Brand USA Newsletter - March 2018

Diamond Partner Expedia Teams Up Again with Brand USA on a Giant-Screen Film

Expedia, a Diamond-level partner, is joining forces once again with Brand USA to show international travelers all the travel opportunities in the United States – this time with the release of the giant-screen film, America’s Musical Journey, which traces the roots of American music in cities famous for musical genres.

America’s Musical Journey, a collaboration between Brand USA, MacGillivray Freeman Films, Expedia, and Air Canada, premiered in Washington, DC, this month. Narrated by Academy Award Winning Actor Morgan Freeman, the film follows Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Aloe Blacc through musically famous cities such as New Orleans, Louisiana; Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; New York City, New York; Nashville, Tennessee; Miami, Florida, and many more.  It tells the story of the creative spirit of musicians in the U.S. 

That film is Expedia second venture with Brand USA on films promoting the United States.  Expedia joined with MacGillivray Freeman and Brand USA on their first giant-screen film, National Parks Adventure, the 2016 award-winner that showcased the majestic landscapes of the U.S. national parks.

Expedia, a Brand USA media partner since 2012, has been working hard with Brand USA to encourage international visitors to travel to the United States to discover all its spectacular destinations. 

In fact, Brand USA and Expedia Media Solutions, the advertising arm of Expedia, recently announced the pilot launch of Sound Travels, an integrated marketing campaign that allows travelers to immerse themselves in the unique sounds of U.S. travel destinations.

The first 3D audio campaign to promote international travel to the United States, Sound Travels is being released on pilot basis to target travelers in Australia, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.  In listening to these audios, travelers hopefully will be inspired to explore, plan, and book a trip to dynamic destinations such as Austin, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Las Vegas, Nevada, Miami, Florida, and more.

The multi-sensory campaign, set to run through June 30, 2018, functions seamlessly on mobile and desktop devices. The campaign coincides with Brand USA release of its new IMAX® Film, America’s Musical Journey, which explores America's history through music and sound.

The Brand USA and Expedia partnership has resulted in many other successful campaigns. Expedia serves as the booking activation partner for Brand USA’s multi-channel programs in many international markets, allowing Brand USA and partners to track bookings throughout the course of each campaign. 

As the world’s largest online travel company, Expedia has an extensive global presence with a portfolio of leading online travel brands, including Expedia.Com, Hotels.com, Trivago, Orbitz, and Travelocity. It offers over 200 travel-booking sites in 75 countries with over 150 mobile websites in 75 countries which utilize 35 languages. 

As such, Expedia has provided Brand USA significant exposure as the two organizations work together to reach international travelers in the traveling planning and booking phase.  Expedia has offered a digital Affinity program to help Brand USA and its partners reach the right audience at the right time with the right message.

Another Brand USA partnering with Expedia Media Solutions came during the National Parks Adventure release worldwide. Brand USA and Expedia Media partnered on an internet advertising campaign - called “What U.S. National Park Are You?” - to promote the movie and travel to the U.S.  That campaign alone garnered multiple awards for Expedia Media and Brand USA, including an Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) award for best travel integrated campaign and a Hermes Creative Award Platinum in the digital marketing campaign category.  The campaign also was a finalist for the best agency/client collaboration for the Digiday Awards.