Video Product

I was responsible for building, sourcing, and integrating Lonely Planet's video product suite. Working with our global digital product, editorial, and business development teams to create a product that championed Lonely Planet's legendary travel knowledge. Video Product opened up space for business development teams to integrate branded content in line with LP's editorial guidelines, providing the end user with a non-intrusive on-brand ad experience that felt natural and relevant to the content.

Product Director / Design: Mike Johansen

Development: Chad Harter

Branded Content Design: Kali Hudson & Brad Posey

Branded Content Video Director: Christa Larwood

Video Platform Editorial: Hazel Lubbock

Video Product Director: Mike Johansen

Producer/Director: Christa Larwood

Hosts: Louise Bastock, Mark Johanson, Christian Bonetto, Shawn Low

We partnered with GoPro to produce 24 pieces of content for Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2018 campaign. This was a 100% bespoke production across four countries, with four hosts, shot entirely on GoPro's Hero6 camera and Karma system. It featured deep product integration across the entire project and was a gigantic success across both brands.

With over 3 million video views on the site and another 10+ million on social, Best in Travel saw a 1500% viewership increase over the prior year's video content. The Best in Travel hub saw over 200% growth in time on site, a 50% increase in visitors, and a 60% decrease in bounce rate year over year. The series was nominated for a 2017 Digiday Award for best partnership.

Branded Content

Much of my role at Lonely Planet was creating a platform for brands to integrate into LP's regular editorial content. I built the video platform to blend into LP's destination pages seamlessly and collaborated with destination representatives and a sponsor to construct customized microsites, branded content packages, and custom guidebooks integrations.