Brand USA Newsletter - February 2019

Visit California – through its Diamond-level partnership with Brand USA – has entered 2019 with an array of promotional campaigns that leverage the power of Brand USA marketing around the globe. This partnership has also helped to generate alliances between Brand USA and 800 organizations in California’s tourism industry.

California has consistently been a tourism powerhouse. For international visitors, it’s a state that readily reflects the diverse and abundant range of destinations available in the United States. The year-to-year levels of visitation support an upward trend in California tourism. And, industry experts expect the trend to continue. The natural disasters that have assaulted the state certainly had short-term effects. However, the resilience of its tourism industry is apparent in these favorable prognostications. California tourism leaders, in concert with the industry as a whole, have forged successful crisis-communication plans.

Brand USA officials are confident of California’s capacity for maintaining growth in the tourism sector. As such, Brand USA has shown an enthusiasm for teaming up with the state’s tourism industry, as it advances the appeal of the USA in the international marketplace.  

During 2016, 17 million international travelers came to California, and spent $20.4 billion. The top source markets for these visitors were Mexico, Canada, China, and the U.K.

Here are several of the most prominent customized campaigns that Brand USA has developed recently in tandem with Visit California and California tourism partners:

• A 44-page, luxury-travel supplement, California “Ultratravel,” published by The Telegraph, a national daily newspaper in the U.K.
• BBC’s “USA Through Music” content and distribution campaign
• National Geographic’s “Where the Locals Go” video vignettes, which featured trips to San Luis Obispo, Sacramento, and Santa Rosa

Overall, Brand USA international marketing efforts fall into four distinctive categories: USA campaigns, cooperative marketing, travel-trade initiatives, and media relations. All of these initiatives highlight travel experiences and opportunities that are in, around, and beyond traditional gateway destinations.

USA campaigns

These campaigns often feature California, using multiple formats to convey promotional messages. For instance, “America’s Musical Journey,” Brand USA’s second, giant-screen documentary, features Los Angeles and Laguna Beach as it traces the development of the signature styles of American music and the iconic locations associated with them. A “Market the Welcome” video, which plays in embassies and consulates around the world, features San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Yosemite National Park.

Additionally, Brand USA highlighted California in “America Through the Great Outdoors,” a BBC mini-series. And, Brand USA arranged for the filming of different episodes of a popular Travel Channel program in the U.K., “Jeni and Olly’s West Coast Wine Adventure.”

As it extends California’s reach to international travelers, Brand USA pushes content about the state across social-media platforms in 14 target markets in eight languages.

Cooperative marketing

In recent years, Brand USA has spotlighted California in the widely distributed print and digital versions of its “Inspiration Guide.” California has also been featured in Brand USA multi-channel marketing efforts in Australia, Canada, and China.

And, Brand USA has showcased California in full-page advertising in Dreamscapes, a luxury travel magazine; Essentially America, a travel and lifestyle magazine; and through targeted digital advertising on Expedia, Trip Advisor, and Sojern – popular travel-booking platforms.

Travel trade and media outreach

Brand USA familiarization (FAM) tours have regularly featured California destinations. In 2017, California was a part of a U.K. and Ireland MegaFam, and an Aero Mexico MegaFam. Last year, it was in the British Airways MegaFam.

California is a popular destination for international journalists who participate in Brand USA’s Visiting Journalist Program.

And, numerous California tourism partners have been part of Brand USA sales missions and trade shows. The sales missions have allowed participants to meet with tour operators, travel agents, and media outlets in India, China, and Japan and South Korea. Trade shows have been in Shanghai, Berlin, Dubai, Delhi, Singapore, and London.