Touring Bird
Google Area 120 Travel Experiences App
I worked as a content lead with Google’s Area 120 innovation group to create a travel experiences product (app and related website). The idea was to provide users with in-the-know content from knowledgeable locals in 200 locations across the globe, all in an easy-to-use format.
Challenges:
To provide users with easy-to-search info on destinations around the globe and inspire them to book their own trips.
To create a large amount of content in a short amount of time while maintaining quality, consistency and brand standards. (For instance, voice needed to be casual and whimsical while still being trustworthy.)
To produce content that’s comprehensible to a wide international audience, many of whom might not be native English speakers.
To work with an almost fully remote team in many different time zones. (I was managing writers and working with other editors based in New Zealand, Asia, Europe, Canada and the U.S., plus project managers in Singapore and engineers and designers in Zurich.)
Solutions:
Directly managed 20+ global contributors, reviewing and offering suggestions on their pitches for content ideas on a daily basis.
Helped to shape the accepted ideas into understandable, conversational copy.
Contributed to guidelines for search keywords (e.g., good for kids, good for groups, outdoors) to tag the content, making it easier for users to parse.
Regularly updated the voice and tone guidelines based on common writer issues to ensure consistency of content.
Helped develop imagery standards (in terms of approved image sources, language used to cite photographers, acceptable/unacceptable subject matter) and worked with designers to choose the best imagery to create a more robust user experience.
Supported the team in QAing content and capturing editorial problems to be fixed before launch.
Results:
The app soft-launched in early 2019 with 20 destinations. Based on positive user metrics and feedback, our team created content for 200 more destinations, which launched in summer 2019. The content has now been integrated into Google Travel and can be found when users search for international destinations.