TheLostAvocado.com is an award-winning travel and lifestyle blog created by Sara Izzi and Timur Tugalev. I Direct, Film and Edit all of the Travel content. Our film "Lost in Cuba" won the 1st prize in the National Geographic Traveller 2018 photography competition (video category) and we won this award for the 2nd consecutive year! Last year we've won the same prestigious competition with the film "Lost in Kyrgyzstan"

Conceiving and executing creative campaigns for Expedia and its partners, producing fresh work that translates ideas into compelling interactive platforms, video and social media experiences.Working with a team of Designers, Creatives, Producers, Business Development Managers and advertising partners, brainstorming (creating and curating ideas) and building innovative concepts for high-end bespoke media campaigns integrating the Expedia Group brands.Overseeing production of content creation including travel films, graphics, environmental photography, web platforms and photography.Leading and collaborating in a fast-paced, multi-stakeholder environment - leveraging insights that solve strategic problems.Evangelizing the power of great creative work to shift perception and drive results.Partnering with external vendors and partners as well as a global team to bring design and content concepts to life.

Focused on video marketing strategy, Video Growth, management of video content production for various markets, SEO for video, competitor/trends research & growth optimisation.Key achievements: • Significantly Increased product activation and retention rates. Articles with Timur's content reached a much higher PAR (product activation rates) and Retention rates compared to other content. • Developed growth hacks and conducted video SEO experiments to transition interest from social media to Skyscanner's website leading to a 59% increase in referral traffic year-on-year and making Skyscanner one of the best brands to capitalise on YouTube interest, surpassing booking.com, Expedia & TripAdvisor. • Improved trust towards the brand. Created the "Marco Polo" project the goal of which was to learn about each market's cultural values and principles in order to create better local content and increase trust towards the brand. Closely collaborated with all the marketing and product departments travelling and working with teams in the US, Europe, China and Singapore.• Upscaled internal marketing teams. Built a rich internal educational video marketing portal for Skyscanner's employees covering more than 80 topics - some of which were:Developing video ideas, research and competitor analysis, finding holes in competitor's content, competitor research, finding audience's interest , finding user's "needs", identifying trending content, using facebook audience insights to check content relevance, audience segmentation, determining production quality level for various types of video, Rich snippets, outreach for video, paid video advertising, Measuring Video, work-flow and management process, content strategy matrix identifying various video content needed for different user journeys.

Working on the Video Marketing strategy + responsible for filming, management and production of travel video content for Skyscanner.net - Europe's leading travel brand.Key achievements: • Developed a content production process to create multiple videos at scale in various markets• Established relationships with various Tourism Boards to help speed up pre-production and receive the required filming permissions in a timely fashion.• Produced various content for the social marketing team, contributing towards Skyscanner being a brand with the highest engagement among travel brands on social media. • Innovated and developed new content ideas, worked on creating the world's first periscope "around the world in a day" live stream from 24 countries.

Director and 3D Animator at Scotland's largest Television Commercials Production Company.Worked on the animated video content for 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Gen Up internshipHave been selected from more than 4000 applicants to participate in a unique training programme for emerging digital talent in Scotland which gives 8 talented creatives an opportunity to learn from leading experts in video, games, animation, television, advertising, digital design and marketing.Key Responsibilities• Learning from industry professionals while working on live briefs.Key Achievements• Worked with the biggest creative brands such as BBC, Channel 4, The Leith Agency

BBC Scotland (one week placement as part of my Gen Up internship)Creative DeveloperKey Responsibilities• Generate new concepts of interactive games for BBC’s television shows.• Transform ageing methods of education into a fresh and user-friendly multiplatform programme.Key Achievements• Obtained valuable experience on creative ideas development.• Widened my communication skills working with large and professional teams.

(one-week placement as part of my Gen Up internship)Key Responsibilities• Create 3D visuals and 3D animation.• Produce ideas to advertise well known established products.Key Achievements• Contributed creative ideas to Irn-Bru’s ‘Euro 2012’ campaign.• Designed 3D character and environment visuals for the Scottish Government ‘Ready for winter?’ TV and Social Media campaign.

(one week placement as part of my Gen Up internship)Creative DesignerUser experience development and improvement of channel four’s educational programmes. Key Responsibilities• Develop ideas for Channel Four educational content.• Design a new website layout for the ‘Four Music’ channel.Key Achievements• Adapted new technologies to combine educational content with channel four’s TV shows.• Utilised my previous web design knowledge to build a user friendly web interface.

The project was featured on Favourite Website Awards http://thefwa.com/shortlist/cityentrance-com

Worked with the Hilton's Creative Team, Designing and developing interactive applications and web pages for various Hotels such as: Hilton Arc de Triomphe - Paris, Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino - Santa Fe, Hilton Chicago O'Hare Airport, The Waldorf Hilton Hotel- London, Hilton -Athens, Hilton - Moscow Leningradskaya.