Brand USA is developing plans toward recovery even as it continues its pandemic activities of maintaining interest in international markets for travel to the United States. Brand USA was formed 11 years ago as the destination marketing organization for the U.S. and operates in 11 major markets globally. It is funded by contributions from private companies that are matched by fees paid by international travelers to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) program.ADVERTISINGChris Thompson, CEO, said the organization has had to scale down to a state of readiness during the crisis, expending a minimum monthly investment to stay relevant until international travel returns. Brand USA has continued to operate its television distribution and other initiatives throughout the crisis – in some cases seeing increased engagement because of lockdown circumstances. “We know there will be a recovery, and our plans to lead the recovery is in the works and will be released soon,” said Thompson." With the third vaccine now available, he said, “We see a little light at the end of the tunnel as we hopefully come out of this in this calendar year.” Trending Now Tom Garzilli, CMO, said that the organization has touched thousands of travel advisors through webinars and other tools – communications that have dramatically accelerated. Last summer, a Global Marketplace served as a virtual platform “that we see as a bridge to re-entry.” While it was built for the crisis, he said, it will be used in the future as virtual platforms “continue to be part of the toolbox.”Garzilli said that when the crisis started, the organization committed itself to ”keeping the lights on around the world and to be prepared to re-enter the marketplace.” A crisis like this, he said, accelerates developments that were already underway. Brand USA strategies, he said, are “as relevant and meaningful as ever,” especially initiatives like streaming TV content.Tracy Lanza, senior vice president-integrated marketing, said that Brand USA’s training program for the trade was employed by over 20,000 travel advisors in the fiscal year 2020. As a result, she said, “we will have a well-trained agent community when we return.”Brand USA continues to monitor the situation in its source markets so it can be ready to promote travel at the appropriate time. Aaron Wodin-Schwartz, senor vice president-public affairs, said that “gated criteria” monitoring includes consumer sentiment, Google searches, local travel policies and air capacity – the latter a leading indicator of demand. Once a market has sustained a three-month increase in positive growth in those areas, said Wodin-Schwartz, “we will then decide on whether to resume marketing.”Since January, said Lanza, Brand USA has held three Focus On events – Focus on Canada, Focus on Mexico and Focus on Germany that give partners a chance to connect with marketing and media experts to help them understand the dynamics of a country and on the outlook for travel to the U.S. from those destinations. Upcoming are Focus on the U.K., Focus on Ireland and Focus on Australia and New Zealand.There has also been an ongoing emphasis on entertainment through the pandemic, said Lanza, partly in the form of GoUSA TV, which has more than 70 hours of content and has been available globally throughout the pandemic not just on paid platforms but on free TV and offers viewers a look at the many unique sights in the U.S. She said Brand USA “hit a home run” with the launch of SamsungTV Plus which has resulted in an unusual amount of viewing of GoUSA TV content.Looking ahead, Lanza said Brand USA will be creating television commercials, online content and social media. It will also be a multicultural content strategy which will include finding Black-owned businesses in travel and tourism to work with and to promote. “All of our efforts,” said Lanza, “will showcase the cultural richness of the USA.” Let's block ads! (Why?)