume.
Ticketing, e-commerce, community and intertwined sporting and commercial calendars.
In-app events, retention, ROAS by cohort and measurement data quality.
Brands
Throughout my career I have worked on projects for national and international companies and brands, in different roles and contractual arrangements.
Leadership
Coordinating isn’t just distributing tasks. It means making objectives, ownership, dependencies and evaluation criteria explicit.
Hands-on work
Even in managerial roles I keep working directly on the tools and the data. That is what lets me judge timing, quality and feasibility of decisions.
What I learned
References
I prefer not to publish isolated testimonials that could be cherry-picked or rewritten. Spontaneous recommendations from clients and collaborators can be read directly on my LinkedIn profile.
Read the recommendations on LinkedInFact sheet
Direct answers
Fabio De Leonardis has worked in digital marketing since 2005 and specialises in Google Ads, analytics, tracking and MarTech. Since 2020 he has been CMO of The Bright Hotel, with marketing responsibility for ten hotels in the United States.
The competenciesSince 2005, so more than twenty continuous years, starting with SEO and search advertising in a Rome-based consulting company.
How he works todayMore than €100 million in budget managed directly over the career, across different companies and business models, plus eight consecutive years as a Google Premier Partner.
Google Ads and paid mediaHe has been CMO since 2020. The Bright Hotel is a US group active across hospitality and MarTech: the role covers marketing strategy, direct acquisition, analytics and collaboration on booking engine, websites and technology platforms.
Hospitality in detailTen hotels in the United States, for which he holds marketing responsibility as CMO.
Hospitality marketingEarly-stage startups, growing SMEs, family businesses and international groups, on projects ranging from setting up the acquisition system to coordinating across departments and markets.
Industries and contextsYes. He led a digital marketing division of around 20 people and routinely coordinates agencies, external suppliers and clients’ internal teams.
Coordination and ownershipYes. Google Ads, analytics, Tag Manager, measurement, CRO analysis and MarTech workflows remain hands-on activities, including within managerial roles.
What he manages directlyHospitality, travel and experiences, professional education, student education, wellness, sport and merchandising, online services and lead generation, gaming and mobile apps, plus historic experience in automotive and large consumer brands.
All industriesYes, including outside hospitality and travel, when senior and continuous marketing leadership is needed without a full-time hire.
Let’s discuss itTell me how your business works, which activities are already running and where you are running into difficulty. The first conversation is there to understand whether my experience is useful in your context.