(Image provided by LOST iN)
Reorganized travel publisher LOST iN is venturing far and wide with its first paper guidebook since new owners acquired the company in June and has since significantly expanded its digital footprint. It’s not like I’m going out. The Venice Beach area of Los Angeles.
“We certainly want to do the Venice of Italy,” CEO Jonathan Scogumo said of the new guide, which is set to debut next month. “But since this is our backyard, our headquarters here, we thought this would be a great way to understand and learn about our first print media business. The company we acquired has been doing this for a while. The idea is to test it here and then add a video component that complements the book and promotes each other and brings awareness to each other.
A series of travel-focused content creators, including Pretty Little London, The Vagalosers, Jeremy Jacobowitz, Cedric Wood and Gisele Chusan, have signed deals to create original content, licensed content, branded entertainment and more. It’s tied.
Several in-person events are also scheduled for those venturing into the Venice Beach wilderness. The trick is to capture what fans loved about LOST iN’s last 28 publications from 10 years ago, while subtly changing key aspects like online and video-driven community building.
Cover of new LOST iN guidebook focusing on LA’s Venice Beach
(Image provided by LOST iN)
“We already have a great blueprint for the company we’re acquiring,” Skogmo said. “We want to keep the same tone, spirit and aesthetic. That’s what people really love about the LOST iN brand, the feeling it brings to our readers. It’s about the art, the music, the history. It’s about immersing yourself in the culture of the city, the gastronomy, the restaurants. We definitely want to keep that spirit.”
What’s different this time around is that it’s a “very focused, very local” guide that delves deep into specific well-known areas, rather than major cities like Los Angeles.
In the case of London, for example, Skogmo said future guides could focus on Soho, Shoreditch or perhaps Mayfair. “Our goal is to focus this a little bit more and create something that local people can be proud of.”
Our guide to Paris doesn’t focus on places frequented by tourists, such as the Champs Elysées or the Eiffel Tower. Instead of the Louvre or Musée d’Orsay, the focus might be on street artists in the Marais, how to get to secret raves, or the “hidden gems” of bistros “reached through alleys,” Skogmo said. said. .
“This is definitely for the younger generation who wants to understand new trends and understand what the zeitgeist is going to be,” Skogmo said. “But at the same time, we are very conscious about overtourism, and we want our viewers to be very conscious as well. , we don’t want it to explode. That’s not our intention.
Overtourism is a big problem, especially in some popular European cities. Residents of Barcelona attacked crowds of tourists with water cannons this summer. Venice has set a fee for day-trippers. Others have banned cruise ships from docking, created congestion zones to block access to historic areas, and threatened a variety of other restrictions.
Barcelona and Venice are among the many Italian cities where residents have complained of being virtually besieged by tourists since pandemic lockdowns were finally eased. Some of the same onslaughts are also common along the Venice Beach boardwalk and nearby Santa Monica Pier, but Los Angeles’ vast horizontal expanse mostly isolates the masses from the majority of local residents. It is useful for.
Still, LOST iN’s new approach delves deeper into specific regions and includes about 50 percent more editorial content than its previous “60-ish” pages. But the guide is also designed as a collector’s item, printed in a limited edition of 10,000 copies and featuring high-end art and design with detailed cultural details. The idea is to capitalize on the minor renaissance’s growing interest in fine books, which are virtually works of art.
Since Skogmo Group’s initial acquisition of LOST iN earlier this year, the company has pursued several smaller deals, starting with the assets of BuzzFeed’s former travel arm Bring Me!. Other niche travel brands are also participating, including a popular Facebook group called View My Window and Instagram accounts Travelgram and Landscapes.
Add in partnerships with travel-focused social media creators, and the restructured company claims to have a social reach of nearly 20 million followers online.
This is an interesting approach for a niche travel publisher, who Skogmo defines as younger, more radical, more like a traveler than a tourist, perhaps returning to the city for a second or third time. We’re trying to cultivate a specific, highly defined community of people who want to come and go. Deeper with particularly interesting communities. This book also makes a great keepsake of your adventures on your coffee table.
Skogmo, his brother Mike Skogmo and Anton Reut are leading the LOST iN leadership group after acquiring the publisher in June. The three previously founded a company called Jukin Media in Culver City, California. The company specializes in licensing viral online videos, producing programs for online broadcasters such as Fail Army, and contracting clips for major network television shows. Jukin was sold to Readers Digest’s parent company several years ago.
