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When each region, state and city has a separate identity, it can be challenging to market something as diverse as the United States.
Chris Thompson, president and CEO of Brand USA, addressed that obstacle recently, speaking at Visit Sarasota County’s National Travel and Tourism Week Luncheon. Thompson was the president and CEO of Visit Florida before he joined Brand USA in 2012.
Brand USA, the destination marketing agency for the U.S., emphasizes video to amp up its efforts to promote and market U.S. travel around the world.
Thompson adds that the agency aims to influence both people’s decision and their intent to travel. It does that, in part, by focusing on storytelling, he says.
The agency also focuses on a theme every year. Past themes have included the great outdoors, road trips and culinary. For 2018, the theme is music.
To create a series of videos tailored to the music theme, Brand USA asked musicians in five U.S. cities to interpret the Bobby Freeman song “Do You Want to Dance?”
The resulting videos showcase different genres of music popular in that part of the country — hip-hop in Atlanta, electronic dance music in Denver, blues in Houston, rock ‘n’ roll in Portland and soul in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Thompson shared the Puerto Rico video at the Visit Sarasota event. At the end of the video, a tagline appears on the screen. That tagline brings it home — literally — “Hear the Music, Experience the USA.”
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