Brand USA cranks up Australia efforts

Brand USA cranks up Australia efforts
By admin


The sheer scale of the US can make it difficult for travel agents to effectively sell the destination, but Brand USA is focused on equipping the trade with the necessary tools to effectively engage clients.

Since the destination marketing organisation launched its local presence under the direction of Gate7 in June, it has launched a new industry website, a trade training program, and a range of agent resources to the local market.

“It’s been six months of firsts,” strategy director Joe Ponte told an industry update in Sydney this morning. “But now the firsts are out of the way and the foundations are set, we can move into introducing some new and exciting initiatives over the coming 12 months.”

Last week, Brand USA launched its first Australian advertising campaign to the local market. The $1.5 million investment forms part of a global marketing push to showcase the breadth of experience available in the destination.

The coming months will see it roll out its Discover America online training program to Australian travel agents following its recent launch in the UK. The platform is made up a number of experience-based themes such as road trips, live entertainment and culinary, designed to cater to the interests of the Aussie traveller.

The program’s structure is based on recent research which found that 50% of Australians experience fine dining during a US holiday, 37% hire a car, 38% see a live show and 23% see some live sport.

Brand USA will focus on promoting the individual themes to the trade with a range of fact sheets to provide agents with the “high level detail” required to confidently sell the destination. Live entertainment is the first theme to be promoted, with road trips and culinary next on the agenda from July.

Adding that extra level of expertise to the sales process will benefit both the destination and the trade itself, according to Ponte.

“It creates an emotional connection for the customer to the USA and also to the travel agent,” he said.

Plans for Brand USA’s second agent mega famil are also underway with new airline partner Hawaiian Airlines. The program will see 66 agents from Australia and New Zealand visit six cities across the US, with more details to be revealed in coming months.

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