Lonely Planet and Samsung partner to bring tailored technology to travellers.

In the first deal of its kind for the world’s best loved travel brand, Lonely Planet has partnered with global technology leader Samsung. The partnership will combine Samsung’s mobile devices and various custom solutions within Lonely Planet’s content ecosystem. Elements of the deal include:

• Samsung devices used to create video and photography content for Lonely Planet’s flagship campaign Best in Travel 2017
• Bespoke Lonely Planet travel themed watch faces for the Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch
• Dedicated Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch app to accompany Lonely Planet’s Guides app for travellers

The partnership sees Lonely Planet and Samsung collaborate to create solutions which take advantage of Samsung technology and devices that is ideal for travellers, and surface Lonely Planet content in meaningful ways for the traveller. Launching in December is an exclusive Lonely Planet smartwatch app for the Samsung Gear S3 as a companion app for Guides, Lonely Planet’s mobile product for travellers. The Guides app offers travellers access to Lonely Planet’s award winning content for over 65 cities around the world.

Lonely Planet’s VP of Client Solutions Tim Daugherty said “ Coupling Samsung’s world class video and photography technology with our highly visual campaign of 40 destinations around the world, is the ideal opportunity for Best in Travel to become a really immersive experience for the traveller, inspiring them to get out and explore the world in 2017.”

The Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch is optimised for travellers with IP68 water and dust resistance and military-level durabilityto suit any type of environment or situation. Also built-on GPS, Alti/barometer and Speedometer apps allow users to track everything from altitude and atmospheric pressure to sudden changes in weather, distance travelled and speed.

The Guides by Lonely Planet and Samsung Gear S3 companion watch app surfaces top places relevant to their location, view bookmarks from the Guides app and route directions to places of interest. Lonely Planet’s technology team have also created four exclusive watch faces for the Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch, all themed around travel with added features such as weather information, world clock and destination detail.

Lonely Planet’s largest annual brand campaign Best in Travel is the travel industry’s highly anticipated announcement of the world’s hottest trends, destinations and experiences for the year ahead, highlighting the top ten countries, cities, regions and best value destinations that Lonely Planet’s experts recommend travellers experience in 2017.

The partnership with Samsung Electronics was an exclusive deal for the technology giant to be the presenting and prize sponsor for the campaign, which is the largest traffic driving activity for Lonely Planet each year. With placement on Lonely Planet’s homepage, a dedicated competition area, product placement in all campaign video and a 360-degree video shoot using Samsung Gear 360 technology in #1 country Canada, the partnership was a fully integrated sponsorship coupled with a highly tactical advertising media plan.

The 360-degree videos showcase experiences for travellers in Canada such as Urban Exploring in Vancouver and Driving the Icefield Parkway. Each video  is recorded on Samsung Gear 360 technology which is equipped with dual fisheye lenses with 15 megapixel image sensors, giving the ability to capture high-resolution (3840×1920) 360-degree video that also supports 30 megapixel still images.

“We’re excited to offer Gear S3 users travel tips and location-based advice from Lonely Planet’s on-the- ground experts,” said Vice President of Global Marketing, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics, Heesun Kim.

image from Samsung